In 1871 the brig “Carl”, actively engaged in illegal “blackbirding”, was overhauled after about 60 captured Kanakas from Tanna, Vanuatu, subjected to horrific violence and cruelty, had been murdered or wounded and tossed overboard. The owner of the vessel, Dr James Murray, turned “Queen’s Evidence” and escaped the death penalty even though he was primarily responsible for the atrocities. The captain and three other crew members were sentenced to death (their sentences were later reprieved) and others convicted of assault. One crew member whose fate we will explore further, was arrested on the lesser (but still serious) charge of kidnapping, was accused of poisoning the captain, skipped bail and managed to escape with the assistance of his family. He secretly skedaddled out of Australia, first to America and eventually turned up in Gottingen, Germany. In the same year, a wealthy, cultured well-dressed surgeon, graduate of Yale University and veteran of the American Civil war (he participated in the brutal Battle of the Wilderness, Virginia in 1864) moved to the squalor of Lambeth, London, attracted by its “easy access to easy women”. A few months later, in early 1872, he shot and killed an innocent man with his Colt .38 revolver. He was found guilty but not hung: he benefitted from the 1843 adoption of the McNaghten Rules that meant he was acquitted on the grounds of being mad, to be incarcerated indefinitely in an asylum in England. It is hard to imagine that either man could ever redeem himself, or later make such a major contribution that their work is still celebrated today. The first person is Archibald Watson, after whom this lecture is named: he graduated from Gottingen in 1878, gained a second doctorate in Paris in 1880 and was awarded Fellowship of RCS(Eng) in 1884. His contribution to surgical teaching and practice was extensive (not just in Adelaide and Darwin, but also abroad in Egypt (1883), the Boer War (1900) and Gallipoli (1914)) and is still applauded. He had a most extraordinary and varied life. The second is Dr WC Minor, a lascivious and charismatic surgeon who was later to have a remarkable influence on the compilation and ultimate credibility of the first Oxford English Dictionary. He worked in obscurity on this monumental task from Crowthorne in Berkshire, an enigma but one of the dictionary’s most valuable contributors. His increasingly close relationship with the OED editor, Dr James Murray (same name, different person, non-seafaring), that developed over several decades is the subject of an intriguing book by Simon Winchester. Sadly, the combination of his guilt, unrelenting lascivious urges, declining health and enveloping delusions progressed to a point where, following mutilative genital surgery on himself, he was returned to America to die in the care of his family. The fascinating story of each is outlined, from their early influences, through the nadir in their lives the consequences of which each had to endure, to their eventual redemption. Their stories celebrate that, despite their life-long guilt, they still managed to make a positive contribution to humanity and knowledge (albeit in completely different ways).