The Convict Ships
So now I can tell you about our two Convict ships, the "Mariner" and the "Lord Melville". First of all, you must learn about the way in which they were fitted up for taking prisoners, some of them being really bad men who could not be trusted, and some of them who were just fools, like our Samuel Gilbert who was silly enough to play with forged Bank notes. And of course there were lady convicts as well.
And, apart from this human cargo, there would be a detachment of soldiers who were to act as guards instead of jailers, and the crew and the ship's surgeon, and there were also some really important people who were going out to Australia as Officers of the Government, or as rich settlers.
Now, ships to carry convicts had to be fitted up as prisons too. Down inside the ship in the lower decks, the space was divided up into small areas, like cages, for the convicts had to be locked up in small numbers, each separated, in case there was trouble on board. The soldiers and their Officers were the next to be considered. They had the freedom of the ship, like the crew who sailed her. Then there were the other rich passengers who had the best places because of their importance.
The Captain and Officer in charge of the escort would have the best cabin on the top deck. The soldier escort and the crew and the other passengers, including the wives and children of the convicts, would be housed in the first deck below, and the convicts in their separate prisons were kept in decks below that.
They were all going on a long voyage which might take any time longer than six months. One convict ship, the "Lady Juliana" took eleven months to get to Sydney. She had a full load of 226 female convicts, and they had long stops at Rio de Janeiro and at the Cape of Good Hope and, according to stories which have been preserved, a good time was had by all, including the crew and the soldier escort.
During the War with the French, these ships had to keep together in a convoy with a warship to protect them until they were well down in the Atlantic Ocean. They all carried cannons for their own protection as well, for there were plenty of pirate ships waiting to attack them. The West Indies was full of pirates who preyed on the ships carrying gold from the Spanish Colonies in Central America. Some Convict ships just disappeared. It was not known what happened to them until some of their convicts were found in Brazil where they had been taken to be sold as slaves to the owners of plantations, by the pirates who had captured their ships. But the War with France was over after the Battle of Waterloo, and convoys were no longer needed, and neither of our two ships were attacked on their way to Sydney, although they may have been close to it, as I will tell you later. Each of our ships carried six long 6 Pounder Guns with Thirty pounds of powder and shot for each gun, a Stand of Arms, a Cutlass, and a Boarding Pike for each man in the crew. This was set out in their contracts.
First of all, we will take the ship "Mariner" of 449 tons, under Captain John Herbert, in which Samuel Gilbert was a convict under transportation. She had two cabins and two decks. She was owned by a man named Thomas Shelton, not the Government, and he was paid for her use. There was a great long contract for her use, and it dealt with everything that could be imagined, even to the size of the six cannons which had to be carried, in case the French Navy or privateers or pirates were encountered. So it was not going to be just a pleasant sea trip. The Master of the "Mariner" was ordered to stay in a convoy of ships which were protected by a warship if required.
There were pages and pages of other orders which had to be considered, regarding food and water, and where the ship could call to renew these things, far too much to be listed here, even to the times during which small numbers of convicts could be allowed on deck each day to breathe some fresh air, and to wash their clothes in salt water or to air their beds to let the fleas, bugs, or lice jump off.
The ship's surgeon, John Haslam Junior, has left us a Narrative of the Voyage, which takes five pages, so I cannot put all of that in here for you, but there is a copy of that book in your State Library.
Haslam's Account tells us that the "Mariner" received some 85 convicts from the "Justitia" hulk at Woolwich, which was a floating jail, and another 60 from another hulk, the "Retribution" at Sheerness. It deals with convict rations in full, and their treatment, and how they received a new set of clothes when they arrived. He makes interesting observations regarding the convicts' language of their own,
"and for my progress in the new tongue I was principally indebted to a convict who had been a teacher, and for his amusement kept a journal in this mysterious dialect. By this acquaintance, I was in great measure enabled to ascertain their proceedings, and comprehend their plans during the times I visited the prison in which they were confined."
But I cannot pass without including this paragraph:
"When the ship lay off Deal, a convict of about 33 years of age, who appeared to one of the most orderly and decent of his comrades, was visited by his wife, who had travelled from London to take an affectionate leave of her unfortunate husband. As it would have been improper to admit her into the prison, the convict was allowed to come on deck. She had kindly brought with her some articles which she conceived might contribute to his comfort during the voyage. After a tender and distressing adieu, she departed; and had nearly reached the shore, when I perceived the boat return with the woman. She had discovered that in the parting embrace he had picked her pocket of the money which was to convey her to town; and during the last pressure of hand, he had dexterously contrived to detach the wedding ring from her finger. It was ineffectually endeavoured to compel him to restore the property; he reiterated the most solemn protestations that he had not taken it, and could not be prevailed on to see his wife again, under the hypocritical pretence that his feelings were so lacerated by the parting scene, that he could not sustain a repetition of the conflict."
This man was not our Samuel Gilbert, for he would have been 28 years of age at the time, and, if Mary had wanted to say farewell, she would have done so at Woolwich.
Haslam's Account is the only record which has been preserved of this voyage, but he does not tell us of any of the ports of call. But from records from South Africa, I find that the "Mariner" called at Simon's Bay on 16th August, 1816, to collect a prisoner to be transported to Botany Bay.
I come now to those on board this ship - 145 male convicts and one more at the Cape - Total 146. There was a guard of 33 men from the 46th Regiment, under Lieut. Higgins, and they would then serve with that Regiment in New South Wales. Lieut. Robert Johnson was also a passenger and there were also some Charter Passengers. The "Mariner" reached Port Jackson on 11th October, 1816.
Our other ship was the "Lord Melville" of 412 tons under Captain Thomas Thackray Wetherell, which left Gravesend on 29th August, 1816, and which called at Plymouth, which she left on 15th September. She had one cabin and two decks, and reached Sydney on 24th February, 1817. She was also a contracted transporter, the Agents being Bell & Wilkinson.
The "Lord Melville" was also fitted up as a prison for 100 female convicts, and as well as twelve wives of convicts and their eleven children, the Chief Justice for the new Supreme Court of New South Wales and his Clerk, John Gurner, and their wives, were also passengers.
The Chief Justice, Barron Field, has left us his nine page "Narrative of a Voyage to New South Wales", but he makes no reference at all to his fellow passengers, the convicts' wives and children or the female convicts. But we are able to trace the voyage of his ship from his casual remarks.
Mary and her three children, John, Charlotte and Maria, would have joined the ship at Gravesend on 28th August 1816, and it left on the next morning, the intention being to drop anchor in the Downs, but there was a gale blowing, and she eventually reached Spithead for repairs. They left Portsmouth on 16th September, and sailed down the west coast of Africa, intending to put into one of the islands there to take on water, but they mixed up their passage, and eventually sailed west to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, reaching there on 21st November. Brazil then belonged to Portugal, the Ally of Britain, so there was a long stay there to obtain fresh food and water.
Barron Field relates an incident with a privateer which occurred on the course between the Cape Verde Islands, and Rio:
"On the 26th October, we fell in with a Spanish or Portuguese insurgent pirate. In answer to our account of ourselves, she gave us something like Scrub's bucket of news. She showed no colours, but said she came 'from sea', and was bound 'to sea', which put me in mind of the Devil's answer to the same question (in Job) 'from going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it'."
They left Rio on 4th December and sailed right across the Southern Ocean, heading for Bass Strait in Australia, and they saw the coast first on 17th February. They sailed through Bass Strait and up the east coast to Sydney, dropping anchor on 24th February 1817. But Barron Field has not left us one word about Mary Gilbert and the other women with her.
The story of Sam's arrival in Sydney on 11th October, 1816 and Mary's arrival there on 24th February, 1817, and their happy reunion will be told in the next chapter.