Extract 2 from A Rebel Hand: Nicholas Delaney of 1798
by Patricia and Frances Owen
Nicholas transported: on board the convict ship
1798 monument, Carnew, Co Wicklow
Transportation
[After 16 months in Wicklow Gaol, Nicholas and 207 other male prisoners sailed from Cork on May 18, 1802 on Atlas II, captained by the relatively humane Thomas Musgrave.]
He and his fellow convicts spent these months in dangerously overcrowded gaols; the overflow was herded onto moored derelict, mastless ships known as hulks. There, in the foul air, stinking of wounds and excrement, they had to wait until ships were chartered and ready to sail. The unlucky ones died of ‘gaol fever’, a virulent form of typhus which was endemic in prisons and frequent in the hulks.
Once a ship was in the bay, the ragged and filthy convicts were stripped, scrubbed and dressed in new canvas shirts in order to reduce the likelihood of infection spreading through the ship. They were then chained together and packed in batches of 120 into long cabins. It is a reflection on the conditions on land that prisoners competed to get out of the gaols and hulks and onto the transport ships – whatever might lie ahead...
Convicts transported to America had been assigned to their ships’ masters for the length of their sentences. The captains could sell on the services of their convicts; they therefore had a reason to protect their human cargo and land them in good health.
This was not what happened to convicts sent to Australia. Though they were still assigned to the ships’ masters for the voyage, once they arrived, the assignment automatically passed to the colonial governor. There was little financial incentive for the captains to look after the convicts, although the governor might set up an enquiry into cases of outstanding malpractice or attempted mutiny. Prisoners were regarded as goods rather than as people. Captains were paid a sum for every convict shipped out and an extra amount if the transportee was still alive when the ship arrived in the colony. Presumably the ships’ other cargo gained their masters enough profit to make the humans on board relatively dispensable...
Most of Nicholas Delaney's time on the five-month journey was spent below decks, crammed close to his fellow convicts in the heat of unwashed bodies in an equatorial crossing. The prisoners' monotonous diet often resulted in scurvy, which could cause anaemia, loss of teeth, bleeding beneath the skin, mood-swings and depression. This, with the savage punishment of breaches of discipline, made the voyage a test of mental and physical endurance.
Atlas II
Consolations on the voyage out would have included the company of fellow convicts from Nicholas's own area, including the other men tried with him: Edward Neil, James Dempsey, Patrick Stafford and John Kavanagh. Other south Wicklow men convicted on Bridget Dolan's "discredited" evidence and transported on the same ship were Ned Neil's friend John Nowlan as well as Richard Carr and Patrick Murray. The 'Dolan' group seems to have kept in touch in Australia; we know that Stafford stayed in contact with Nicholas and Dempsey for at least 10 years.
Irish political prisoners vastly outnumbered the common criminals in the hold of Atlas II. This shared past, absence of brutality both among the convicts themselves and their treatment by the ship's officers, would have mitigated the grimness of Nicholas's experience.
Captain Musgrave took the view that his was no ordinary cargo of petty criminals. Out of the 208 prisoners, he said:
"One hundred and ninety men were charged as political offenders, and had been guilty of no apparent behaviour that could be considered criminal... these men, for a political view contrary to that of the authorities... were being transported, therefore I could not recommend nor condemn the views of either the United Irishmen or the Authorities."
If you're interested in Nicholas's life story, Irish history or the early days of Australia, here are some extracts from the book. If you like them, let us know and we'll add some more.
Of course, we hardly need to mention that all original text and images on this site are copyright. But if you'd like to use some of them for attributed research, private distribution or publication, email us at arebelhand@gmail.com.
[After 16 months in Wicklow Gaol, Nicholas and 207 other male prisoners sailed from Cork on May 18, 1802 on Atlas II, captained by the relatively humane Thomas Musgrave.]
He and his fellow convicts spent these months in dangerously overcrowded gaols; the overflow was herded onto moored derelict, mastless ships known as hulks. There, in the foul air, stinking of wounds and excrement, they had to wait until ships were chartered and ready to sail. The unlucky ones died of ‘gaol fever’, a virulent form of typhus which was endemic in prisons and frequent in the hulks.
Once a ship was in the bay, the ragged and filthy convicts were stripped, scrubbed and dressed in new canvas shirts in order to reduce the likelihood of infection spreading through the ship. They were then chained together and packed in batches of 120 into long cabins. It is a reflection on the conditions on land that prisoners competed to get out of the gaols and hulks and onto the transport ships – whatever might lie ahead...
Convicts transported to America had been assigned to their ships’ masters for the length of their sentences. The captains could sell on the services of their convicts; they therefore had a reason to protect their human cargo and land them in good health.
This was not what happened to convicts sent to Australia. Though they were still assigned to the ships’ masters for the voyage, once they arrived, the assignment automatically passed to the colonial governor. There was little financial incentive for the captains to look after the convicts, although the governor might set up an enquiry into cases of outstanding malpractice or attempted mutiny. Prisoners were regarded as goods rather than as people. Captains were paid a sum for every convict shipped out and an extra amount if the transportee was still alive when the ship arrived in the colony. Presumably the ships’ other cargo gained their masters enough profit to make the humans on board relatively dispensable...
Most of Nicholas Delaney's time on the five-month journey was spent below decks, crammed close to his fellow convicts in the heat of unwashed bodies in an equatorial crossing. The prisoners' monotonous diet often resulted in scurvy, which could cause anaemia, loss of teeth, bleeding beneath the skin, mood-swings and depression. This, with the savage punishment of breaches of discipline, made the voyage a test of mental and physical endurance.
Atlas II
Consolations on the voyage out would have included the company of fellow convicts from Nicholas's own area, including the other men tried with him: Edward Neil, James Dempsey, Patrick Stafford and John Kavanagh. Other south Wicklow men convicted on Bridget Dolan's "discredited" evidence and transported on the same ship were Ned Neil's friend John Nowlan as well as Richard Carr and Patrick Murray. The 'Dolan' group seems to have kept in touch in Australia; we know that Stafford stayed in contact with Nicholas and Dempsey for at least 10 years.
Irish political prisoners vastly outnumbered the common criminals in the hold of Atlas II. This shared past, absence of brutality both among the convicts themselves and their treatment by the ship's officers, would have mitigated the grimness of Nicholas's experience.
Captain Musgrave took the view that his was no ordinary cargo of petty criminals. Out of the 208 prisoners, he said:
"One hundred and ninety men were charged as political offenders, and had been guilty of no apparent behaviour that could be considered criminal... these men, for a political view contrary to that of the authorities... were being transported, therefore I could not recommend nor condemn the views of either the United Irishmen or the Authorities."
If you're interested in Nicholas's life story, Irish history or the early days of Australia, here are some extracts from the book. If you like them, let us know and we'll add some more.
Of course, we hardly need to mention that all original text and images on this site are copyright. But if you'd like to use some of them for attributed research, private distribution or publication, email us at arebelhand@gmail.com.
To purchase a copy of A Rebel Hand: Nicholas Delaney of 1798: From Ireland to Australia by Patricia and Frances Owen (Banner, 1999, ISBN 0 9533418 0 1), please go to the Contact Us page
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