Thanks for adding your opinion here, Peter. That's at least 3 of us who are happy to accept the Aventurier incident as the stimulus for the ballad. Sometimes a ballad was written directly from the newspaper report, sometimes a seaman with a talent for a bit of doggerel sought the chance to earn a shilling from the printer and if the story was second hand it mattered little if some of the facts were altered somewhat, but there were also professional hacks who made a living from writing such pieces. Facts were pretty much irrelevant. Far more important was the interest and sales the ballad made on the streets. If it sold well it was immediately 'pirated' (excuse pun) by hundreds of other printers around the country.