Black Jack Anderson facts for kids
John 'Black Jack' Anderson (d 1842?) was an African-American sealer and pirate active in the Recherche Archipelago off the south coast of Western Australia.
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Arrival in Australia
Anderson arrived in the fledgling King George Sound colony (modern day Albany) aboard the American whaling vessel Vigilant in 1826. While the crew were ashore, a fight broke out and a man was killed. Accused of murder, Anderson and several crewmates fled in a small vessel and hid out in the Recherche Archipelago, approximately 400 kilometres to the east.
Piracy
Anderson and his fellows established an encampment on Middle Island in Western Australia, as it was one of the few islands with a source of fresh water. The archipelago was heavily populated by Australian sea lions and New Zealand fur seals, and Anderson's band soon enriched themselves by trading furs to settlements along the coast; they are noted as visiting Kangaroo Island and the Althorpe Islands in South Australia. They supplemented their sealing income by robbing vessels travelling between Western Australia and the east coast colonies. They are also said to have murdered Indigenous Kaurna men and abducted women. The Recherche Archipelago was treacherous and uncharted, making it an ideal hideout for the pirates.
In September 1834 Anderson and another black man, John Bathurst, arrived at Kangaroo Island from Long Island and clashed with whalers and Aboriginals.
According to an 1842 report complaining about the lawlessness of sealers:
One of the most daring of these people was a man of color of the name of Anderson, and lawless as these men were, they looked up to him with a sort of dread. Anderson usually carried a brace of pistols about him, knowing that he held his life by a very precarious tenure. By persevering exertions he had amassed a considerable sum of money, and usually kept one or two black women to attend on him and minister to his wants, when not engaged in sealing.
Death
Anderson was eventually murdered by his fellow pirates, and is thought to be buried somewhere on Middle Island.
The reputation of the island as a lawless place continued for some time; in 1848 The Inquirer called it "the resort of a set of lawless desperadoes, composed of runaway convicts, sealers, etc."
In fiction
- Skins, by Sarah Hay - winner of the 2001 The Australian/Vogel Literary Award
- Black Jack Anderson: Australia's Most Notorious Pirate, by Elaine Forrestal
- A 1929 story "Black Anderson" by "Polygon" at The West Australian
