About the book!!

The Black Watch Conspiracy is a fictional story about a family that were killed when a ship, the Black Watch, sank in 1900 off the coast of Port Macquarie. Although fictional, I have tried to include some facts about what it was like living in a coastal town like Port Macquarie during that time.
Towns like Port Macquarie were serviced mainly by ships which delivered produce from the city and picked up local raw material. Many of the ships also carried passengers between the cities and coastal towns. Unfortunately many ships came to grief due to bad weather, poor navigational information, and the limitations of the older style sail and steam powered ships. The North Coast Railway passed by Port Macquarie in 1910 changing the way goods were transported marking the end of the town's harbour traffic.
Page    lists ships sunk off the coast of Port Macquarie. Besides the Black Watch, the list is accurate and was obtained from shipping records available through the Port Macquarie Museum http://www.port-macquarie-historical-museum.org.au/index.htm.

The Black Watch

There have been many ships named the Black Watch over the centuries, but the one who's name I used in the Black Watch Conspiracy operated as a coastal cargo ship. The real Black Watch sank off the coast of Victoria in 1867 and was fairly typical of the merchant ships of the day.

The following reference is from The Encyclopedia of Australian Shipwrecks:
Black Watch. Schooner. Captain Stewart. From Adelaide to Melbourne, abandonded in a leaking condition off Cape Otway, April 1867. The captain and crew were picked up  25 miles west of Cape Otway by SS Coorong.
If you are interested in finding out more about the history of our merchant shipping go to;
The Encyclopedia of Australian Shipwrecks