On the evening of 14 August 1829 the government brig Cyprus was sheltering in Recherche Bay on the remote south-east coast of Tasmania when she was captured by eighteen convicts under the leadership of William Swallow, a prisoner for life. Eight years earlier he had stowed away on a ship to England only to be eventually arrested and sent to Hobart for the second time. After marooning the crew, military guard and passengers on the desolate shore, Swallow skilfully sailed the brig across the Pacific to Tahiti then back to the Tongan Islands and on to Japan before finally scuttling her off the Chinese coast.