Madagascar was a large British merchant ship built for the trade to India and China in 1837 that disappeared on a voyage from Melbourne to London in 1853.

A one-eighth share in the vessel was held throughout her 16-year career by her first master Captain William Harrison Walker; various members of the Green family continued to own the remainder.

[2] On Wednesday 10 August, just as she was preparing to sail, police went on board and arrested a bushranger John Francis, who was later found to have been one of those responsible for robbing on 20 July the Melbourne Private Escort between the McIvor goldfield (Heathcote, Victoria) and Kyneton.

[5] Over the next century many purely fictional stories based on this rumour have been published (being mentioned by authors of such reputation as Basil Lubbock and James A.

The most recent use of the mystery in a fictional setting is probably Sandy Curtis's Deadly Tide (Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Ltd., 2003, ISBN 0-33036398-0).