Life of George Bass

On 5 February 1802, the 142-ton brig Venus cleared Sydney heads to begin a trading voyage through the islands of the Pacific. On board as captain was one of her owners, the surgeon, navigator, adventurer and now entrepreneur George Bass. Neither Bass nor the Venus completed the voyage. They simply vanished into the Pacific. The questions are many. Was the Venus wrecked on the coast of New Zealand? Did the ship sink in a storm? Or, as some reports suggest, did Bass reach South America only to be