Source: India Government Gazette. Supplement. 03 January 1828. p4.This extract gives a good picture of conditions on board a convict ship. The author was responsible for the general health of the prisoners and seems to have taken the responsibility seriously. I suppose some were better than others.
An intersting article, as it goes into some depth as to the living conditions, food, clothing, and general care taken of convicts for the 6-odd month long voyage.
There is also a bit of interesting social information, as to the culture of the convicts and the language they used. This stuff later appeared in "A Residence of Eleven Years in New Holland and the Caroline Islands" by James F. O'Connell, 1835.
George Bayly, whose memoirs I've mentioned in previous posts, worked his first passage to the South Seas in a convict ship in 1824, transporting Irish women convicts to Port Jackson. It's interesting to compare the two sources. Bayly makes mention of most of what is stated here. I'll post that up next.
2 comments:
Hi Gavin,
I am enjoying reading your blog.. anything new for 2009??
Hope to read something soon
Claire B
Hi Clairepear - unfortunately I won't be writing here for a while. If I am lucky enough to get work with a heritage collection here in NZ I'll continue. At the moment I'm working on my boat during the evenings, which is a lot of fun but I've decided it would make a rather boring blog.
Keep a weather eye out though, I might stumble across something and post on it.
Post a Comment