Tasmania is an island and since the time of European colonisation by the British, the population had been entirely reliant upon the sea for all physical contact with the outside world, until the development of links by air.
Mariners of the 18th and 19th centuries utilised these winds to shorten the time it took them to reach Australia after rounding the Cape of Good Hope on their way from Europe.
Tasmania can be susceptible to violent storms, such as the one which sank five boats competing in the 1998 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race.
This list includes many vessels marked (X) that were lost with all hands in the so-called Bass Strait Triangle.
The George III convict ship wreck is one example of a story which changed completely due to verbal history.