Note: This post is part of a series on Convict Transportation to the American colonies.

Many of the surviving accounts of events involving transported convicts tend to focus on unusual circumstances or notorious criminals. Most of the convicts sent overseas, however, were minor criminals who committed petty acts of crime. These common criminals did not garner the attention that some of the more serious offenders did, so their individual stories did not get written up in the press, and most of them were illiterate, so they did not leave behind journals chronicling their own experiences.

This article profiles some of the convict passengers on board the Jonathan, which left London on February 19, 1723. The Jonathan was a former slave ship and at the time it was the newest addition to Jonathan Forward’s fleet of convict ships. This voyage has a slight advantage over most others when it comes to profiling the convicts it carried, because its passenger records indicate the age, profession, and appearance of each convict. One of the passengers has already appeared in the introduction to this series, James Bell, who was transported to America for stealing a book. Here are the stories of some of the other convicts who accompanied him on his journey.

John Watkins

On December 6, 1722, John Watkins, a 21 year-old carpenter with brown hair, was walking along a wharf on the River Thames not far from where he lived. He came upon a pile of raisins sitting out in the open and made an impulsive, yet fateful, decision. He grabbed a basket of raisins, which was later valued at 8 shillings and continued on his way. He was easily caught, however, and the owners of the raisins, Benjamin Longuet and Mark Weyland, brought him to trial on January 16, 1724 at the Old Bailey.

Theft along the wharves of the Thames was rampant at the time, and the two owners must have been eager to prosecute him. Watkins was found guilty of simple grand larceny, and he was sentenced to transportation to the American colonies for 7 years.

Margaret Hayes

On December 1, 1722, Margaret Hayes walked into a shop and began to bargain with Elizabeth Reynolds, the shop’s owner, over the price of some stockings. Hayes was a 30-year-old widow with a dark complexion, and she lived in the parish of St. Giles-in-the-Fields, a section of London notorious for heavy gin drinking. In the middle of the negotiations, Hayes grabbed a pair of stockings on display that were valued at two shillings and ran out of the shop.

Reynolds quickly called out after her, and several people who heard Reynolds’ cries moved to stop her. Realizing that she was going to be caught, Hayes dropped the stockings on the ground, but they were quickly picked up along with the offender. Hayes was swiftly brought to trial on December 5, and even though she denied ever having gone into the shop, she was found guilty of theft. The jury, however, showed some sympathy for her by devaluing the goods she took to ten pence, thereby ensuring a sentence of transportation to the American colonies for 7 years, as opposed to death by hanging.

Sarah Nutt

On November 25, 1722, Sarah Nutt entered Joseph Manning’s chandler shop and sat down by the fire to have a drink, quite possibly gin. Chandlers often sold more than just candles and specialized in selling basic items, like coal and soap, in small quantities to the poor. They also offered food staples at prices below what they would normally cost at an alehouse. The poor tended to rely on them for their daily allowance of bread, cheese, and small beer, but, as the gin craze increasingly took hold in the eighteenth century, increasingly just bread and gin. Chandlers were generally considered the lowest type of shopkeeper.

Nutt was 22 years old at the time, had brown hair, and was unmarried. She lived in the parish of St. James’s Clerkenwell not far from New Prison. At one point, while Nutt was enjoying her drink, Manning leaned over to stir the fire. Nutt quickly slipped a handkerchief out of his coat pocket and took it with her when she left. Nutt later discovered that a gold ring was wrapped in the handkerchief she took. She decided to give the ring to Mary Herrick, a cook, as repayment for a debt she owed her for some food. Herrick in turn sold the ring to Nutt’s cousin, Mary Mark.

Missing his handkerchief and gold ring, Manning was eventually able to trace the ring back to Mark, and he brought Nutt to trial on December 5. Nutt admitted that she took the handkerchief and the gold ring, which was valued at 5 shillings. She was found guilty of pickpocketing, which carried an automatic death sentence if the goods stolen were valued over one shilling. Sometimes juries would devalue the stolen goods so as to avoid handing down such a severe penalty, as was the case with Margaret Hayes, but in this case they showed Nutt little sympathy. She was sentenced to death. Two months later, however, she received a conditional pardon and was transported to the American colonies for 14 years.

Other Trials

The set of trials that were held on the day that John Watkins was convicted of stealing the basket of raisons was not without its theater. John Dyer, a hatmaker, was accused of stealing 3 hats from a workshop, even though he claimed that they were given to him on the street by a man who was drunk. In a case of hotel theft, John Harris, a 25 year-old baker, was indicted for taking a pair of flaxen sheets from the Windmill-Inn on St. John’s Street after spending the night there. The two were found guilty and sentenced along with Watkins to transportation for 7 years.

Sarah Wells, otherwise known as “Callico Sarah,” also faced trial on that same day in February for returning early from transportation. Two years earlier, she was found guilty of stealing a silver watch, for which she received a sentence of death. After receiving her sentence, she and five other women who also faced death all “pleaded their bellies,” i.e., they claimed to be pregnant in the hope that they could delay their execution. Only one of the six was actually found by a jury of matrons to be pregnant, and it was not Wells. Even though she wasn’t pregnant, Wells was able to avoid execution through a pardon on condition of being transported to America for 14 years.

At her subsequent trial for returning early from transportation, Wells was once again found guilty and sentenced to death, and once again she tried the same tactic of pleading her belly. This time it worked. She was indeed found to be pregnant. This change of events helped her to secure yet another conditional pardon, and she was transported a second time to America under a 14-year sentence. Wells did not travel on the Jonathan, though, perhaps so she could have her baby before being transported, and instead went out on the next ship, the Alexander, in July 1723.

The Voyage

On February 18, 1723, James Bell, John Watkins, Margaret Hayes, Sarah, Nutt, John Dyer, and John Harris, along with 30 other convicted felons, including a brickmaker, a wheelwright, 3 weavers, a painter, and a glass grinder, were paraded through the London streets from Newgate Prison to the docks along the Thames to board the Jonathan.

Jonathan Forward put Darby Lux in place as captain of his new ship. Lux had served as captain of the Gilbert on two previous convict voyages to America. On board Lux’s first voyage in October, 1720, was none other than Sarah Wells, who was on her first trip to America for theft. At the time, she, along with several other convicts, did not appear on the landing certificate for the Gilbert, so she may have escaped and returned to London before or soon after the ship arrived in Maryland, which explains why she appeared back in court for returning early from transportation.

The voyage of the Jonathan was difficult for at least some of the convict passengers. Elizabeth Knight, who was found guilty of stealing two riding hoods valued at 2 shillings, died during the voyage, as did Charles Lynch, who along with his brother ran away with a bag of clothes belonging to a traveler who had stopped to ask them directions.

All of these convicts transported in the Jonathan were fairly typical of those who committed crimes that fell under the Transportation Act. What happened to the Jonathan after it arrived in America, however, was not typical. Sometime after the Jonathan landed in Annapolis, Maryland, the ship caught fire and sank, so Jonathan Forward’s newest member of his fleet made only one voyage to America under his ownership. The authorities suspected that the convicts were responsible for setting the fire.

Darby Lux made many more trips transporting convicts across the ocean before settling in Maryland after his final voyage in 1738 to become Forward’s principal agent in America.

Resources for this article:

• “The Chronological Diary.” The Historical Register. Vol. 8. London: C. Meere, 1723, p. 12 (Internet Archive: http://www.archive.org/stream/historicalregis05greegoog).
• Coldham, Peter Wilson. Emigrants in Chains: A Social History of Forced Emigration to the Americas of Felons, Destitute Children, Political and Religious Non-conformists, Vagabonds, Beggars and Other Undesirables, 1607-1776. Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Pub. Co., 1992.
• George, M. Dorothy. London Life in the Eighteenth Century. Chicago: Academy Chicago Publishers, 1965.
• Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org, 15 April 2009) January 1720, trial of Sarah Wells (t17200115-47).
• —. (www.oldbaileyonline.org, 15 April 2009) December 1722, trial of Charles Lynch and Morrice Lynch (t17221205-15).
• —. (www.oldbaileyonline.org, 7 April 2008) December 1722, trial of Elizabeth Knight (t17221205-34).
• —. (www.oldbaileyonline.org, 15 April 2009) December 1722, trial of Margaret Hayes (t17221205-19).
• —. (www.oldbaileyonline.org, 15 April 2009) December 1722, trial of Sarah Nut (t17221205-12).
• —. (www.oldbaileyonline.org, 7 April 2008), January 1723, trial of James Bell (t17230116-9).
• —. (www.oldbaileyonline.org, 15 April 2009) January 1723, trial of John Dier (t17230116-1) .
• —. (www.oldbaileyonline.org, 26 March 2009) January 1723, trial of John Harris (t17230116-25).
• —. (www.oldbaileyonline.org, 15 April 2009) January 1723, trial of John Watkins (t17230116-19).
• —. (www.oldbaileyonline.org, 15 April 2009) January 1723, trial of Sarah Wells (t17230116-22).
• Schwartz, Richard B. Daily Life in Johnson’s London. Madison, WI: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1983.

Learn More About Convict Transportation

Learn more about convict transportation to colonial America by reading my book, Bound with an Iron Chain: The Untold Story of How the British Transported 50,000 Convicts to Colonial America.

Amazon.com: Paperback ($16.99) and Kindle ($4.99).

Smashwords: All e-book formats ($4.99).

Most people know that England shipped thousands of convicts to Australia, but few are aware that colonial America was the original destination for Britain’s unwanted criminals. In the 18th century, thousands of British convicts were separated from their families, chained together in the hold of a ship, and carried off to America, sometimes for the theft of a mere handkerchief.

What happened to these convicts once they arrived in America? Did they prosper in an environment of unlimited opportunity, or were they ostracized by the other colonists? Anthony Vaver tells the stories of the petty thieves and professional criminals who were punished by being sent across the ocean to work on plantations. In bringing to life this forgotten chapter in American history, he challenges the way we think about immigration to early America.

The book also includes an appendix with helpful tips for researching individual convicts who were transported to America.

Visit Pickpocket Publishing for more details.

Note: This post is part of a series on Convict Transportation to the American colonies.

James Dalton vividly experienced the strong arm of the law at a young age when he sat between the knees of his father, who was riding in a cart that was taking him to the gallows to be hanged for robbery. Crime evidently ran strong in the Dalton family. His father was originally a tailor from Dublin, Ireland, who fought in the wars in Flanders and rose to become a sergeant before going to London, where he became a notorious card cheat. He was executed for robbing one of his marks. After his death, Dalton’s mother married a butcher, but was soon caught committing a felony and was transported. His sister was also said to be transported to the American colonies for a separate crime. Yet, the examples set by watching each member of his family punished for their crimes failed to deter him from following in their footsteps.

Conviction

Starting at a young age, Dalton committed all kinds of robberies, burglaries, and other crimes in and around London, and he soon started working for Jonathan Wild’s criminal organization. On March 3, 1720, Dalton found himself in court, however, charged with stealing some aprons. He was convicted on the evidence of William Field, one of the leaders of Wild’s gang, and was sentenced to transportation. In May, he was loaded on to the Honour, a convict ship commanded by Capt. Richard Langley. Wild must have been doing some housecleaning in his organization around this time, because several other members of his gang appeared on board the convict ship along with Dalton, including William Bond, Charles Hinchman, Martin Grey, and James Holliday.

The Honour set sail for Virginia, but it quickly hit a storm off the coast of Spain and began taking on water. Short on sailors, Capt. Langley was forced to let some of the convicts on board out of their irons so that they could help keep the ship afloat. Dalton took the opportunity to form a conspiracy, and when he gave the signal, the convicts grabbed some arms, bound the captain, and took possession of the ship. They forced the captain to drop them off at Cape Finisterre in Spain and, after robbing the ship, set it free. James Holliday later claimed that he had to pay 5 shillings to go to shore with the rebellious group.

To Vigo

After landing, sixteen of the convicts, including Dalton and the other members of Wild’s gang, made their way across the mountains to Vigo. Soon after they arrived in town, they ran into their old captain, who captured and brought them to the mayor. To the frustration of Langley, the mayor refused to prosecute them and even issued them passes to travel through the country. When the convicts realized, though, that the passes said “English thieves” on them, they decided to burn them and take their chances by avoiding towns as they traveled through the countryside.

The group eventually reached the north coast, boarded a Dutch ship, and made their way back to England via Amsterdam. Despite the rebellion, the Honour eventually made it to Virginia, although under the command of a different captain, Robert Russell. Some reports indicated that the group killed the captain during the affair, but William Bond denied it, claiming that Langley traveled safely to the West Indies and died in Virginia.

Consequences

Slowly but surely, the convicts who escaped to Vigo and returned to England were captured and convicted for returning early from transportation or for other crimes. Dalton was discovered in Bristol after committing a burglary, and Wild had him transferred back to London where he faced trial on March 1, 1721 for returning early from transportation. He was joined at the stand by Charles Hinchman, Martin Grey, and Jasper Andrews, who had also escaped to Vigo, along with four other returned convicts who also faced the same charge.

Even though they were all found guilty, Hinchman and Grey were the only ones from the Honour who were hanged for the crime. Inexplicably, both Dalton and Andrews escaped the gallows, despite being found guilty and disturbing the prisoners while awaiting execution. So egregious was their behavior while in prison that the Ordinary of Newgate described how those who went on to be executed singled Dalton and Andrews out during their last speeches:

At the Moment of their Deaths, they were loud in their Exclamations to God, declared they died in Charity towards all Men; but said they should have been more prepared for Death, had they not been disturbed by two Boys, Jasper Andrews and James Dalton, who interrupted their Devotions; and even as they slept play’d vile Tricks, burning their Feet, and pouring Water, &c

We do not know how Dalton and Andrews escaped execution, but Gerald Howson, Wild’s biographer, speculates that Wild was responsible for at least getting Dalton off. Both of them were transported instead, so they must have received some kind of conditional pardon.

Later Years

After spending several years in America kidnapping slaves and then selling them, Dalton returned to England but was almost immediately pressed into naval service. After fighting in the siege of Gibraltar in 1727, Dalton was back in London where he continued his life of crime. He was eventually caught in a robbery and was sentenced to death on evidence given by a professional false witness named John Waller.

Before his execution, Dalton confessed to the Ordinary of Newgate that while in America he “debauch’d and ruin’d some Widows and Girls.” Several of his wives in London together visited him while he was in prison, and he claimed that he had many others, some of whom were transported or were left by him in America. His reputation of being a ladies’ man certainly must have played into the appearance of his name in Plate 3 of Hogarth’s The Harlot’s Progess, where over Moll Hackabout’s bed is a box labeled, “James Dalton his Wigg Box.”

At his death on May 12, 1730, Dalton was a well-known criminal, and his name was used to headline many collected accounts of notorious criminals for a long time afterward.

Resources for this article:

• The American Weekly Mercury, Thursday, April 13, 1721, p. 1.
• Coldham, Peter Wilson. Emigrants in Chains: A Social History of Forced Emigration to the Americas of Felons, Destitute Children, Political and Religious Non-conformists, Vagabonds, Beggars and Other Undesirables, 1607-1776. Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Pub. Co., 1992.
• Howson, Gerald. Thief-Taker General: Jonathan Wild and the Emergence of Crime and Corruption as a Way of Life in Eighteenth Century England. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books, 1970.
• “James Dalton, for a Robbery.” Select Trials for Murders, Robberies, Rapes, Sodomy, Coining, Frauds, and Other Offenses. Vol. III. London, 1735.
• “The Life of James Dalton, a Thief.” Lives of the Most Remarkable Criminals. Vol. III. London: John Osborn, 1735.
• Old Bailey Proceedings (www.oldbaileyonline.org, 31 March 2009), Ordinary of Newgate’s Account, 19 September 1720 (OA17200919).
• —. (www.oldbaileyonline.org, 31 March 2009), Ordinary of Newgate’s Account, 3 April 1721 (OA17210403).
• The Ordinary of Newgate His Account, of the Behaviour, Confession, and Dying Words of the Malefactors, Who Were Executed at Tyburn, on Tuesday the 12th, of This Instant May, 1730. London: John Applebee, 1730.
• The Ordinary of Newgate: His Account of the Behaviours, Confessions, and Last Dying Words of the Malefactors That Were Executed at Tyburn on Wednesday the 8th of February, 1720-21. London: John Applebee, 1721.

Learn More About Convict Transportation

Learn more about convict transportation to colonial America by reading my book, Bound with an Iron Chain: The Untold Story of How the British Transported 50,000 Convicts to Colonial America.

Amazon.com: Paperback ($16.99) and Kindle ($4.99).

Smashwords: All e-book formats ($4.99).

Most people know that England shipped thousands of convicts to Australia, but few are aware that colonial America was the original destination for Britain’s unwanted criminals. In the 18th century, thousands of British convicts were separated from their families, chained together in the hold of a ship, and carried off to America, sometimes for the theft of a mere handkerchief.

What happened to these convicts once they arrived in America? Did they prosper in an environment of unlimited opportunity, or were they ostracized by the other colonists? Anthony Vaver tells the stories of the petty thieves and professional criminals who were punished by being sent across the ocean to work on plantations. In bringing to life this forgotten chapter in American history, he challenges the way we think about immigration to early America.

The book also includes an appendix with helpful tips for researching individual convicts who were transported to America.

Visit Pickpocket Publishing for more details.

Note: This post is part of a series on Convict Transportation to the American colonies.

Knowing the volatile nature of their cargo, captains of convict ships were careful not to allow convicts much freedom during their voyage to America for fear they could take over the ship. Still, insurrection did occur. In 1751, The Virginia Gazette reported that “some of the most wicked Wretches that have been sent abroad” tried to escape several times from their confinement on board their ship, but the Keeper was able to foil their attempts. Some ships, however, were not so successful in subduing their criminal passengers.

Mrs. Andrew Buckler of Dublin

In 1736, some northern newspapers gave an account of a woman by the name of Mrs. Andrew Buckler of Dublin, who was traveling with her husband to Annapolis, Maryland. The ship they were traveling on had a tough, long voyage, and they were forced to land in Nova Scotia for water. The only water they could find, however, was snow, so they put as much as they could in barrels and brought it back to the ship to melt.

The passengers then sent a maid and a “Negro Boy” on shore to wash clothes, but the two never returned. In the belief that the two servants were taken by Indians, the passengers and crew remained on board the ship in fear, and they all started to die slowly of thirst. When Mrs. Buckler was the only one left standing, a group of Indians then boarded the ship and stole gold, silver, watches, and jewelry and “carried her ashore to their Wigwams.”

Mrs. Buckler was eventually found by Mr. Mitchel, a deputy surveyor of the woods, at a “French House, very far Eastward of Boston.” He took her to Col. Armstrong, the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia, who wined and dined her before sending her off to Boston where she boarded a ship heading back to London.

A Full Investigation

The government continued to investigate Mrs. Buckler’s affair with the Native Americans and soon discovered that the “whole of her Story now proves to be false, and she to be an abominable Impostor, if not one of the vilest piratical Murderers.”

Before traveling to America, Andrew Buckler had earlier traveled to Dublin, Ireland with a ship full of rum from Barbados, where he and his wife lived. After unloading the rum, Buckler agreed to transport 40 felons and several indentured servants to Annapolis, MD. Since Buckler’s wife did not accompany him on the trip, authorities believed that the woman who claimed to be Mrs. Andrew Buckler was one of the convicts, a Miss Matthews, “who had received Sentence of Death for Theft, and was reputed to be a common Strumpet in Dublin, and always of ill Repute.” They speculated that she impersonated Buckler’s wife in order to take possession of the abandoned ship and its possessions.

Apparently, as the ship neared American land, the convicts murdered the captain and the rest of the crew, and then landed the ship in a remote area in order to plunder it. During the investigation, the maid and servant boy were found dead on shore, with the boy’s throat cut from ear to ear. Even though the pretend Mrs. Buckler claimed to have buried her “husband,” his body was never found, but a lot of dried blood was discovered between the decks of the ship. The rest of the convicts were thought to have dispersed among the French and Indians, and Miss Matthews presumably made it back to London unscathed, the information coming too late to do anything about her return.

Resources for this article:

• The Virginia Gazette (Parks), Friday, September 24, 1736, p. 3.
• The Virginia Gazette (Hunter), December 5, 1751, p. 2.

Learn More About Convict Transportation

Learn more about convict transportation to colonial America by reading my book, Bound with an Iron Chain: The Untold Story of How the British Transported 50,000 Convicts to Colonial America.

Amazon.com: Paperback ($16.99) and Kindle ($4.99).

Smashwords: All e-book formats ($4.99).

Most people know that England shipped thousands of convicts to Australia, but few are aware that colonial America was the original destination for Britain’s unwanted criminals. In the 18th century, thousands of British convicts were separated from their families, chained together in the hold of a ship, and carried off to America, sometimes for the theft of a mere handkerchief.

What happened to these convicts once they arrived in America? Did they prosper in an environment of unlimited opportunity, or were they ostracized by the other colonists? Anthony Vaver tells the stories of the petty thieves and professional criminals who were punished by being sent across the ocean to work on plantations. In bringing to life this forgotten chapter in American history, he challenges the way we think about immigration to early America.

The book also includes an appendix with helpful tips for researching individual convicts who were transported to America.

Visit Pickpocket Publishing for more details.

Note: This post is part of a series on Convict Transportation to the American colonies.

When dealing with bureaucratic institutions in the eighteenth century, money artfully placed in the right hands could often buy special privileges, and convict transportation was no exception. The sale of convicts once they arrived in America helped convict merchants and captains recover the costs of transporting them (and to realize a profit). However, convicts who could pay up front what they would normally command at auction in the colonies were free to pursue their own interests once they landed. What did the merchants or captains care how they received compensation for transporting them?

Convicts with desirable skills, such as carpentry, would command higher prices in America and ironically would face a greater challenge in purchasing their freedom before arrival. The great majority of convicts who were transported, though, were in no position to pay for their voyage, since financial destitution was usually what put them in such a position in the first place. The few who could pay were the exceptions.

Mary Young, alias Jenny Diver

Mary Young, alias Mary Webb, alias Jane Webb, alias Jenny Diver serves as one example of a transported convict whose wealth purchased special favors during her trip to America. She was born in Ireland and came to London with the help of a suitor, who stole a great deal of money and a gold watch from his master to fund their trip. Unfortunately for him, the two were caught shortly after arriving in Liverpool. He did not reveal Young’s role in the affair while in custody, so she was allowed to continue on to London. He, however, was returned to Ireland and sentenced to death for his crime, but was later reprieved for transportation to America.

Young failed to earn a living performing needlework in London, so her lodger introduced her to a gang of thieves and suggested she join them. Young was a quick learner, and she proved so dexterous and proficient in the art of picking pockets that she earned the nickname “Jenny Diver,” after the character in John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera.

Young rose quickly in the gang and became their leader in coming up with clever ways to empty the purses and pockets of unsuspecting victims. One of her more elaborate schemes was to show up at church donning a fake set of arms folded piously over a similarly fictitious pregnant belly. Her hands, which were hidden away in the recesses of her disguise, were then free to steal money and watches from those who sat down next to her, unaware that this seemingly devout woman was emptying their pockets. Young was not the first to employ this method of theft, but her reputation solidified her association with it.

Young was caught shoplifting in 1728 and was sentenced to transportation under the name of Mary Webb. During her four-month stay in Newgate Prison waiting for her sentence to be carried out, she became a Fence, i.e., a receiver of stolen goods, building upon the money her gang put aside from each theft to help members who might be caught purchase privileges in prison. By the time she was put on board the convict ship, she had acquired a wagon-load of goods. These circumstances bought her special treatment aboard the ship, where she enjoyed freedom and ease throughout the voyage.

Young was dropped off at the first port they came to in Virginia along with her goods, which she sold for a great profit. She lived for a short time in America in high style, but soon realized that the opportunities for plying her trade were fewer than in England. She ingratiated herself to a young gentleman who secured passage for both of them back to London. When the ship arrived at Gravesend, Young robbed the young man of everything she could get her hands on and executed a swift getaway.

Henry Justice

One blatant case of purchased privilege relating to convict transportation was reported in both The Gentleman’s Magazine in England and The Virginia Gazette in America in 1736. Henry Justice, “a Gentleman of Fortune, and a Barrister at Law”–what other profession could he have had with such a name?–was accused of stealing a large number of books from the Trinity College Library in Cambridge and other university libraries in London and Middlesex. He then sold the books both in England and overseas.

Justice pleaded not guilty, arguing that he was a student at the university and was entitled to the use of the books, but this claim proved false. The Librarian of the Trinity College Library confirmed that the books belonged to the university, and he showed that small tracts found in Justice’s apartment were cut out of larger volumes that remained back in the library. Justice was found guilty, and the Deputy Recorder sentenced him to transportation, saying that his offence “was greatly aggravated by his Education, his Fortune, and the Profession he was of, and his Guilt much greater than it would have been, if he had been an ignorant or an indigent Person.”

Several days after Justice received sentencing, one hundred convicts were paraded early in the morning from Newgate Prison to Blackfriars to board the Patapsco Merchant, a convict ship, but Henry Justice and several other convicts found guilty of robbery were not among them. William Wreathock, an attorney; James Ruffet, alias Ruf-head, a butcher; George Bird, a bailiff; and George Vaughan, otherwise known as Lord Vaughan instead rode in two hackney coaches down to the shore to board the boat. Henry Justice traveled in a separate hackney coach and enjoyed the company of none other than Jonathan Forward, the official Contractor for Transports to the Government and owner of the Patapsco Merchant.

Whereas the common felons were confined in the hold of the Patapsco Merchant throughout the voyage and sold as soon as they reached shore, these five men paid for the privilege of enjoying the captain’s cabin and were presumably given their freedom as soon as they landed. The Virginia Gazette commented, “Thus, by the wholesome Laws of this Country, a Criminal who has Money (which Circumstance, in all other Countries, would aggravate his Guilt, and enhance the Severity of his Punishment,) may blunt the Edge of Justice, and make That his Happiness which the Law designs as his Punishment.”

Coda

After her return from transportation, Mary Young was transported once more in June, 1738, this time under the name of Jane Webb. On December 30, 1738, the Newcastle Courant reported that Jane Webb, alias Jenny Diver, William Wreathock, George Bird, and George Vaughan had all returned from transportation, well before their sentences had run out. Both Bird and Vaughan were soon caught and found guilty of returning early from transportation. Bird was sentenced to transportation for life, and Vaughan was sentenced to transportation for 14 years. Wreathock never appeared again at the Old Bailey, so he may have remained at large for the duration of his life.

Young went undetected for more than two years until she was caught once again and convicted of robbery. This time, she was sentenced to death and was executed on Wednesday, March 18, 1741.

Resources for this article:

• Coldham, Peter Wilson. Emigrants in Chains: A Social History of Forced Emigration to the Americas of Felons, Destitute Children, Political and Religious Non-conformists, Vagabonds, Beggars and Other Undesirables, 1607-1776. Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Pub. Co., 1992.
• —. The King’s Passengers to Maryland and Virginia. Westminster, MD: Heritage Books, 1997.
• “From The ‘Political State,’ For the Month of June.” The Virginia Gazette (Parks), Friday, November 19 to Friday, November 26, 1736, pp. 1-3.
• The Gentleman’s Magazine, 1736, p. 290.
• Guthrie, James. The Ordinary of Newgate, His Account of the Behaviour, Confession, and Dying Words, of the Malefactors, Who Were Executed at Tyburn on Wednesday the 18th of March, 1740. London: John Applebee, 1740.
• “Mary Young, alias Jenny Diver, and Elizabeth Davis, alias Catherine Huggins, for a Robbery, Jan. 17, 1741.” Select Trials for Murders, Robberies, Rapes, Sodomy, Coining, Frauds, and Other Offenses. 2nd ed. Vol. IV. London, 1742.
• Morgan, Gwenda and Peter Rushton. “Print Culture, Crime and Transportation in the Criminal Atlantic.” Continuity and Change 22.1 (2007): 49-71.
• “Particular Account of the Extraordinary Exploits of Mary Young, alias Jenny Diver, Who Was Executed for Privately Stealing.” The Malefactor’s Register. Vol. II. London, 1779.
• Smith, Abbot Emerson. Colonists in Bondage : White Servitude and Convict Labor in America, 1607-1776. The Norton Library; N592. New York: Norton, 1971.
• “The Trials of William Wreathock, Peter Chamberlain, James Ruffet, alias Ruf-Head, George Bird, the Younger, and Gilbert Campbell, for a Robbery.” The Tyburn Chronicle. Vol. III. London, 1768.

Learn More About Convict Transportation

Learn more about convict transportation to colonial America by reading my book, Bound with an Iron Chain: The Untold Story of How the British Transported 50,000 Convicts to Colonial America.

Amazon.com: Paperback ($16.99) and Kindle ($4.99).

Smashwords: All e-book formats ($4.99).

Most people know that England shipped thousands of convicts to Australia, but few are aware that colonial America was the original destination for Britain’s unwanted criminals. In the 18th century, thousands of British convicts were separated from their families, chained together in the hold of a ship, and carried off to America, sometimes for the theft of a mere handkerchief.

What happened to these convicts once they arrived in America? Did they prosper in an environment of unlimited opportunity, or were they ostracized by the other colonists? Anthony Vaver tells the stories of the petty thieves and professional criminals who were punished by being sent across the ocean to work on plantations. In bringing to life this forgotten chapter in American history, he challenges the way we think about immigration to early America.

The book also includes an appendix with helpful tips for researching individual convicts who were transported to America.

Visit Pickpocket Publishing for more details.

Note: This post is part of a series on Convict Transportation to the American colonies.

Even though external threats, such as bad weather and pirates, could seriously jeopardize convict voyages across the Atlantic, the most persistent sources of agony for convicts were internal to the ship. Transported felons received poor and scanty provisions throughout their voyage, and the extent to which diseases infected the convicts was a major determinant in whether or not they would make it safely to American shores.

Diet

The amount of provisions supplied to each convict was generally spelled out in the contract for transporting them. However, nothing was ever stated about the quality of the food that was to be given to them. In order to increase their profit margin, some captains of convict ships cut corners by buying old provisions for the voyage at a discount rate or by ignoring the stipulations regarding food in the contract and underfeeding convicts during the trip.

Ships were generally provisioned with food that tended to keep well– bread, biscuits, salted meat, peas, and cheese–which made for a monotonous diet. Even though such food resisted spoilage, it was sometimes carried by ships for years, until the meat went putrid and the biscuit was full of worms. Any fresh provisions brought on board, such as beef, water, and beer went bad after the first month. Since voyages across the Atlantic could last anywhere between 6 and 12 weeks, passengers were practically guaranteed to be eating spoiled, rotten food by the end of the trip.

Convicts were fed in groups of six with set amounts of food for each group. Francis Place, who in the nineteenth century collected records relating to convict transportation to America, itemized the weekly amount of provisions given to a group of six convicts on one particular voyage: “34 lbs. of bread, 19 lbs. of beef, 11 lbs. of pork, 7 lbs. of flour, 2 lbs. of suet, 5 gills of brandy [1 gill = 4 oz. or 1/4 of a pint], 134 quarts of water, and 4 quarts of pease.” By Place’s reckoning, each convict received 1 lb. and 4 oz. of food per day. This store of food was supposedly shelled out to each six-man mess over the course of the week in roughly the following manner:

• Sunday: 4 lbs. of bread, 3 lbs of pork, 1 1/2 qts. of pease , and 18 quarts of water.
• Monday: 4 lbs. of bread, 2 qts. of oatmeal, 1 1/2 ozs. molasses, 1 lb. cheese, 18 quarts of water.
• Tuesday: 4 lbs. of bread, 4 lbs. of beef.
• Wednesday: 1 1/2 qts. of pease.
• Thursday: 18 quarts of water.
• Friday: 4 lbs. of bread, 2 qts. of oatmeal, 1 1/2 ozs. of molasses, 1 lb. of cheese, 18 quarts of water.
• Saturday: 4 lbs. of bread, 2 qts. of oatmeal, 3 gills of Geneva at night.

(Source: Peter Wilson Coldham, Emigrants in Chains, pp. 103-104)

This diet was quite possibly more balanced and more plentiful than what some of the convicts were used to eating back in England. The amount of alcoholic spirits given to them on board the ship, however, was certainly much less than what they were used to enjoying.

Health

Many of the convicts who were cooped up in crowded, filthy jails before being piled into ships brought jail fever, smallpox, and other diseases on board with them. Needless to say, these diseases spread rapidly through the convict ships. Even regular passengers sometimes contracted disease from the convicts and died before reaching their destination. The mortality rate for transported convicts was usually around 11% to 16%, although the rate declined near the end of its practice. About 1 out of every 7 convicts, then, did not last the journey to America, and disease was by far their greatest killer.

Death, no matter how low the percentage, would have been traumatic for the convict passengers, given the tight, crowded conditions in which they traveled. The sick would have had to endure their agony connected by iron to five other passengers on a ceaselessly rocking ship with no bedding on which to lie down. Convicts undoubtedly would have woken up in the morning to find themselves chained to a corpse and wondered if they were next in line for such a fate. The dead were removed, wrapped in a sack weighted down with stones, and thrown overboard with little ceremony.

Worried that convicts were bringing infectious diseases on shore with them, the Maryland Assembly in 1766 passed an act requiring any ship that arrived with sick passengers to be quarantined to help prevent the spread of diseases among the colony. Convict merchants fought the act, arguing that it seriously affected the convict trade. The act stood, however, prompting convict merchants to furnish their ships with ventilators and to open port holes in order to air out the decks holding the convicts. These measures greatly reduced disease among the convicts, and their mortality rate fell to 2.5% just before the American Revolution

The sight of land was indeed an occasion for great rejoicing, since it meant that those on board had survived the perilous journey.

Resources for this article:

• —. Emigrants in Chains: A Social History of Forced Emigration to the Americas of Felons, Destitute Children, Political and Religious Non-conformists, Vagabonds, Beggars and Other Undesirables, 1607-1776. Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Pub. Co., 1992.
• Ekirch, A. Roger. “Bound for America: A Profile of British Convicts Transported to the Colonies.” The William and Mary Quarterly 42.2 (1985): 184-200.
• Middleton, Arthur Pierce. Tobacco Coast: A Maritime History of Chesapeake Bay in the Colonial Era. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1953.
• Rediker, Marcus. The Slave Ship: A Human History. New York: Viking, 2007.
• Smith, Abbot Emerson. Colonists in Bondage : White Servitude and Convict Labor in America, 1607-1776. The Norton Library; N592. New York: Norton, 1971.

Learn More About Convict Transportation

Learn more about convict transportation to colonial America by reading my book, Bound with an Iron Chain: The Untold Story of How the British Transported 50,000 Convicts to Colonial America.

Amazon.com: Paperback ($16.99) and Kindle ($4.99).

Smashwords: All e-book formats ($4.99).

Most people know that England shipped thousands of convicts to Australia, but few are aware that colonial America was the original destination for Britain’s unwanted criminals. In the 18th century, thousands of British convicts were separated from their families, chained together in the hold of a ship, and carried off to America, sometimes for the theft of a mere handkerchief.

What happened to these convicts once they arrived in America? Did they prosper in an environment of unlimited opportunity, or were they ostracized by the other colonists? Anthony Vaver tells the stories of the petty thieves and professional criminals who were punished by being sent across the ocean to work on plantations. In bringing to life this forgotten chapter in American history, he challenges the way we think about immigration to early America.

The book also includes an appendix with helpful tips for researching individual convicts who were transported to America.

Visit Pickpocket Publishing for more details.

Note: This post is part of a series on Convict Transportation to the American colonies.

Convict ships heading directly to America after leaving London would have traveled down the Thames on the ebb current and then anchored at Dover, Cowes, or the Downs to wait for favorable winds to take them out to sea. Some ships would have traveled to additional British ports to pick up even more convicts before heading out across the Atlantic, although major ports like Bristol would generally have relied on their own convict transportation firms.

Travel from Great Britain to the Chesapeake was fairly direct along the northern route of the Atlantic, which took the ship in a west-southwest direction from the British Isles towards the Chesapeake Bay. In good weather, the trip could take as little as seven to eight weeks, although any encounters with bad weather could extend the time of the voyage considerably. During the winter, when cold and bad weather was more common, the trip could take twelve to fourteen weeks. Return trips back east to Great Britain took much less time–sometimes only six or seven weeks–with the winds and the Gulf Stream helping to move the ship along at a faster pace.

A Voyage Full of Risk

Crossing the Atlantic was full of risk in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Setting sail for America from England was a serious affair, since there was a fairly high chance that those embarking would never return for a variety of reasons.

Frequent storms on the Atlantic were feared the most, since ships that ran into them were at the mercy of the high winds and roiling waters. Storms not only could severely damage ships and cargo, but they made travel extremely uncomfortable for passengers as the vessel was battered around. If the ship sprang a leak, all passengers were expected to help pump water. Ebenezer Cook in 1708 wrote the following about a stormy trip to the American colonies:

Freighted with Fools, from Plymouth sound,
To Mary-Land our Ship was bound,
Where we arrived in dreadful Pain,
Shock’d by the Terrours of the Main;
For full Three Months, our wavering Boat,
Did thro’ the surley Ocean float,
And furious Storms and threat’ning Blasts,
Both tore our Sails and sprung our Masts.

Food was nearly impossible to cook during rough weather, but seasickness generally took away any possible hunger anyway.

Pirates, privateers, and hostile navies could also threaten voyages. The Atlantic was full of vessels either acting alone or sanctioned by enemy states looking for other boats to seize and plunder. Convict ships were not immune to such threats. In 1746, the Virginia Gazette reported that the Zephyre, a French Man of War armed with 30 guns and 350 men, attacked the Plain-Dealer, a convict ship bound for Maryland commanded by Capt. James Dobbins. Forty of the 106 convicts on board took part in the two and a half hour fight against the French, but the enemy’s numbers eventually overwhelmed the ship. The Man of War took most of Dobbins’s men and some of the convicts, but during its return back to France the ship sank, killing all but seven Frenchmen who managed to make it back to shore.

Below Deck

Convicts were commodities that brought profit to the people who transported them, so they were only rarely subjected to harsh punishments, such as beatings or executions. They had little opportunity to cause trouble anyway, since they spent most of the voyage chained to one another below deck. They did, however, suffer from overcrowded and unsanitary conditions, and the old and infirm were generally considered expendable, since they were unlikely to be sold for a profit at the end of the voyage.

Voyages across the Atlantic could be pure misery for even regular passengers. A traveler from Germany to Philadelphia in 1750 described his trip in horrifying terms.

[D]uring the voyage there is on board these ships terrible misery, stench, fumes, horror, vomiting, many kinds of sea-sickness, fever, dysentery, headache, heat, constipation, boils, scurvy, cancer, mouth-rot, and the like, all of which come from old and sharply salted food and meat, also from very bad and foul water, so that many die miserably.

Add to this want of provisions, hunger, thirst, frost, heat, dampness, anxiety, want, afflictions and lamentations, together with other trouble, as c. v. the lice abound so frightfully, especially on sick people, that they can be scraped off the body. The misery reaches the climax when a gale rages for 2 or 3 nights and days, so that every one believes that the ship will go to the bottom with all human beings on board. In such a visitation the people cry and pray most piteously. (Gottlieb Mittelberger, Journey to Pennsylvania in the Year 1750)

If normal passengers experienced such hardships crossing the ocean, convicts would have had an even worse time of it, being confined in stifling, unventilated air and little light throughout most of their trip.

The incessant tossing of the ship by the ocean waves was a major cause of misery for the convicts. Seasickness was an omnipresent source of discomfort for many of them. The constant rocking of the ship also caused the chains attached to them to rub their skin raw. Minimal movement of iron against skin could be painful; being thrown around from side-to-side by rough waters while sitting on a wooden plank could be excruciating.

In his book The Slave Ship: A Human History, Marcus Rediker quotes from a first-hand account by a slave named Equiano to describe what it was like for slaves traveling on a slave ship. His depiction of the circumstances in which the slaves traveled closely correspond to the way convicts were transported.

Now that everyone was confined together belowdecks, the apartments were ‘so crowded that each had scarcely room to turn himself.’ The enslaved were spooned together in close quarters, each with about as much room as a corpse in a coffin. The ‘galling of the chains’ rubbed raw the soft flesh of wrists, ankles, and necks. The enslaved suffered extreme heat and poor ventilation, ‘copious perspirations,’ and seasickness. The stench, which was already ‘loathsome,’ became ‘absolutely pestilential’ as the sweat, the vomit, the blood, and the ‘necessary tubs’ full of excrement ‘almost suffocated us.’ The shrieks of the terrified mingled in cacophony with the groans of the dying.

The experiences of convicts traveling across the ocean must have been similar to those of African slaves.

Resources for this article:

• —. Emigrants in Chains: A Social History of Forced Emigration to the Americas of Felons, Destitute Children, Political and Religious Non-conformists, Vagabonds, Beggars and Other Undesirables, 1607-1776. Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Pub. Co., 1992.
• Middleton, Arthur Pierce. Tobacco Coast: A Maritime History of Chesapeake Bay in the Colonial Era. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1953.
• Mittelberger, Gottlieb. Gottlieb Mittelberger’s Journey to Pennsylvania in the Year 1750 and Return to Germany in the Year 1754. Trans. Carl Theodor Eben. Philadelphia: John Jos. McVey, 1898.
• Rediker, Marcus. The Slave Ship: A Human History. New York: Viking, 2007.
• Shaw, A. G. L. Convicts and the Colonies: A Study of Penal Transportation from Great Britain and Ireland to Australia and Other Parts of the British Empire. London: Faber and Faber, 1966.
• Smith, Abbot Emerson. Colonists in Bondage : White Servitude and Convict Labor in America, 1607-1776. The Norton Library; N592. New York: Norton, 1971.
• The Virginia Gazette (Parks), May 29, 1746, p. 2.

Learn More About Convict Transportation

Learn more about convict transportation to colonial America by reading my book, Bound with an Iron Chain: The Untold Story of How the British Transported 50,000 Convicts to Colonial America.

Amazon.com: Paperback ($16.99) and Kindle ($4.99).

Smashwords: All e-book formats ($4.99).

Most people know that England shipped thousands of convicts to Australia, but few are aware that colonial America was the original destination for Britain’s unwanted criminals. In the 18th century, thousands of British convicts were separated from their families, chained together in the hold of a ship, and carried off to America, sometimes for the theft of a mere handkerchief.

What happened to these convicts once they arrived in America? Did they prosper in an environment of unlimited opportunity, or were they ostracized by the other colonists? Anthony Vaver tells the stories of the petty thieves and professional criminals who were punished by being sent across the ocean to work on plantations. In bringing to life this forgotten chapter in American history, he challenges the way we think about immigration to early America.

The book also includes an appendix with helpful tips for researching individual convicts who were transported to America.

Visit Pickpocket Publishing for more details.

Note: This post is part of a series on Convict Transportation to the American colonies.

Once the convicts were loaded onto the convict ship, the captain, the jailor, and certain witnesses would sign a transportation bond ensuring that the convicts being transported were safely aboard the ship. These documents were then delivered to the Treasury to prove that the convicts had been transferred and that payment was due. After a month or so, payment was made to the convict contractor, and the documents were copied word for word into the Treasury Money Books. With the signing of the transportation bond, the convicts were now set to embark on their voyage across the Atlantic to America.

On Board the Ship

Conditions on convict ships were harsh. Transported convicts spent almost the entire 8- to 10-week voyage below deck in cramped quarters chained together in groups of six. In essence, the convicts went from one miserable prison on land to an even worse one floating on water.

Convict ships in general were not large. Most of the ships used in the trade were made in America, mainly in Maryland and New England; the rest, about a third, were constructed in Britain, and an even smaller percentage were seized from the French as booty during wartime. The ships tended to be old and worn down from frequent trips back and forth across the Atlantic, and their rotting hulks often required costly repairs that cut deeply into the profits of the convict contractors.

Even though slave ships were sometimes used to transport convicts, most of the ships used in the convict transportation business were ill-equipped to handle the transport of human cargo. Few ships used in the trade were ever designed specifically for the purpose of transporting convicts, and many of them were better suited to carry tobacco and other commodities from the colonies back across the Atlantic once the convicts were unloaded in America.

“Sold into Slavery”

Both jailors and convicts often referred to those sentenced to transportation to the colonies as having been sent or sold into slavery. The comparison is apt, especially when one considers the circumstances under which both convicts and slaves were carried across the Atlantic. The similarity between the two trades is not surprising, since both dealt in human cargo and many of the contractors, captains, and ships in the convict trade also had experience in the slave trade. On some level, the experiences of convicts on board ships would have been similar to those of slaves.

Even though merchants in both the convict and slave trades had a financial incentive to keep their passengers healthy, to some degree convicts were treated worse than slaves on board convict ships. Since the convict trader was already receiving a subsidy from the British government for each convict transported, there was more of a temptation to cut corners in providing provisions to the convicts in order to increase profits. Slave traders only profited from the sale of slaves at the end of the voyage, and since slaves commanded much higher prices than convicts, there was more incentive to deliver them in as healthy a state as possible.

Convict ships were akin to floating dungeons. Throughout most of their journey, convicts were kept belowdeck with little light or fresh air. They were chained together in groups of six in small, cramped quarters that were either too hot or too cold, depending on the time of year. The number of convicts being transported could range anywhere from 1 to 150 or more. More than half of the ships arriving in Maryland between 1746 and 1775 carried more than 90 passengers. The lower decks of slave ships had ceilings only four and a half feet high, so most convicts carried on such ships would not be able to stand straight up. In general, though, convicts enjoyed more room on ships carrying them than slaves, but less room than indentured servants.

Unlike slaves, convicts were kept in the lower decks almost throughout their entire voyage, due to their criminal backgrounds and the threat they posed for taking over the ship, although slaves posed a similar threat as well. Only occasionally were convicts let up on deck in small shifts of several prisoners each. Slaves at least enjoyed fresh air on deck on a regular basis during their voyage in the interests of keeping them healthy, even though the “dancing” they were forced to perform for exercise in the open air could be excruciatingly painful due to their chains rubbing against their skin.

A Snapshot on Board a Convict Ship

A letter from the Earl of Fife to George Selwyn on April 28, 1770 gives a snapshot of the conditions under which convicts were transported. Matthew Kennedy, who along with his brother, was found guilty of murdering John Bigby, a watchman, in a riot on Westminster Bridge. Kennedy was sentenced to death, but his politically connected family managed to have his sentence changed to transportation.

In order to arrange a free passage for Kennedy to the American colonies, the Earl of Fife paid John Stewart, the Contractor for Transports to the Government at the time, fifteen guineas. Just before Kennedy’s ship left port, however, the widow of the murdered man lodged an appeal of the revised sentence, so Fife hurried to retrieve Kennedy from the ship. Fife reported in a letter to Selwyn the condition in which he found Kennedy:

I went on board, and, to be sure, all the states of horror I ever had an idea of are much short of what I saw this poor man in; chained to a board, in a hole not above sixteen feet long; more than fifty with him; a collar and padlock about his neck, and chained to five of the most dreadful creatures I ever looked on.

This passage not only gives us a description of the dreadful circumstances under which convicts were transported by John Stewart–who had a reputation for actually improving the conditions under which convicts were transported–but also displays Stewart’s unscrupulous nature in throwing Kennedy in with the other convicts even after Fife had specifically paid for special treatment for Kennedy.

Ship Captains

Captains of convict ships were hired for their experience in transporting human cargo. If they were anything like the captains of slave ships–and many of them came with experience in that trade–they were tough men who wielded strict discipline. They wouldn’t hesitate to whip and beat those who disregarded their orders or to place unruly convicts in double irons. The sailors were often treated miserably by them as well. Crew members could be beaten and whipped by the captain for insubordination, and they were subjected to low wages, poor provisions, and a high mortality rate. Some of the crewmen even died of disease contracted from the convicts.

Some captains were completely incompetent. In one case, Edward Brockett, captain of the Rappahannock Merchant, spent almost the entire 1725 voyage drunk. He turned the boat into a party ship and squandered the ship’s provisions by encouraging those on board to drink to excess and giving them open access to the food. Brockett and a merchant who was also along for the voyage each kept a mistress in their cabin. When the ship arrived in Virginia, George Tilly, one of Jonathan Forward’s agents in Virginia, reported that the ship had no provisions left on board and that it was in terrible condition due to the neglect of the captain, mate, and ship carpenter to sound the pump.

One particularly egregious case of cruelty by a captain was reported in the Virginia Gazette in 1774. Capt. John Ogilvie was carrying 94 convicts from London to Virginia on the Tayloe.

When this vessel was at sea, the captain one morning discovered an uncommon bird on the bowsprit, which was particularly beautiful; and having a desire to possess it, to view its formation, he called for his gun and shot it. The bird fluttered for some time, and at last fell into the water, some distance from the vessel. The captain’s curiosity being still heightened, he offered the convicts, that which ever of them would procure for him the bird, should immediately receive his freedom. Several of them undertook it with alacrity, and, after stripping themselves, plunged into the sea. But, alas! he who was the ablest competitor in this spumy element, just as he stretched forth one arm, in order to seize the little urchin, his other fell a sacrifice to the jaws of an hungry shark. The man’s fortitude, however, was still so great, that he kept the prize within his grasp till he got to the vessel, when, after being hauled up, he delivered to the captain his favourite, and instantly expired.

Later, in an event reminiscent of Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the mainmast of the ship was struck by lightning in the Chesapeake Bay before it reached shore. The mast was destroyed and the people on board were stunned by the bolt, but fortunately nobody was injured.

Resources for this article:

• Coldham, Peter Wilson. Emigrants in Chains: A Social History of Forced Emigration to the Americas of Felons, Destitute Children, Political and Religious Non-conformists, Vagabonds, Beggars and Other Undesirables, 1607-1776. Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Pub. Co., 1992.
• Ekirch, A. Roger. Bound for America: The Transportation of British Convicts to the Colonies, 1718-1775. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987.
• Jesse, John Heneage. George Selwyn and His Contemporaries: With Memoirs and Notes. Vol. II. London: Bickers & Son, 1882.
• Kaminkow, Marion J., and Jack Kaminkow. Original Lists of Emigrants in Bondage from London to the American Colonies, 1719-1744. Baltimore, MD: Magna Carta Book Co., 1967.
• Middleton, Arthur Pierce. Tobacco Coast: A Maritime History of Chesapeake Bay in the Colonial Era. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1953.
• Rediker, Marcus. The Slave Ship: A Human History. New York: Viking, 2007.
• Smith, Abbot Emerson. Colonists in Bondage : White Servitude and Convict Labor in America, 1607-1776. The Norton Library; N592. New York: Norton, 1971.
• “Williamsburg, July 28.” The Virginia Gazette (Rind), Thursday, July 28, 1774, p. 3.

Learn More About Convict Transportation

Learn more about convict transportation to colonial America by reading my book, Bound with an Iron Chain: The Untold Story of How the British Transported 50,000 Convicts to Colonial America.

Amazon.com: Paperback ($16.99) and Kindle ($4.99).

Smashwords: All e-book formats ($4.99).

Most people know that England shipped thousands of convicts to Australia, but few are aware that colonial America was the original destination for Britain’s unwanted criminals. In the 18th century, thousands of British convicts were separated from their families, chained together in the hold of a ship, and carried off to America, sometimes for the theft of a mere handkerchief.

What happened to these convicts once they arrived in America? Did they prosper in an environment of unlimited opportunity, or were they ostracized by the other colonists? Anthony Vaver tells the stories of the petty thieves and professional criminals who were punished by being sent across the ocean to work on plantations. In bringing to life this forgotten chapter in American history, he challenges the way we think about immigration to early America.

The book also includes an appendix with helpful tips for researching individual convicts who were transported to America.

Visit Pickpocket Publishing for more details.

Note: This post is part of a series on Convict Transportation to the American colonies.

Once the convict merchant was ready to make the trip to America, the convicts were released from prison and loaded onto the ship, along with dry goods and perhaps a few indentured servants. Convict voyages were generally timed to leave just after the spring and autumn sessions of the assize courts. After the eight to ten week voyage, the ships would usually arrive in Maryland or Virginia either in June and July or in October and November.

Exiting Prison

A contributing factor to the general abuse that permeated all English prisons was that jailors bought their positions and then used fees to recoup and profit from their investment. Jailors extracted fees from suspected criminals entering the prisons and then charged set fees for releasing them. For every convict who was discharged for transportation, the Keeper of Newgate prison charged 14 shillings and 10 pence.

Jonathan Forward and other convict transport contractors used part of the payments they received from the government to cover the jailor fees for releasing the prisoners they were supposed to transport. Since jailors and justices of the peace maintained such tight control over the delivery of convicts in and out of prison, convict merchants who did not have guaranteed contracts with the government had to maintain good relationships with these officials in order to secure future contracts.

Transportation contracts were struck between merchants and justices soon after sentences were handed out in court. A Transportation bond was then drawn up, which included a fine of ₤50 if an authentic certificate of convict arrivals from the governor or chief customhouse officer at the American destination could not be produced by the contracted firm. The firm also agreed to transport the convicts within a specified amount of time after the signing of the contract and not to lend aid to any transported convicts attempting to return to England before the end of their terms.

The release of the convict from prison was an important moment. The term of transportation, be it seven or fourteen years, began as soon as the Keeper of the prison delivered the criminal to the captain of the convict ship.

A Parade of Convicts

Upon their release from prison, the convicts were marched through the street to the transport ship chained together, two by two. This parade of convicts, which occurred 3 or 4 times a year, would generate considerable attention. People in London would follow the chained group as they emerged from Newgate and made their way through the streets down to Blackfriars at the edge of the River Thames to board the convict ship. Lists of the criminals who were being transported were sometimes available for purchase by the curious among crowd. The departure of convicts for the colonies generated so much interest that newspapers continued to report on its occurrence up until the practice of transporting convicts to America ended.

On August 20, 1752, The Maryland Gazette published the following description of convicts being led down to the ship, with a special focus on Daniel Bishop, who received a reprieve of transportation for life for committing murder:

Bristol, May 2. Last Monday Morning a great Number of People resorted before Newgate to see the 11 Transports carried away for Biddeford. The principle Object of their Curiosity was Daniel Bishop, who was condemned to be hang’d last Midsummer Assizes, for the Murder of his Sweet heart, Winnifred Jones. Ten of the Prisoners were mounted two upon a Horse, chain’d; and Bishop was put upon a single Horse without Chains. As he was the last that came out of the Prison, the People were impatient, and cry’d out, Where’s Bishop?—He no sooner appeared, but they set up a loud Huzza, and bestowed on him divers Reproaches: In particular a young Woman cry’d out, Hang the Dog, &c. and told him she was glad to see him come to this. He behaved with great Assurance and Boldness, wav’d his Hat, and huzza’d in Chorus. The Streets through which they passed were exceedingly crowded with People, who in general bore him such an Indignation, that they cry’d out, Hang the Dog—Hang the Dog.—A Halter,—A Halter, &c. and pelted him with Dirt. At the Foot of Redcliff Hill, six of the Prisoners were thrown from their Horses, occasioned by their taking Fright at the Noise of the Populace. At which Place a Woman told him, with a Halter shaking in her Hand, She would be glad to see him hang’d up to her Sign Post, for that he had killed her good honest Servant Maid, Winnifred Jones.—He made Answer, What should I be hang’d for? I have been hang’d a great many times to such as you.—On Redcliff Hill, he struck a young Man who had pelted him, several Blows; which together with his impudent Behaviour, had so incensed the Populace, that they more eagerly pelted him with Dirt and Stones; and ‘tis thought would have tore him to Pieces had not the Persons who guarded the Prisoners prevented them. Several Thousand People followed him as far as Bedminster.

While this event seems to be more spirited than other marches to convict ships, it gives an idea of what it was like for convicts and witnesses alike.

Onto the Ship

Ships transporting convicts tended to be separated out from those transporting commodities, so there was plenty of space between the convict ship and any others. First-hand accounts of the loading of convicts onto the ship include descriptions full of tears, embraces, and goodbyes as the convicts were finally separated from their families and friends, possibly for the rest of their lives. This sad moment is depicted in a doggerel poem called The Poor Unhappy Transported Felon’s Sorrowful Account of His Fourteen Years Transportation at Virginia in America (1780), which in general appears to be fairly accurate in its details about convict transportation:

My father vex’d[,] my mother she took on,
And said alas! alas! my only son,
My father said, it cuts me to the heart,
To think on such a cause as this we part.

To see him grieve pierced my very soul,
My wicked cause I sadly did condole,
With grief and shame my eyes did overflow,
And had much rather chuse to die than go.

In vain I griev’d and in vain my parents wept,
For I was quickly sent on board the ship,
With melting kisses and a heavy heart,
I from my dearest parents then did part.

The moment of boarding the ship could be particularly harsh for couples who were convicted of committing a crime together and were both sentenced to transportation. Government officials would generally go out of their way to separate the two by sending each of them to different colonies on different ships. If they could afford to do so, husbands and wives could book passage on the same ship together instead or try to arrange to become indentured in the same colony, but this rarely happened.

Not all departures, however, were somber. On January 5, 1769, The Virginia Gazette reported, “Saturday morning between four and five o’clock the transports, to the number of eighty, were conveyed from Newgate and put on board a close lighter at Black-friars, in order to be forwarded to the British plantations. They went off very merry, huzzaing; and declared they were going to a place where they might soon regain their lost liberty.”

Once the transports boarded the ship, they were sent down between decks to a prison hold where they were secured until they reached port in America. Once a convict was shipped off, his or her family members were left to fend for themselves. Most likely, they would fall into a life of crime themselves or end up in workhouses.

Resources for this article:

• Carew, Bampfylde-Moore. An Apology for the Life of Mr Bampfylde-Moore Carew. 8th ed. London: Printed for R. Goadby and W. Owen, 1768.
• Coldham, Peter Wilson. Emigrants in Chains: A Social History of Forced Emigration to the Americas of Felons, Destitute Children, Political and Religious Non-conformists, Vagabonds, Beggars and Other Undesirables, 1607-1776. Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Pub. Co., 1992.
• Langley, Batty. An Accurate Description of Newgate, with the Rights, Privileges, Allowances, Fees, Dues, and Customs Thereof. London: Printed for T. Warner, 1724.
• The Maryland Gazette. “Bristol, May 2.” Thursday, August 20, 1752, p. 3.
• Morgan, Kenneth. “The Organization of the Convict Trade to Maryland: Stevenson, Randolph and Cheston, 1768-1775.” The William and Mary Quarterly 42.2 (1985): 201-27.
• Revel, James. The Poor Unhappy Transported Felon’s Sorrowful Account of His Fourteen Years Transportation at Virginia in America. London, 1780. A later edition is also available from Documenting the American South, http://docsouth.unc.edu/southlit/revel/revel.html.
• Smith, Abbot Emerson. Colonists in Bondage : White Servitude and Convict Labor in America, 1607-1776. The Norton Library; N592. New York: Norton, 1971.
• The Virginia Gazette (Rind), Thursday, January 5, 1769, p. 2.

Learn More About Convict Transportation

Learn more about convict transportation to colonial America by reading my book, Bound with an Iron Chain: The Untold Story of How the British Transported 50,000 Convicts to Colonial America.

Amazon.com: Paperback ($16.99) and Kindle ($4.99).

Smashwords: All e-book formats ($4.99).

Most people know that England shipped thousands of convicts to Australia, but few are aware that colonial America was the original destination for Britain’s unwanted criminals. In the 18th century, thousands of British convicts were separated from their families, chained together in the hold of a ship, and carried off to America, sometimes for the theft of a mere handkerchief.

What happened to these convicts once they arrived in America? Did they prosper in an environment of unlimited opportunity, or were they ostracized by the other colonists? Anthony Vaver tells the stories of the petty thieves and professional criminals who were punished by being sent across the ocean to work on plantations. In bringing to life this forgotten chapter in American history, he challenges the way we think about immigration to early America.

The book also includes an appendix with helpful tips for researching individual convicts who were transported to America.

Visit Pickpocket Publishing for more details.

Note: This post is part of a series on Convict Transportation to the American colonies.

Mary Standford was convicted of privately stealing a shagreen pocket book, a silk handkerchief, and 4 guineas from William Smith on July 11, 1726. After her conviction, she strongly rejected transportation to the American colonies as an alternative to execution.

Early Years

Standford was raised just outside of London by good parents who sent her to school and educated her in the principles of Christian values. Standford, however, showed more interest in the “Company of Young Men,” so she was sent to London to become a servant, where she lost several positions due to her behavior. In her last position she was seduced by a footman, which subsequently forced her into prostitution.

Standford quickly fell in company with Mary Rawlins, “a Woman of notorious ill fame,” and the two of them walked the streets between Temple Bar and Ludgate-Hill looking to empty the pockets, one way or another, of gullible men. Later, they had considerable success targeting sailors who, after returning from their voyages, had money to spend for their favors. Standford eventually married a man with the last name of Herbert, but after a year and a half she left him or, by her account, he abandoned her. Soon afterward, she had a child out of wedlock from another man, who was a servant.

Standford’s Arrest

With two mouths to feed, Standford set out to practice prostitution on her own, and it was then that she was arrested for theft. William Smith, who brought her to trial and was surprisingly frank in his testimony, related that he was walking along Shoe Lane after one o’clock in the morning when he was approached by Standford, who offered him to “take a Lodging with her.” He spent 2 or 3 three hours with her, all the while ordering drinks to be brought up from downstairs. He soon realized that he was missing money, and when he confronted Standford about it, she bolted from the room.

A constable caught Standford running away from Smith in the street. He picked up one of Smith’s guineas after Standford had dropped it, and he found another in her hand and two in her mouth. He also discovered Smith’s handkerchief and pocket book on her. In his testimony, the constable called Smith a “Country Man” and described him as very drunk at the time.

Standford’s version of the event was quite different. She claimed that Smith was drunk when she met him, and that he forced himself up to her room. There, he placed the four guineas one by one in her bosom and then threw her onto the bed. In the struggle, she speculated that his pocket book must have fallen out of his pocket, and when she discovered it after he left, she ran after him to return it. Not believing her story, the jury found her guilty, and she was sentenced to death.

A Rejection and a Defense of Transportation

After receiving her sentence, Standford’s friends pleaded with her to ask for a pardon in exchange for transportation. Standford refused, “declaring that she had rather die, not only the most Ignominious, but the most cruel Death that could be invented at home, rather than be sent Abroad to slave for her Living.”

The author of the Lives of the Most Remarkable Criminals was baffled by Standford’s position and presents a lengthy defense of the institution of convict transportation:

such strange Apprehensions enter into the Heads of these unhappy Creatures, and hinder them from taking the Advantage of the only possibility they have left of tasting Happiness on this side the Grave, and as this Aversion to the Plantations has so bad Effects, especially in making the Convicts desirous of escaping from the Vessel, or of flying out of the Country whither they were sent, almost before they have seen it. I am surpriz’d that no Care has been taken to print a particular and authentick Account, of the Manner in which they are treated in those Places; I know it may be suggested that the Terrour of such Usage as they are represented to meet with there, has often a good Effect in diverting them from such Facts as they know must bring them to Transportation, yet . . . if instead of magnifying the Miseries of their pretended Slavery, or rather of inventing Stories that make a very easy service, pass on these unhappy Creatures for the severest Bondage. The Convicts were to be told the true state of the Case, and were put in Mind that instead of suffering Death, the Lenity of our Constitution, permitted them to be removed into another Climate, no way inferiour to that in which they were born, where they were to perform no harder tasks, than those who work honestly for their Bread in England do, and this not under Persons of another Nation, who might treat them with less Humanity upon that Account, but to their Countrymen, who are no less English for their living in the New, than if they dwelt in Old England, People famous for their Humanity, Justice and Piety, and amongst whom they are sure of meeting with no variation of Manners, Customs, &c. unless in respect of the Progress of their Vices which are at present, and may they long remain so, far less numerous there than in their Mother-Land. I say if Pains were taken to instill into these unhappy Persons such Notions . . ., they might probably conceive justly of that Clemency which is extended towards them, and instead of shunning Transportation, flying from the Countries where they are landed, as soon as they have set their Foot in them, or neglecting Opportunities they might have on their first coming there, be brought to serve their Masters faithfully, to endure the Time of their Service chearfully, and settle afterwards in the best Manner they are able, so as to pass the Close of their Life in an honest, easy, and reputable Manner; whereas now it too often happens, that their last End is worse than their first, because those who return from Transportation being sure of Death if apprehended, are led thereby to behave themselves worse and more cruelly than any Malefactors whatsoever (Vol. III, pp. 287-289).

The author’s cheery account of life as an indentured servant in the American colonies certainly makes transportation sound like a compelling alternative to execution. The reality of life overseas under such conditions, though, does not match this picture, and some criminals valued their liberty over enforced servitude, even if it meant their own death.

Execution

In his account of her execution, James Guthrie, the minister at Newgate Prison, described Standford as “grosly Ignorant of any thing that is good.” He went on to say that “she was neither ingenious nor full in her Confessions, but appeared obstinate and self-conceited.” Standford continued to maintain her innocence in the affair with Smith, and she appeared indifferent about the fate of her child, expressing to Guthrie the hope that the parish would take care of it. Guthrie claimed, however, that “she acknowledg’d herself among the chief of Sinners.”

Mary Standford was executed on Wednesday, August 3, 1726 at Tyburn. She was 36 years old. Executed alongside her were 3 other criminals. Thomas Smith and Edward Reynolds were both sentenced to die for highway robbery. John Claxton, alias Johnson, was put death for returning twice from transportation before his 7-year sentence had run out.

Resources for this article:

• Lives of the Most Remarkable Criminals. 3 vols. London: John Osborn, 1735.
• Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org, 26 January 2009), July 1726, trial of Mary Stanford (t17260711-51).
• Old Bailey Proceedings (www.oldbaileyonline.org, 26 January 2009), Ordinary of Newgate’s Account, 3 August 1726 (OA17260803).

Learn More About Convict Transportation

Learn more about convict transportation to colonial America by reading my book, Bound with an Iron Chain: The Untold Story of How the British Transported 50,000 Convicts to Colonial America.

Amazon.com: Paperback ($16.99) and Kindle ($4.99).

Smashwords: All e-book formats ($4.99).

Most people know that England shipped thousands of convicts to Australia, but few are aware that colonial America was the original destination for Britain’s unwanted criminals. In the 18th century, thousands of British convicts were separated from their families, chained together in the hold of a ship, and carried off to America, sometimes for the theft of a mere handkerchief.

What happened to these convicts once they arrived in America? Did they prosper in an environment of unlimited opportunity, or were they ostracized by the other colonists? Anthony Vaver tells the stories of the petty thieves and professional criminals who were punished by being sent across the ocean to work on plantations. In bringing to life this forgotten chapter in American history, he challenges the way we think about immigration to early America.

The book also includes an appendix with helpful tips for researching individual convicts who were transported to America.

Visit Pickpocket Publishing for more details.

Note: This post is part of a series on Convict Transportation to the American colonies.

Convict transportation was conceived as a relatively easy means of emptying British prisons and punishing repeat petty criminals without having to resort to a death sentence. Most convicted criminals facing potential execution were probably relieved to receive a reprieve from death in exchange for servitude in the American colonies. There are a few cases, however–Philip Gibson, who was found guilty of highway robbery in 1751, being one–where felons refused to be transported, preferring death instead.

As an alternative to corporal punishment (whipping, branding, burning in the hand, etc.), transportation was generally regarded as a less humanitarian and more severe form of punishment. Even though transportation was supposed to serve as a more lenient sentence in cases that would normally call for execution, those caught committing petty crimes were no doubt stunned to learn that their measly acts earned them enforced transportation and servitude in a far-off land. While languishing in Newgate or other English prisons awaiting transportation, some convicts tried to appeal their sentences in a desperate attempt to avoid being shipped overseas. The following three convicted felons all show willingness in their petitions to exchange their sentence of transportation for corporal punishment.

Elizabeth Howard

Elizabeth Howard of St. Bride’s was found guilty of stealing 3 yards of ribbon and a piece of silk lace from Thomas Worsley. The stolen items were valued at three shillings and two pence, but the jury reduced the value of the goods to 10 pence, so that she could receive a reduced sentence of transportation. The fact that Howard was only 12 years old at the time must have entered into the jury’s decision.

While in Newgate, Howard wrote to Sir Robert Bayly, the Lord Mayor of the City of London, asking him to change her sentence in order to avoid transportation:

The humble petition of Elizabeth Howard
That your petitioner being disguis’d in liquor was guilty of committing a crime which she never before did and hopes by the grace of God never to do the like again. Your petitioner since her unhappy confinement in goal has lost the use of her limbs.
Most humbly prays on the account of her tender age not yet thirteen years and only cast to the value of single tenpence that your Honour out of your extensive goodness will be pleas’d to let her receive corporal punishment here for the heinousness of her crime and not to transport her out of her native isle.
And your petitioner as in duty bound will ever pray etc.

The petition seemed to have had its intended effect. Howard was ordered to be discharged on account of her age, but she died in prison before she could be released.

John Wilson, aka “Half-Hanged Smith”

On 17 May 1727, John Wilson, alias Smith, of St. Mary Wallbrook was accused of stealing a padlock from a warehouse door. Two watchmen stopped and searched him on suspicion of seeing him and another man take the padlock. The other man got away, but the watchmen found eight picklock keys on Wilson. The padlock was later found in the Channel, after Wilson had tried to rid himself of the evidence.

This wasn’t Wilson’s first brush with the law. In 1705 under the name of Smith, he was found guilty of robbery and sentenced to execution. Miraculously, Smith survived his hanging after being cut down and taken to a nearby house where he was resuscitated. He was granted his freedom as a consequence of outliving his execution, and from that point on, he was known as “Half-Hanged Smith.”

In the present case, the court agreed that Wilson intended to rob the warehouse, but the jury only found him guilty of stealing the padlock, and he was sentenced to transportation. It did not take him long to appeal his sentence to Sir John Eyles, the Lord Mayor of London.

The humble petition of John Wilson alias Smith alias half-hanged Smith
sheweth
that your petitioner was try’d yesterday at the Old Baily for a padlock value two shillings and found guilty.
That your petitioner is now in the sixty sixth year of his age his eyesight much decay’d and wounded in both his hands in her late Majestie’s service at Vigo, being then a Soldier in the Lord Cutts his Regiment in Colonel Bissetts Company, hath now a poor wife and two children.
Therefore your lordships poor petitioner most humbly prays your Lordship that in consideration of his great age, his wounds and bodily infirmities together with the smallness of the crime laid to his charge, that your Lordship will be pleas’d to inflict such corporal punishment in lieu of transportation as your Lordship and the Honourable court shall think meet.
And your petitioner as in duty bound shall ever pray etc.

Wilson’s petition didn’t work. He was placed on board the Susannah and sent to Virginia in July, 1727.

James Barton

James Barton of St. Dunstan’s in the West, was indicted on 9 July 1729 for feloniously stealing three pounds and eight pence worth of goods from John Amos and Charles Edgerton. The jury found him guilty, but, as in the case of Elizabeth Howard, they reduced the value of the goods to ten pence. As a result, Barton was sentenced to transportation. With the help of several friends, he also petitioned to have his sentence changed to corporal punishment.

To the Honourable Mr Seirjeant Raby
The humble petition of James Barton now under sentence of transportation in his Majestys goal of Newgate London sheweth
that your petitioner is a young man come of very wealthy and honest parents who are now dead, had a plentifull fortune to begin the world, but by loss in trade, fail’d and has since been as a journeyman to Messrs. Egerton and Amos haberdashers of small wares, the prosecutors. He took from them a small quantity of thread without their knowledge, in order to support his wife that was then big with child and two children. His wife is now dead and one child, since his sentence last sessions for transportation.
Your petitioner having several friends who are ready to give security for his future good behavior.
That the prosecutors having suffer’d no loss the thread being restoar’d to them without any diminution.
Your poor petitioner therefore humbly hopes and begs as this being the first fact he ever was guilty off, you will be pleased to order him corporal punishment, that he may not be forced into forreign parts, but remain in England.
We whose names are hereunto set have known the petitioner and his family many years during all which time the petitioner has behaved very honestly and we believe this to be his first offence.
John Worrall
Joseph Hague
Charles Worrall
Adam Johnson
Henry Prude
John Addis

This petition worked. Barton’s sentence was changed to a whipping on 29 August 1729. Barton then posted bail with the court and was ordered to remain in Britain for three years.

Resources for this article:

This post is particularly indebted to Kenneth Morgan’s work.

• Coldham, Peter Wilson. “The Complete Book of Emigrants, 1607-1776.” Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1996.
• —. The King’s Passengers to Maryland and Virginia. Westminster, MD: Heritage Books, 1997.
• Ekirch, A. Roger. Bound for America: The Transportation of British Convicts to the Colonies, 1718-1775. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987.
• Linebaugh, Peter. “The Tyburn Riot against the Surgeons.” Albion’s Fatal Tree: Crime and Society in Eighteeth-Century England. Ed. Douglas Hay, et. al. New York: Pantheon Books, 1975.
• Marks, Alfred. Tyburn Tree: Its History and Annals. London: Brown, Langham, 1908, pp. 221-223. Internet Archive (22 January 2009): http://www.archive.org/details/tyburntreeitshis00markuoft.
• Morgan, Kenneth. “Petitions against Convict Transportation, 1725-1735.” The English Historical Review 104.410 (1989): 110-13.
• [News item on Philip Gibson]. The London Magazine or Gentleman’s Monthly Intelligencer, Vol. 21, 1751, p. 427. The Hathi Trust Digital Library (22 January 2009): http://catalog.hathitrust.org/.
• Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org, 22 January 2009), May 1727, trial of John Wilson (t17270517-1).
• Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org, 22 January 2009), December 1728, trial of Elizabeth Howard (t17281204-37).
• Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org, 22 January 2009), July 1729, trial of James Barton (t17290709-60).
• Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org, 22 January 2009), August 1729, supplementary material, James Barton (o17290827-3).
• Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org, 21 January 2009), May 1751, trial of Philip Gibson (t17510523-25).

Learn More About Convict Transportation

Learn more about convict transportation to colonial America by reading my book, Bound with an Iron Chain: The Untold Story of How the British Transported 50,000 Convicts to Colonial America.

Amazon.com: Paperback ($16.99) and Kindle ($4.99).

Smashwords: All e-book formats ($4.99).

Most people know that England shipped thousands of convicts to Australia, but few are aware that colonial America was the original destination for Britain’s unwanted criminals. In the 18th century, thousands of British convicts were separated from their families, chained together in the hold of a ship, and carried off to America, sometimes for the theft of a mere handkerchief.

What happened to these convicts once they arrived in America? Did they prosper in an environment of unlimited opportunity, or were they ostracized by the other colonists? Anthony Vaver tells the stories of the petty thieves and professional criminals who were punished by being sent across the ocean to work on plantations. In bringing to life this forgotten chapter in American history, he challenges the way we think about immigration to early America.

The book also includes an appendix with helpful tips for researching individual convicts who were transported to America.

Visit Pickpocket Publishing for more details.