"The coolest piece of robbery was performed in the harbor one night. A ship was to sail for England at daylight, and she had several thousand ounces of gold on board. About midnight a party of eight or ten went out in a boat pretending to have business on board, and were admitted without suspicion. Their real business was to plunder the ship, and they succeeded; they 'stuck up' the officers and crew, bound them hand and foot, loaded the gold into their boat, and escaped. No alarm was given until some one went on board the next morning, as all the officers and crew had been gagged and locked in below. The robbers got clean away; nothing was ever learned about them, but it was suspected that they were ex-convicts from Tasmania."
The carriage had by this time brought our friends to Sandridge, and they alighted at the head of one of the piers. There are two piers at Sandridge (to use its former name in place of its more modern appellation of Port Melbourne). These piers run far out into the bay, and ships of almost any tonnage may lie alongside to discharge or receive cargoes. One is known as the town pier, and the other as the railway pier; on the railway pier trains of cars may load or discharge at the side of the ships, and thus effect a great saving in the handling of freight.
A GOOD LOCATION FOR BUSINESS.
It was a busy scene from one end of the pier to the other, and as the strangers walked about they were obliged to be cautious lest they were run over by moving cars or stumbled among the piles of goods that lay about. Vessels from all parts of the world were lying at the piers; at anchor in the bay were other vessels, steamers and sailing craft, likewise hailing from the four quarters of the globe. All the great companies known in the East, the "P. and O.," North German Lloyds, Messageries Maritimes, Orient, and others, were represented, and the ubiquitous "tramp" steamers were there in goodly numbers. Then there were numerous "intercolonial" steamers engaged in the trade between Melbourne and the ports of the Australian coast, and also with Tasmania, New Zealand, Feejee, and other islands.
LOADING A SHIP FROM A LIGHTER.
Some of the steamships have their docks at Williamstown, which is on the other side of Hobson's Bay, directly opposite Sandridge, and connected with Melbourne by railway. The business of Williamstown, like that of Sandridge, is mostly connected with the shipping; a steam ferry carried our friends across the bay, and they spent an hour or two in Williamstown, the time being principally devoted to an inspection of the ship building yards and the graving dock, which has accommodations for the largest ships engaged in the Australian trade.