Rhiwbina Living Issue 54 │ Spring 2022

ship's lifeboats were changed from
blue to white; and crucially, the
ship was renamed Bantam, taking
the name of another ship of similar
tonnage on the Lloyd's Register.
Shipping documentation was
forged to support the false name.
Any identifying objects on the ship
were either thrown overboard or
used as fuel in the ship's coal-fired
engines.
He made
it clear that
anyone who did
not cooperate
with the plan
would be shot
on the spot
The crew were instructed to
say that the ship had sailed
from Singapore if questioned by
authorities. The ship next sailed to
the Cape Verde Islands and then to
Santos, Brazil, where it arrived on
Boxing Day 1880.
The crew took on a consignment
cargo of coffee destined for
Marseilles. Henderson then sailed
for Cape Town, where Watkins
disembarked, changing the ship's
name for the second time en route,
this time to the name India. On
arrival at Cape Town, he sold the
coffee for £13,000. He then sailed
for Port Phillip in Victoria, Australia
via Mauritius and Albany, Western
Australia arriving at Victoria in April
1881. Henderson told Australian port
authorities that he had come from
Bermuda.
Back in Scotland, the ship's
owners were becoming
increasingly concerned about the
disappearance of the ship. They
advertised the disappearance, and
sought help locating it.
By chance, an observant wharf
policeman on duty at Queenscliff,
Constable James Davidson, who
had recently arrived from Scotland,
was at his post as the newly-named
India steamed past him.
At the time, he happened to be
reading a copy of The Scotsman
newspaper which included an
article taken from the Glasgow
Evening Citizen and which described
the mysterious disappearance of
the Ferret from the Clyde.
Seeing that the India fitted the
description well, Davidson decided
to take a closer look. He noticed
certain unusual behaviours coming
from the ship, and noted that
it had broken a number of port
regulations.
His suspicions raised, he kept it
under observation and alerted his
superiors. Customs officials seized
the ship, and the faint appearance
of another vessel's name under the
lettering 'India' soon confirmed the
hoax.
Henderson and his accomplices
tried to escape but were soon
apprehended, charged, and
brought to trial by jury in Melbourne
before Justice Williams. Henderson,
and his two main cronies were each
charged with conspiracy on the
high seas, attempt to defraud the
ship's owners, and customs and
other maritime offences, including
changing the name and official
number of a ship. Chief Engineer
Griffin, who had been recruited in
Glasgow, provided much of the
evidence that convicted the three.
Watkins, the Sailing Master, had
left the ship in Cape Town after
which a sailor called Wright had
taken over the sailing duties. The
three defendants fabricated a story
that Watkins had led a Peruvian
arms smuggling racket, and that
he told them to attempt to sell the
ship. The court rejected the story
and found the three men guilty.
But that's not where the story
ends. A long time later, a letter
landed on the desk of Cardiff's
Head Constable. The letter,
apparently written by a prisoner in
Spain, requested the help to find
treasure 'of considerable amount'
that had been buried in Cardiff.
The Head Constable dismissed the
letter as a hoax. The letter was also
shown to a borough magistrate,
who came to a different conclusion.
Correspondence with the
prisoners was initiated, and before
long, the prisoner admitted that
he was at one time the private
secretary of a Spanish nobleman
who entrusted him with property
to a considerable amount to be
conveyed to England. He came
to London with it, but from the
start, he evidently intended to
appropriate the property to his own
use. He left London, went to Bristol,
and stayed for some time at a hotel
there. He then came to Cardiff and
stayed for a still longer period at the
Cardiff Arms Hotel.
During his stay there, his friends
in Madrid informed him that his
employer had discovered his
duplicity, and agents were sent
to England to arrest him. Fearing
SS Ferret in 1910
history
capture, he deposited the valuable
treasure that he had been entrusted
with in a secret place, not far from
Cardiff, and then left in a steamer
bound for Marseilles, but was
landed on the coast of Spain. He
was discovered by the agents of the
nobleman, arrested, and tried at
Madrid for feloniously disposing of
property entrusted to him by his
master, and sentenced to a long
term of imprisonment in one of the
carceras in Madrid.
It was noted during the months
that followed, that three men were
spotted digging in various parts of
a wood in the north of Cardiff. The
men could not speak English well
and were said to be of Spanish
extraction. It is believed nothing was
found at that time.
As for the Ferret, in 1904, it was
called into action to assist with a
stricken Norwegian barque that
went under the name of Ethel.
The Ethel had run onto a South
Australian beach and the Ferret was
the first ship on hand to rescue its
crew and passengers. The beach
was later named Ethel Beach.
As fate would have it, the Ferret
itself was wrecked too in November
1920 after running onto a beach
during a storm. All 21 crew were
rescued after walking 3 miles
overland from where the ship had
foundered - on Ethel Beach.
The treasure, if it exists, has never
been found.
The mystery of the treasure has
been written into a ghost story
centred on Cardiff, by Rhiwbina
author, John F Wake, entitled
‘The Madding of Eli McNamara’.
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