|
|
The
very day we landed upon the Fatal Shore
The planters stood among us,
full twenty score or more;
They ranked us up like horses
and sold us out of hand,
They chained us up to pull the
plough, upon Van Dieman's Land.
Convict Ballad circa 1825
|
| Transportation |
|
In 1787 a fleet was sent by the
British Government to colonise Australia. The fleet that made landfall on January 26 1788
carried 1,030 people. 736 of theses were convicts. The practice of transporting criminals
to Australia had begun. By the time the last ship arrived in January 1868 160,000 people
had been taken into exile. One of these was Peter Larkman. |
 |
| The Second Fleet |
|
The Second Fleet sailed from Portsmouth on
19th January 1790. It comprised Lady Juliana and three transports: Surprize,
Neptune and Scarborough. Scarborough had also sailed in the
First Fleet three years earlier. The ships were contracted from Camden, Calvert and King.
The contract provided for the convicts to be transported, clothed and fed for a fee of
£17 7s 6d per head. The sum was due whether they landed alive or dead. |
|
| Scarborough |
|
Peter was transported on 'Scarborough'.
Scarborough was 418 tons, was built in Scarborough and had been launched in 1781.
Headroom on the lower decks was limited to four feet five inches. Horizontal space was as
restricted; four convicts shared forty two square feet. Its master was John Marshall and
surgeon Augustus Jacob Beyer. |
|
| The Voyage |
|
The voyage took 160 days. It was the worst in
the history of transportation. Of the 1200 plus convicts who embarked in Portsmouth 277
died during the voyage. On Scarborough 73 of the 253 died. 'The starving
prisoners lay chilled to the bone on soaked bedding, unexercised, crusted with salt, shit
and vomit, festering with scurvy and boils'. |
|
| Peter Larkman |
|
|
What I know of Peter is very limited. He was probably in his middle to early twenties. He was sentenced at in
Norfolk in 1787 to seven years. Convicts were
normally sentenced to 7 or 14 year terms but others received sentences of 10 years and
life. If they were well behaved, convicts were not usually required to serve their full
terms and could qualify for a Ticket of Leave, Certificate of Freedom, Conditional Pardon
or even an Absolute Pardon. With good conduct, a
convict serving a seven year term usually qualified for a Ticket of Leave after 4-5 years
and those serving 14 years could expect to serve between 6-8 years. Lifers could qualify
for their Ticket after about 10-12 years. Those who failed to qualify for a pardon were
entitled to a Certificate of Freedom on the completion of their term which was calculated
from their trial date.
His crime, in the modern context, was
probably petty. Crimes of the convicts transported on the First Fleet included minor
theft, highway robbery, cattle and sheep robbery, swindling and forgery.
I do not know if he survived the voyage. |
 |
| Australia |
|
|
Scarborough arrived in New South
Wales on 28th June 1790. In 1790 the British colony
of New South Wales comprised the entire eastern half of the Australian continent and
stretched out into the Pacific Ocean where it took in numerous islands, including the
north and south islands of New Zealand. Early convicts were all sent to Botany Bay, but by
the early 1800s they were also being sent directly to other locations. The main
destinations were Botany Bay, Norfolk Island, Van Diemen's Land, Port Macquarie and
Moreton Bay. Conditions on the new
continent were harsh and the regime often brutal. The convicts were essential labour for
the free colonists. Even after their sentence was complete many convicts remained working
for the same masters in a different but not much changed relationship. |
 |
| Acknowledgements |
|
|
Much of the factual detail is taken from two
sources 'The Fatal Shore' by Robert Hughes and 'Tracing your
family history in Australia: a guide to sources', Nick Vine Hall, Adelaide: Rigby,
1994. The direct quotation is from 'The Fatal Shore'. The following web sites were also of great help.
Home Page
of Lesley Uebel
First
Families 2001 |
|
| If you
can add to my information on Peter Larkman please email me. |
|
