A convict ship was any ship engaged on a voyage to carry convicted felons under sentence of penal transportation from their place of conviction to their place of exile.
A convict ship was any ship engaged on a voyage to carry convicted felons under sentence of penal transportation from their place of conviction to their place of exile.
A convict ship, as used to convey convicts to the British colonies in America, the Caribbean and Australian Colonies, were ordinary British merchant ships as seen in ports around the world at that time. There was no ship specifically built as a convict vessel. [1] There was no ship engaged exclusively for convict transportation use, all being used for general cargo, or passenger transport, at various times.
Vessels chartered for convict transport were mainly square rigged ships or barques, with the exception of a few brigs, the majority being small to moderate tonnage. The fees paid to the ship owners were so low that only the worst and most decrepit ships were utilised. [2]
English Parliamentary records indicate that the average rate paid by the Government to hire a ship for convict service in 1816 was £6 1s 9d per vessel ton (equivalent to £500in 2021), with tonnages typically between 372 and 584. [3]
Convict ships generally engaged in carrying convicts from Great Britain to the Australian Colonies. The First Fleet saw the first convict ships arrive in Australia in January 1788, and the last convict ship, Hougoumont, arrived in Western Australia in 1868. Over the 80 years of transportation, between 1788 and 1868, 608 convict ships transported more than 162,000 convicts to Australia. [4]
Following serious outbreaks of disease with heavy loss of life on board some early convict ship voyages, from 1801 voyages were subject to more strict regulation by the British Government in terms of provisions and medical support, [5] as a result of which during the nineteenth century deaths on board ship during these long passages were generally lower than on assisted immigrant ships on similar voyages, and many convicts actually arrived in a better state of health than they had enjoyed before leaving.[ citation needed ]
Loss of life due to accident or natural disaster was also rare,[ citation needed ] although there were four serious shipwrecks concerning convict ships to Australia - Amphitrite on the coast of France, George III on the south-east coast of Tasmania, Neva off King Island in Bass Strait and Waterloo in Table Bay, South Africa.
Many vessels, both government and privately owned, moved convicts around the Australian coastline, but these are not normally referred to as convict ships. Where moving convicts and/or troops was the main reason for an individual voyage the term convict transport or just transport was used.
Scarborough was a double-decked, three-masted, ship-rigged, copper-sheathed, barque that participated in the First Fleet, assigned to transport convicts for the European colonisation of Australia in 1788. Also, the British East India company (EIC) chartered Scarborough to take a cargo of tea back to Britain after her two voyages transporting convicts. She spent much of her career as a West Indiaman, trading between London and the West Indies, but did perform a third voyage in 1801–02 to Bengal for the EIC. In January 1805 she repelled a French privateer of superior force in a single-ship action, before foundering in April.
Alexander was a merchant ship launched at Hull in 1783 or 1784. She was one of the vessels in the First Fleet, that the British government hired to transport convicts for the European colonisation of Australia in 1788. On her return voyage from Australia the British East India Company permitted her to carry a cargo from Canton back to Britain. Thereafter she traded out of London until 1809, when she is no longer listed.
The Second Fleet was a convoy of six ships carrying settlers, convicts and supplies to Sydney Cove, Australia in 1790. It followed the First Fleet which established European settlement in Australia in the previous year.
Neptune was a three-decker East Indiaman launched in 1780 at Deptford. She made five voyages for the British East India Company (EIC), the last one transporting convicts to Port Jackson as one of the vessels of the notorious Second Fleet. This voyage resulted in a private suit against the master and chief officer for wrongful death. A fire and explosion in 1796 at Cape Town destroyed Neptune.
Lady Juliana, was launched at Whitby in 1777. She transported convicts in 1789 from England to Australia.
Hougoumont was the last convict ship to transport convicts to Australia.
A surgeon-superintendent was a position, held by a surgeon officer of the Royal Navy, on board convict transport ship and ships transporting indentured labour, with overall authority in all non-nautical matters.
Surry, also known as Surrey, was a square-rigged transport ship, which had an especially long career transporting convicts to Australia. In 11 voyages, the most of any convict transport, she brought 2,177 convicts, male and female, and so became one of the best-known of the vessels that visited Australia. In all, she lost 51 men and one woman during her various passages, 46 of the men dying during her first and most notorious voyage in 1814 when she was under the command of James Patterson. The high death toll on her first voyage led to a Board of Enquiry, which blamed neglect by the Master and Surgeon.
Matilda was a ship built in France and launched in 1779. She became a whaling ship for the British company Camden, Calvert and King, making a whaling voyage while under the command of Matthew Weatherhead to New South Wales and the Pacific in 1790.
Archduke Charles was built in Newcastle, England in 1809. She was sheathed in copper in 1810 and partially resheathed with copper in 1812. She made one voyage transporting convicts from Ireland to New South Wales, and on her return voyage to Britain she carried a cargo from China for the British East India Company (EIC). She was wrecked in 1816 while carrying troops from Quebec to Nova Scotia.
Warren Hastings was built in 1789 at Calcutta, India. Her registry was transferred to Great Britain in 1796. In 1805 she was sold and her new owners renamed her Speke. She made three voyages transporting convicts from Britain to New South Wales. After her first convict voyage she engaged in whaling.
Minstrel was launched at Hull in 1811. She transported convicts to Australia in 1812 and again in 1825. Between these voyages she traded east of the Cape of Good Hope under a license from the British East India Company (EIC). In 1829 she brought immigrants from England to the Swan River Colony. She then traded widely, including across the Atlantic. Minstrel foundered in March 1851.
Francis and Eliza was a brig built in 1782 upon the River Thames, England. An American privateer captured her in 1815 while she was transporting convicts from Ireland to Port Jackson, New South Wales, and then released her. She was condemned in 1819 by a United States court for having violated U.S. law, and was sold in 1820.
City of Edinburgh was a merchant ship built at Bengal in 1813. She transferred to British registry and sailed between Britain and India. She made two voyages transporting convicts from Ireland to Australia. Later, she made a whaling voyage to New Zealand. She was wrecked in 1840.
England was built at Chepstow, Wales in 1813. She made three voyages transporting convicts from England to Australia. On the first she was under charter to the British East India Company (EIC) and, after delivering her convicts, sailed to Canton where she picked up a cargo for the EIC. She foundered in 1843 in the Channel while on a voyage to Sierra Leone.
Hooghly was a full-rigged merchant ship built on the Thames, England, and launched in 1819. She made two voyages under charter to the British East India Company (EIC), four voyages transporting convicts from England and Ireland to Australia, as well as voyages transporting emigrants to South Australia between 1839 and 1856. Around 1858 she was re-rigged as a barque. She sank off Algiers in 1863.
Norfolk Island twice served as a penal colony, from March 1788 to February 1814, and from 1825 to 1853. During both periods the government in the Colony of New South Wales transferred convicts that had been brought to Australia on to the island.
Morley was a merchantman launched in 1811 at Deptford as a West Indiaman. In 1813 she was under contract to the Transport Board when she captured an American vessel, which capture gave rise to an interesting court case. In early 1815 an American letter of marque captured, plundered, and released her. She then made six voyages to Australia transporting convicts. On her fifth voyage she introduced whooping-cough to Australia. After her sixth voyage she sailed to China and then brought a cargo back to England for the British East India Company (EIC). She continued to sail to Australia and elsewhere and is last listed in 1855.
Hashemy, was a teak-built vessel launched at Calcutta in 1817. She was originally a country ship, trading east of the Cape of Good Hope. In 1829 she made one voyage as a whaler in the Southern Whale Fishery. From 1846 on she made several voyages transporting people, notably coolies from India to British Guiana, and convicts to Australia. She was probably hulked in Bengal c.1867.
