{"id":4530,"date":"2021-02-25T17:10:58","date_gmt":"2021-02-25T06:10:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bassstraitmaritimecentre.com.au\/?p=4530"},"modified":"2022-10-03T16:46:15","modified_gmt":"2022-10-03T05:46:15","slug":"the-thistle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bassstraitmaritimecentre.com.au\/history\/the-thistle\/","title":{"rendered":"The Thistle"},"content":{"rendered":"
John Drake was a Scottish ship\u2019s carpenter who left his ship in Melbourne and prospected in the Victorian goldfields in the 1850s, before being brought to Torquay in 1855 by David Cocker to build barges.\u00a0 These barges were used to take produce from Cockers Creek and Deans Point to larger vessels anchored outside the Mersey River.<\/p>\n