Trivia - Privateers

Anth and Pete in the hotseats today, with Cath panelling - keeping them on the straight and narrow.

The Victorian Coastal Awards awards have been and gone, with a good range of marine organisations/efforts/products being recognised. Check out the Vcitorian Coastal Council website for all the details.

Peter did the weather Barcelona -Bron come back soon please!

While a pirate is someone that operates outside the law without the permission of anyone, a privateer operates outside the law with permission from a Government - a sort of outsourced Navy. The Government does not have to pay for the ships or the crew, and takes a cut of the revenue. It does this by issuing a Letter of Marque - a sort of get out of jail free card to anyone who wants to give them a share of the cut. This all started with Henry III of England, back in 1243.

Famous English Privateers include William Dampier and Sir Francis Drake

The French were also good at it, with Duguay Trouin capturing Rio de Janero and holding the Governer for ransom. History reports this voyage doubled investors money.

The champions were the Americans. They had a navy of 34 at the start of the revolution, but issued Letters of Maque to over 400 ships - taking over 3000 British vessels. They also fought for napolean against the English, and refused to sign the Declaration of Paris aboloshing the practice in 1856.

Under the constitution the US congress has retained the power to issue letters of Maque to this day !!

Ross Anderson, a maritime archaeologist from Heritage Victoria's Maritime Heritage Unit, joined us to chat up on all things Maritime.

First up were the new shipwreck sites that have been recently exposed near Port Fairy in Western Victoria. This occurred as a result of the storms which hit Melbourne in Feb - while the rest of us were enjoying the warmth indoors, the folks from Heritage Victoria were out eagerly discovering new wrecks...

In other news, the guns have been taken off the Cerberus - the well known wreck just off Black Rock in Port Phillip Bay. The removal of these guns has taken a huge weight off the wreck, and while the Cerberus itself is in a protected zone and unavailable for diving, the guns are now available to the intrepid diver. By keeping them underwater, their preservation is made much easier - plus they are still available for the average diver to appreciate and enjoy.

National Archelogy Week is May 15th ot 22nd. Ross mentioned a seminar on the ethics of maritime archeology as a part of the week. What is the ethics of removal and sale? Waht controls are there for the international sale of relics from overseas in Australia. More information is available on all of the above at the Heritage Victoria website.

Lynn Murrell is a man of many different hats - ex schoolteacher, farmer, chairman of the Western Coastal Board... His latest hat though, is that of the guy who has decided to walk along Victoria's entire coastline with the aim of highlighting both it's special nature, as well as the many issues which affect it. His journey now over, he's enjoying putting his feet up and joined us to talk about his experience.

One of his personal successes was the fact that he got to chat with so many different people along the way, and the passion for the coast that was evident in communities - especially those in regional areas. Community group representatives, politicians, the media - people of all walks of life met with Lynn and shared in his experience, and that was something that Lynn found both rewarding and reaffirming.

Almost 2000km over four months - it was a mighty undertaking, one filled with many special moment, places and memories... Lynn sums it up by saying that we have an incredibly special stretch of coastline, something that shoul;d be preserved, but something that should also be appreciated by all Victorians.

Rhyme of the Chivalrous Shark

Love only hurts

Bravura Til Gala

Lesley Nelson-Burns

Blanche Dubois

Ginger Tom

Water's warm (15 and a half odd), but the ocean's "bloody rough". The wind is howling from the north, the bay's starting to chop up a tad - otherwise it's been not too bad. If you want to give Brett a hoy, you can catch him on 5985 6999.