The Transportation Of Convicts

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Summary


In the 18th century about 115 000 people of the 500 000 inhabitants of London were dealing with illegal activity and the police was clearly shorthanded. Something had to be done to try to control the constantly arising law-breaking and all the sudden crimes that before had been punished with flogging or branding could now be punished with a death sentence. The ones that did not get a death sentence were to be transported to Botany Bay, Australia. The conditions onboard the ships were indescribable. Many never saw daylight during the voyage and the weak and sick ones did not stand a chance. When the ships finally reached Botany Bay many of the convicts who survived were very weak. They had been promised fertile soil and fresh water but what they saw was land that had been dried out from the warm sun with only a few trees. Another thing that scared the convicts and worried the captain and his crew was the dark-skinned, completely naked natives who yelled at them and tried to scare them of with their spears. Those people were the so called Aborigines. The British did not even try to strike deals with them and how the Aborigines were treated is therefore a tragic story.

Introduction

Crime flourished in Britain in the 18th and 19th century. Poorness and poverty had its hands over the country and desperate acts were constantly made in trying to change it. Convicts were being shipped from Britain to other parts of the world because of the overcrowded jails.
The conditions onboard were worse than anyone could ever imagine but people ignored it so that they did not have to take any responsibility. All the courts cared about was to get the criminals out of the country or hanged. This is not something that everyone is aware of today and it was only after I read a book called “Mary”, which is about the convicts, that I realized just how terrible life was for the convicted. After I had read it I knew that I had to find out more information about the convicts’ journey from England to Australia. When I was given this assignment to write whatever I wanted regarding Great Britain I knew right away that this is what I wanted to write about. The convicts suffered dreadful things and lived in the most disgusting conditions so with this work I wanted to describe or just give you a hint of what their life looked like. I had so many questions that demanded answers but I finally decided to base my work on three different questions that follows after this introduction. One other interesting thing is how the people that already lived on the island, the Aborigines reacted to invaders and how they were treated.

 Why were the convicts being shipped to Australia? What kinds of crime did they have to commit to deserve transportation?

 How were the conditions in England, on the boats and at the arrival?

 How did the Aborigines react to the intruders and what happened to them.

Why were the convicts being shipped to Australia? What kinds of crime did they have to commit to deserve transportation?

The cities, especially London, were overcrowded and the majority of the people were very poor so large and dirty slums developed everywhere. The slums were dangerous places, not only did diseases spread quickly but also did the number of criminals increase. In the 18th century about 115 000 people of the 500 000 inhabitants of London were dealing with illegal activity and the police was clearly shorthanded. Something had to be done to try to control the constantly arising lawn-breaking ness and all the sudden crimes that before had been punished with flogging or branding could now be punished with a death sentence. The ones that did not get a death sentence were to be transported to British colonies in America and work on plantations but after almost seventy years of transportation America said “no”. It was the American Revolution that changed their minds and after that they no longer accepted any prisoners from Britain. This caused big problems in Britain since crime kept on increasing but they now had nowhere to put their prisoners. It did not take long before the jails where full so they tried something new, the Hulks act. By passing the Hulks act prisoners were allowed to be kept in old navy ships off the coasts and in rivers. But this way was not as “good” as the transportations had been so after eight years (1784) they decided to start the transportation of prisoners again but the question was “where to”? They had to investigate this so a committee was set up to find a suitable place. There were some few potential sites like for example West and Southwest Africa but both included risks for fatal diseases so they were rejected. Then a man named Joseph Banks suggested Botany Bay and after three years of planning the first expedition to Botany Bay, known as the First Fleet, lead by Captain Arthur Phillip left the harbour of Portsmouth.
On the first ships there were never any murderers or political prisoners since they were hanged but later on, when the London’s police force suddenly increased many ships carried those kinds of criminals. If you stole a piece of bread that would be enough to get you transported for seven years and in worst cases for life. The convicts had committed a variety of crimes but the length of the transportation sentence was often a standard where the convict got either seven, fourteen years or transportation for life. The British courts were cruel and harsh. They considered that transportation for life was a reasonably punishment for, for example, prostitutes, card-dealers, Irish rebels, mutineers and thieves. Most of the convicts were in fact thieves but many stole just so that they could survive because of the poorness and poverty. When the convicts had served their time it was up to themselves to get back home so many never returned after completing their sentence.

How were the conditions in England, on the ships and at the arrival?

As I wrote above there were several slums in larger cities of England. The conditions were horrifying, worse than any of us can imagine. The streets were extremely dirty and poorness and poverty were the only things that existed for most of the people. People stole bread to be able to survive and if they got caught it could lead to a death sentence. Prostitution was everywhere and so was violence. Murder was a common thing in the every day life as many other crimes. The smell from vomits and other disgusting things could not be ignored, if you were not one of the few wealthy ones that is. Also the rats and diseases were everywhere. There were of course people who had better conditions but for most of the people almost every day was a struggle for life. The jails were even worse since people had to be pushed in even smaller and overcrowded areas. The persons who worked at the jails had only one duty and that was to keep the prisoners locked in, nothing else. So they took no care what so ever of the prisoners. Because of these lousy conditions people often thought that they would get much better ones to where they were headed but it did not take long before they realized exactly how wrong they were. The conditions onboard the ships were indescribable. Just imagine a small and cramped room without windows, constantly seesawing, a most terrible smell that never goes away no matter how hard you try to ignore it, overcrowded with dying people everywhere and two buckets which were always overfull. What you are imagining right now is still not even close to how the reality was. The convicts were kept below deck and the men were often restrained in chains. To be on deck to execute an assignment and to breathe fresh air was a luxury that few of the convicts could enjoy. Many never saw daylight during the voyage and the weak and sick ones did not stand a chance. Seasickness and diseases made life even more difficult. Convicted women who had children often brought them and tried their best to protect during the voyage. Some ships were better than others like if they had a carrying Captain who made shore to get the people on deck as often as possible and that they were fed but this was unfortunately rare. The worse Captains never allowed the convicts breathe fresh air and often inflicted cruel punishment to maintain order.
When the convicts were given food everything was a struggle. There was no order and since the food was ransomed there was always very little for everyone. The strongest could easily lay their hands on more food than they were supposed to get which lead to that the weak and sick ones did not get any sometimes.
Men and women were always kept apart from each other except when they were working on deck. Many of the female convicts were or became prostitutes while trying to improve their situation but in best cases all it lead to was more food. The ship did not take a direct route as you can se on the picture in the appendix. It took eight months for the First Fleet to travel from England to Australia but how long it took for every ship was of course depending on the weather. When the ships finally reached Botany Bay many of the convicts who survived were very weak. The death rates varied depending on how the conditions onboard had been but the worst death rate ever was in 1799 when 95 of the 300 convicts died because of typhoid, that is more than 30 percent! Some people still had hope for the land that they were to spend several years on but even Captain Phillip was disappointed when he first laid eyes on Botany Bay. They had been promised fertile soil and fresh water but what they saw was land that had been dried out from the warm sun with only a few trees. Another thing that scared the convicts and worried Captain Phillip and his crew was the dark-skinned, completely naked natives who yelled at them and tried to scare them of with their spears. Those people were the so called Aborigines. The conditions at Botany Bay were better than the ones on the boats but certainly not good. They called it “Hell”, half of the convicts lived in chains and it was just as poor and miserable as before. They had to work harder than ever before and the only thing that kept them going was rum. The majority of the convicts were men so the women married men just so that they would be protected. Not until 1868 did the British stop shipping convicts to Australia and during the years of 1787-1868, more than 162 000 convicts had suffered terrible journeys.

How did the Aborigines react to the intruders and what happened to them?

They tried their best to scare the white men away from their territory, which the English by the way did not consider “taken”. According to the British concept to own land you could only own it if you had explored or somewhat developed it and the Aborigines did not do any of those things. They were hunters and did not built shelters or houses, they also did not cultivate the earth, and in fact they did not to anything to change the environment. So the British thought that they had every right to take control over the country and simply pushed the Aborigines away. The British did not even try to strike deals with them and how the Aborigines were treated is therefore a tragic story. They had no experience from war so they did not know how to resist the invaders. They had always lived in balance with nature, nature that the invaders now destroyed. The Aborigines believed in “The image of endless space and unfenced horizons, of a world where time and distance did not matter. The dream ended, abruptly, with the arrival of people who trapped the unmeasured space with instruments and carried time in their pockets.” This quotation describes what the invaders did to the Aborigines and it gives a small sense of how they were feeling. The invaders drove them away from their territories and many were killed. They were never taken seriously; the people did not care for what happened to them and tried to ignore them. The Aborigines had to settle with worthless land like desserts. The Europeans brought diseases to the island, diseases that the Aborigines had no natural resistance against so they became less and less. On the island of Tasmania no one survived. Before the invaders came to the island (1788) there were approximately 750 000 Aborigines but a hundred years later their numbers had fallen to 50 000. Today most of the Aborigines live on the streets and are addicted to alcohol. Many people commit suicide to escape their desperation but there is still some hope left for the Aborigines.

Conclusion

The surviving convicts went through things that we never can imagine and to know that it was people who treated other human beings in this way is something that I cannot even begin to understand. After having done this work I feel both sad and angry. All this is unforgivable, it does not matter what you are convicted for because no one deserves this kind of tre...