The plight of western castaways among tribal people has always fascinated us, going back before Shakespeare's 'The Tempest' and Daniel Defoe's 'Robinson Crusoe'.

When real-life accounts emerge, it seems that the instinct to help our fellow human beings is strong, even when cultures are very alien, and the host people are living close to starvation themselves. A TV documentary and book ('Caliban's shore') recently revealed how several survivors from the ship 'Grosvenor' in 1783 were adopted by East African tribes, intermarrying and even founding a royal dynasty.

An article in 'Penny Farthing', the newsletter of the Museum in the Park, pointed me to an equally remarkable story that starts much closer to home.

James Morrill was born in Heybridge in 1824. He was apprenticed to a local shipping company at the age of thirteen, and in 1844 joined the crew of a troopships bound for Australia from London. Clearly enjoying his travels, Morrill passed over the opportunity to take the return trip, opting instead to join the 'Peruvian' sailing for China.

The ship, with sixteen crew and six passengers, sailed in February 1846, but a week later hit a submerged reef in the Coral Sea.

Losing the ship's boats, the crew built a raft and were only able to equip it with minimal provisions and water. Inevitably the survivors started to die off in spite of desperate expedients – like baiting hooks to catch sharks with the leg of a dead seaman.

42 days later the raft landed at Cape Cleveland in Queensland. Only seven people were left, and three were so weak they died within days, leaving Morrill, the captain and his wife and a boy.

From this point however their fortunes improved significantly. Local aboriginal tribes found them and gave them food and water. Taken to their camp, the castaways were taught how to gather food and even to speak some of the language. Large tribal gatherings were convened so tribespeople could meet the strangers.

In spite of this, the other survivors were dead within a few years, perhaps struggling to adapt to the harsh conditions. Morrill however thrived. He learned eight tribal dialects, adopted tribal customs and was given an aboriginal name. He was also rumoured to have had a child with a local woman, though he always denied this.

Over the years, attempts were made by tribesmen to communicate to white visitors that one of their own was living amongst them, but this was thwarted by the hostility of white explorers and settlers, who even shot and killed a man in the midst of one of these attempts.

Morrill became increasingly aware that his own people were a deadly threat to the tribes, and in 1863 he decided to return alone to 'civilisation' and try to negotiate peace for his tribe. Making himself look 'as white as possible' he approached some stockmen, shouting 'What cheer shipmates' just in time to prevent them opening fire.

He returned briefly to his tribe to bid an emotional farewell and to advise them to keep as far away as possible from the encroaching settlers.

The rest of Morrill's life was something of an anti-climax. He married and had a son, and wrote a popular set of memoirs which did full justice to the customs and kindness of the aborigines, but he was dead within two years, worn down by arthritis from his hard life.

However, according to Monument Australia, the body which maintains his modest monument in Bowen, Queensland, he did much to promote peaceful conciliation between settlers and aboriginal people during this period. Many of the latter came into town to mourn his passing in 1865.