Chapter IX: Convict Ships and Convict Settlements

More work opened before the indefatigable worker. Frequently batches of female convicts were despatched to New South Wales, and, according to the custom at Newgate, departure was preceded by total disregard of order. Windows, furniture, clothing, all were wantonly destroyed; while the procession from the prison to the convict ship was one of brutal, debasing riot. The convicts were conveyed to Deptford, in open wagons, accompanied by the rabble and scum of the populace. These crowds followed the wagons, shouting to the prisoners, defying all regulations, and inciting them to more defiance of rules. Some of the convicts were laden with irons; others were chained together by twos. Mrs. Fry addressed herself first to the manner of departure, and, rightly judging that the open wagons conduced to much disorder, prevailed on the governor of Newgate to engage hackney-coaches for the occasion. Further, she promised the women that, provided they would behave in an orderly manner, she, together with a few other ladies, would accompany them to the ship. Faithful to her promise, her carriage closed the line of hackney-coaches; three or four ladies were with her, and thus, in a fashion at once strangely quiet and novel, the transports reached the place of embarkation.

There were one hundred and twenty-eight convicts that day; no small number upon which to experimentalize. As soon as they reached the ship they were herded together below decks like so many cattle, with nothing to do but to curse, swear, fight, recount past crimes, relate foul stories, or plot future evil. True, there was some attempt at order and classification, for they were divided into messes of six each, and Mrs. Fry eagerly seized upon this arrangement to form a basis of control. She proposed to the convicts that they should be arranged in classes of twelve, according to ages and criminality; to this they assented. A class thus furnished two messes, while over each class was placed one of the most steady convicts, in order to enforce the rules as much as possible. She provided in this way for superintendence.

The next arrangement concerned work for the women, and instruction for the children. "Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to do;" accordingly the ladies looked about for plans and methods whereby the enforced weariness of a long voyage should be counteracted. They had heard that patch-work and fancy-work found a ready sale in New South Wales, so they hit upon a scheme which should ensure success in more ways than one. Having made known their dilemma, and their desires, they were cheered by receiving from some wholesale houses in London sufficient remnants of cotton print and materials for knitting to furnish all the convicts with work. There was ample time to perfect all arrangements, seeing that the ship lay at Deptford about five weeks; as the result of Mrs. Fry's journeys to and fro, every woman had given to her the chance of benefiting herself. In this way they were informed that if they chose to devote the leisure of the voyage to making up the materials thus placed in their hands, they would be allowed upon arrival at the colony to dispose of the articles for their own profit.

There was thus a new stimulus to exertion as well as a collateral good. Hitherto, no refuge, home, or building of any description had existed for the housing of the women when landed at the port of disembarkation. There was "not so much as a hut in which they could take refuge, so that they were literally driven to vice, or left to lie in the streets." The system of convict-management at that date was one of compulsory labor, or mostly so. This plan tended to produce tyranny, insubordination, deception, vice, and "the social evil." In the case of men, Captain Mackonochie testified that they were sullen, lazy, insubordinate and vicious; the women, if not engaged quickly in respectable domestic service, and desirous of being kept respectable, become curses to the colony. But by the means adopted by Mrs. Fry each woman was enabled to earn sufficient money to provide for board and lodging until some opening for a decent maintenance presented itself. They thus obtained a fair start.

Provision was also made for instruction of both women and children on board ship. It may be asked how children came there? Generally they were of tender years and the offspring of vice; the authorities could do nothing with them; so, perforce, they were allowed to accompany their mothers. Out of the batch on board this transport-vessel, fourteen were found to be of an age capable of instruction. A small space was, therefore, set apart in the stern of the vessel for a school-room, and there, daily, under the tuition of one of the women better taught than the rest, these waifs of humanity learned to read, knit and sew. This slender stock of learning was better than none, wherewith to commence life at the Antipodes.

Almost daily, for five weeks, Mrs. Fry and her coadjutors visited the vessel, laboring to these good ends. Ultimately, however, the _Maria_ had to sail, and many were the doubts and fears as to whether the good work begun would be carried on when away from English shores. No matron was there to superintend and to direct the women: if they continued in the path marked out for them, their poor human nature could not be so fallen after all. Mrs. Fry had a kind of religious service with the convicts the last time she visited them. She occupied a position near the door of the cabin, with the women facing her, and ranged on the quarter-deck, while the sailors occupied different positions in the rigging and on other vantage points. As Mrs. Fry read in a solemn voice some passages from her pocket-Bible, the sailors on board the other ships leaned over to hear the sacred words. After the reading was done, she knelt down, and commended the party of soon-to-be exiles to God's mercy, while those for whom she prayed sobbed bitterly that they should see her face no more. Does it not recall the parting of Paul with the elders at Miletus? Doubtless the memory of that simple service was in after days often the only link between some of these women and goodness.

As time went on, many anxious remembrances and hopes were cast after the convicts who had been shipped to New South Wales. To her sorrow, she found, from the most reliable testimony, that once the poor lost wretches were landed in the colony, they were placed in circumstances that absolutely nullified all the benevolent work which had gone before, and were literally driven by force of circumstances to their destruction. The female convicts, from the time of their landing, were "without shelter, without resources, and without protection. Rations, or a small amount of provision, sufficient to maintain life, they certainly had allotted to them daily; but a place to sleep in, or money to obtain shelter or necessary clothing for themselves, and, when mothers, for their children, they were absolutely without." An interesting but sad letter was received by Mrs. Fry from the Rev. Samuel Marsden, chaplain at Paramatta, New South Wales, and although long, it affords so much information on this question, that no apology is required for introducing it here. As the testimony of an eyewitness it is valuable:--

HONORED MADAM,

Having learned from the public papers, as well as from my friends
in England, the lively interest you have taken in promoting the
temporal and eternal welfare of those unhappy females who fall
under the sentence of the law, I am induced to address a few lines
to you respecting such as visit our distant shores. It may be
gratifying to you, Madam, to hear that I meet with those wretched
exiles, who have shared your attentions, and who mention your
maternal care with gratitude and affection. From the measures you
have adopted, and the lively interest you have excited in the
public feeling, on the behalf of these miserable victims of vice
and woe, I now hope the period is not very distant when their
miseries will be in some degree alleviated. I have been striving
for more than twenty years to obtain for them some relief, but
hitherto have done them little good. It has not been in my power to
move those in authority to pay much attention to their wants and
miseries. I have often been urged in my own mind, to make an appeal
to the British nation, and to lay their case before the public.

In the year 1807, I returned to Europe. Shortly after my arrival in
London, I stated in a memorial to His Grace the Archbishop of
Canterbury the miserable situation of the female convicts, to His
Majesty's Government at the Colonial Office, and to several members
of the House of Commons. From the assurances that were then made,
that barracks should be built for the accommodation of the female
convicts, I entertained no doubt but that the Government would have
given instructions to the Governor to make some provisions for
them. On my return to the colony, in 1810, I found things in the
same state I left them; five years after my again arriving in the
colony, I took the liberty to speak to the Governor, as opportunity
afforded, on the subject in question, and was surprised to learn
that no instructions had been communicated to His Excellency from
His Majesty's Government, after what had passed between me and
those in authority at home, relative to the state of the female
convicts. At length I resolved to make an official statement of
their miserable situation to the Governor, and, if the Governor did
not feel himself authorized to build a barrack for them, to
transmit my memorial to my friends in England, with His
Excellency's answer, as a ground for them to renew my former
application to Government for some relief. Accordingly, I forwarded
my memorial, with a copy of the Governor's answer, home to more
than one of my friends. I have never been convinced that no
instructions were given by His Majesty's Government to provide
barracks for the female convicts; on the contrary, my mind is
strongly impressed in that instructions were given; if they were
not, I can only say that this was a great omission, after the
promises that were made. I was not ignorant that the sending home
of my letter to the Governor and his answer, would subject me to
the censure as well as the displeasure of my superiors. I informed
some of my friends in England, as well as in the colony, that if no
attention was paid to the female convicts, I was determined to lay
their case before the British nation; and then I was certain, from
the moral and religious feeling which pervades all ranks, that
redress would be obtained. However, nothing has been done yet to
remedy the evils of which I complain. For the last five and twenty
years many of the convict women have been driven to vice to obtain
a loaf of bread, or a bed to lie upon. To this day there never has
been a place to put the female convicts in when they land from the
ships. Many of the women have told me with tears their distress of
mind on this account; some would have been glad to have returned to
the paths of virtue if they could have found a hut to live in
without forming improper connections. Some of these women, when
they have been brought before the magistrate, and I have
remonstrated with them for their crime, have replied, "I have no
other means of living; I am compelled to give my weekly allowance
of provisions for my lodgings, and I must starve or live in vice."
I was well aware that this statement was correct, and was often at
a loss what to answer. It is not only the calamities that these
wretched women and their children suffer that are to be regretted,
but the general corruption of morals that such a system establishes
in this rising colony, and the ruin their example spreads through
all the settlements. The male convicts in the service of the Crown,
or in that of individuals, are tempted to rob and plunder
continually, to supply the urgent necessities of those women.

All the female convicts have not run the same lengths in vice. All
are not equally hardened in crime, and it is most dreadful that all
should alike, on their arrival here, be liable and exposed to the
same dangerous temptations, without any remedy. I rejoice, Madam,
that you reside near the seat of Government, and may have it in
your power to call the attention of His Majesty's Ministers to this
important subject--a subject in which the entire welfare of these
settlements is involved. If proper care be taken of the women, the
colony will prosper, and the expenses of the mother-country will be
reduced. On the contrary, if the morals of the female convicts are
wholly neglected, as they have been hitherto, the colony will be
only a nursery for crime....

Your good intentions and benevolent labors will all be abortive if
the exiled females, on their arrival in the colony, are plunged
into every ruinous temptation and sort of vice--which will ever be
the case till some barrack is provided for them. Great evils in a
state cannot soon be remedied.... I believe the Governor has got
instructions from home to provide accommodation for the female
convicts, and I hope in two or three years to see them lodged in a
comfortable barrack; so that none shall be lost for want of a hut
to lie in. If a communication be kept up on a regular plan between
this colony and London, much good may be done for the poor female
convicts. It was the custom for some years, when a ship with female
convicts arrived, soldiers, convicts, and settlers were allowed to
go on board and take their choice; this custom does not now openly
obtain countenance and sanction, but when they are landed they have
no friend, nor any accommodation, and therefore are glad to live
with anyone who can give them protection; so the real moral state
of these females is little improved from what it always has been,
nor will it be the least improved till they can be provided with a
barrack. The neglect of the female convicts in this country is a
disgrace to our national character, as well as a national sin. Many
do not live out half their days, from their habits of vice. When I
am called to visit them on their dying beds, my mind is greatly
pained, my mouth is shut; I know not what to say to them.... To
tell them of their crimes is to upbraid them with misfortune; they
will say, "Sir, you know how I was situated. I do not wish to lead
the life I have done; I know and lament my sins, but necessity
compelled me to do what my conscience condemned."... Many, again,
I meet with who think these things no crime, because they believe
their necessities compel them to live in their sins. Hence their
consciences are so hardened through the deceitfulness of sin, that
death itself gives them little concern....

I have the honor to be, Madam,
Your most obedient humble servant,
SAMUEL MARSDEN.

This appeal was not disregarded: in due time official apathy and inertness fled before the national cry for reform. Meanwhile, Mrs. Fry continued her efforts on behalf of the convicts on board the transports, ever urging upon those in power the imperative necessity for placing the women under the charge of matrons. They still continued on the old plan, and were wholly in the power of the sailors, except for such supervision as the Naval Surgeon Superintendent could afford. Some little improvements had taken place, since that first trip to the Maria convict-ship, but very much still remained to be done. To these floating prisons, frequently detained for weeks in the Thames, Mrs. Fry paid numerous visits, arranging for the instruction, employment, and cleanliness of the women. A worthy fellow-helper, Mrs. Pryor, was her companion, on most of these journeys, frequently enduring exposure to weather, rough seas, and accidents. On one occasion the two sisters of mercy ran the risk of drowning, but were fortunately rescued by a passing vessel. Very fortunate, indeed, was it, that a deliverer was at hand, or the little boat, toiling up the river, contending against tide, wind and weather, might have been lost. That voyage to Gravesend was only one among many destined to work a revolution in female convict life.

Alterations, which were not always improvements, began to take place in the manner of receiving these women on board ship. The vessels were moored at Woolwich, and group by group the miserable complement of passengers arrived; in each case, however, controlled by male warders. Sometimes, a turnkey would bring his party on the outside of a stage-coach; another might bring a contingent in a smack, or coasting vessel; while yet a third marched up a band of heavily-ironed women, whose dialects told from which districts they came. Sometimes their infants were left behind, and, in such a case, one of the ladies would go to Whitehall to obtain the necessary order to enable the unfortunate nursling to accompany its mother; but generally speaking, the children accompanied and shared the parents' fortunes.

Cruelties were inseparable from the customs which prevailed. In 1822, Mrs. Pryor discovered that prisoners from Lancaster Castle arrived, not merely handcuffed, but with heavy irons on their legs, which had occasioned considerable swelling, and in one instance serious inflammation. _The Brothers_ sailed in 1823, with its freight of human misery on board, and the suffering which resulted from the mode of ironing, was so great, that Mrs. Fry took down the names id particulars, in order to make representations to the Government. Twelve women arrived on board the vessel, handcuffed; eleven others had iron hoops round their legs and arms, and were chained to each other. The complaints of these women were mournful; they were not allowed to get up or down from the coach, without the whole party being dragged together; some of them had children to carry, but they received no help, no alleviation to their sufferings. One woman from Wales must have had a bitter experience of irons. She came to the ship with a hoop around her ankle, and when the sub-matron insisted on having it removed, the operation was so painful that the poor wretch fainted. She told Mrs. Fry that she had worn, for some time, an iron hoop around her waist; from that, a chain connected with hoops round her legs above the knee; from these, another chain was fastened to irons round her ankles. Not content with this, her hands were confined _every night_ to the hoop which went round her waist, while she lay like a log on her bed of straw. Such tales remind one of the tortures of the Inquisition.

The "Newgate women" were especially noticeable for good conduct on the voyage out. Their conduct was reported to be "exemplary" by the Surgeon Superintendent, and their industry was most pleasing. Their patchwork was highly prized by many, and indeed treasured up by some of them for many years after. Officers in the British navy assisted in the good work by word and deed; in fact, Captain Young, of Deptford Dockyard, first suggested the making of patchwork as an employment on board ship. From some correspondence which passed between Mrs. Fry and the Controller of the Navy, in 1820, we find that the building for the women in New South Wales was begun; while in a letter written about this time to a member of the Government, she explains her desires and plans relative to the female convicts after their arrival at Hobart Town, Tasmania.

This letter is full of interesting points. After noticing the fact of the building at Hobart Town being imperatively needed, she goes on to suggest that a respectable and judicious matron should be stationed in that building, responsible, under the Governor and magistrates, for the order of the inmates; that part of the building should be devoted to school purposes; that immediately on the arrival of a ship, a Government Inspector should visit the vessel and report; that the Surgeon Superintendent should have a description of each woman's offense, character, and capability, so that her disposal in the colony might be made in a little less hap-hazard fashion than hitherto; that the best behaved should be taken into domestic service by such of the residents of the colony as chose to coöperate, while the others should remain at the Home, under prison rules, until they have earned the privilege of going to service; and that a sufficient supply of serviceable clothing should be provided. She further recommended the adoption of a uniform dress for the convicts, as conducive to order and discipline, and, as a last and indispensable condition, the appointment of a matron, in order to enforce needful regulations. This epistle was sent with the prayer that Earl Bathurst would peruse it, and grant the requests of the writer. It is refreshing to be able to add that red tapeism did not interfere with the adoption of these suggestions, but that they met with prompt consideration.

Every year, four, five, or six convict-ships went out to the colonies of Australia with their burdens of sin, sorrow and guilt. Van Diemen's Land and New South Wales received annually fresh consignments of the outcast iniquity of the Old World. Mrs. Fry made a point of visiting each ship before it sailed, as many times as her numerous duties permitted, and bade the convicts most affectionate and anxious farewells. These good-bye visits were always semi-religious ones; without her Bible and the teaching which pointed to a better life beyond, Mrs. Fry would have been helpless to cope with the vice and misery which surged up before her. As it was, her heart sometimes grew faint and weary in the work, though not by any means weary of it. As an apostle of mercy to the well-nigh lost, she moved in and out among those sin-stricken companies.

Captain (afterwards Admiral) Young, Principal Resident Agent of Transports on the river Thames, forwarded the good work by every possible means. From the pen of one of the members of his family, we have a vivid picture of one of these leave-takings. It occurred on board a vessel lying off Woolwich, in 1826. William Wilberforce, of anti-slavery fame, and several other friends, accompanied the party. This chronicler writes:--

On board one of them [there were two convict ships lying in the
river] between two and three hundred women were assembled, in order
to listen to the exhortations and prayers of perhaps the two
brightest personifications of Christian philanthropy that the age
could boast. Scarcely could two voices even so distinguished for
beauty and power be imagined united in a more touching engagement;
as, indeed, was testified by the breathless attention, the tears
and suppressed sobs of the gathered listeners. No lapse of time can
ever efface the impression of the 107th Psalm, as read by Mrs. Fry
with such extraordinary emphasis and intonation, that it seemed to
make the simple reading a commentary.

We find in the annals of her life the particulars of another visit to the _George Hibbert_ convict-ship, in 1734. She had, about this time, pleaded earnestly with Lord Melbourne, the Home Secretary, for the appointment of matrons to these vessels. She records gratefully the fact, that both his lordship and Mr. Spring Rice received her "in the handsomest manner," giving her a most patient and appreciative hearing. She succeeded at this time in obtaining a part of the boon which she craved. Mrs. Saunders, the wife of a missionary returning to the colony, was permitted by the Government to fill the office of matron to the convicts. For this service, Government gave the lady a free passage. There was double advantage in this, because, when by reason of sea-sickness, Mrs. Saunders felt ill, Mr. Saunders occupied her place as far as possible, and performed the duties of chaplain and school-master. The Ladies' British Society, formed by Mrs. Fry, for the superintendence of this and other good works relating to convicts and prisons, united in promoting the appointment of this worthy couple, and were highly gratified at the result of the experiment; as appears by extracts from the books of the Convict Ship Committee. Finally, when the voyage was ended, the Surgeon Superintendent gave good-conduct tickets to all whose behavior had been satisfactory, and secured them engagements in respectable situations. Better than all, there was a proper building which ensured shelter, classification, and restraint. The horrors of the outcast life, so vividly described by Mr. Marsden in his letter from Paramatta, no longer existed. The work of these ladies, uphill though it had been, was now bearing manifold fruit. And the results of this more humane and rational system of treatment upon the future of the colonies themselves could not but appear in time. There were on board this very vessel, the _George Hibbert_, 150 female convicts, with forty-one children; also nine free women, carrying with them twenty-three young children, who were going out to their husbands who had been transported previously. When it is remembered that these people were laying the foundations of new colonies, and peopling them with their descendants, it must be conceded that in her efforts to humanize and christianize them, Mrs. Fry's far-reaching philanthropy became a great national benefit. With modest thankfulness, she herself records, after an interview with Queen Adelaide and some of the royal family, "Surely, the result of our labors has hitherto been beyond our most sanguine expectations, as to the improved state of our prisons, female convict-ships, and the convicts in New South Wales."