The maximum security hard-labour camp at Sarah Island in Macquarie Harbour was the end of the line for prisoners - a hell on earth for convicts and gaolers alike - and when in 1833, it was decided to close the settlement, ten desperate and ruthless men seized the ship that was to transport them, and made their final bid for freedom..

This book, based on historical fact, is a reconstruction of one of the most exciting incidents in the bloody history of the penal colonies.