Convict Queen

by Marina Oliver

  A few days later Joshua had more news.

  'Gilbert's being sent off,' he told Molly. 'He didn't know Nepean's brother was at the Admiralty, secretary, I think, so when Nepean complained it was Gilbert who was blamed. Donald Traill's moving over from the Surprize, with his wife, and Anstis it taking that over.'

  'Will he be able to control Macarthur? Or his wife?'

  'He's experienced, that's all I know. He was captain of a slave trader, and that's what this ship is. They're even using the same irons they used on the slaves.'

  Molly shuddered. 'Those men are shackled with such short bolts they can barely move their legs.'

  'They're afraid of mutiny, and that would be a disaster.'

  The next day Joshua told her they were off to Portsmouth.

  'But haven't we just come from there?'

  'Don't ask me why we have to go backwards, but I'm told it's to collect Shapcote.'

  'The naval agent? Will he be in charge? No one seems to know whether the Captain or the Corps is more important.'

  Joshua grinned. Molly was quick, and she saw no reason to hide her opinions.

  'Perhaps he will sort 'em out, but I hear he's lazy. He'll most like leave it to the others.'

  After another uncomfortable few days the Neptune arrived in Portsmouth, and anchored in what Molly was told was Stokes Bay. More convicts were boarded, and Shapcote arrived. Joshua had suspected from a couple of remarks Molly had made that she was hoping to escape somehow. She'd said once she could swim, but she and the other women had to remain below decks, so any vague hopes she'd had of being able to swim ashore were thwarted. At last, he knew, she had accepted there was nothing for it but to stay alive until, somehow, she made a life for herself in this land the other side of the world. She had to depend on Joshua's continuing favour, and he was not unwilling. The journey was made more endurable while he had her compliance, but he had no intention of saddling himself with one woman once they arrived in New South Wales. He wanted land, land he could not obtain in Ireland or England, and there would be plenty of other willing women. He would not make himself responsible for one of them, even if that one were Molly.

  *

  Since she had no option but to go there, Molly began to ask Joshua and others about New South Wales. They knew very little, but she was eager for any scrap of information.

  'Governor Phillip's a good man, even if he is from the navy,' one of the marines told her. 'I was due to sail with him and the First Fleet, but there were so many delays I was sent elsewhere. The government gave him so many powers he's like a king.'

  'You know him?'

  'Not personally. But if it looks as though the marines will do well under him I might consider staying. I think he can give land grants, and that would suit me. I've a mind to become a farmer. I've had my fill of fighting.'

  'There won't be fighting where we're going, surely?'

  He laughed. 'Not unless the natives start objecting to us, but from all I've heard they're just savages.'

  Molly was thoughtful. If the marines could obtain land, they could become wealthy. Would it be possible for her to share some of that wealth? If she was unable to find a way of returning to England, the life of a wealthy farmer's wife would be better than that of a convict.

  Joshua, she suspected, was not interested in farming. She began to watch the other marines more carefully, trying to learn their names, and talking to them whenever she could, and whenever she could do so without Joshua knowing. He'd been very moody one day when he'd found her talking to one of the marines, telling her to keep away from them.

  John Macarthur, she discovered, wanted land and made no secret of the fact. She overheard him boasting one day of how he meant to make his fortune in this new country.

  'They say it's fertile, and the weather's good,' he was saying one day when Molly was sitting on deck. 'Anyone with common sense will be able to get land and free labour. Just watch me.'

  Some of them laughed at him, but others were looking thoughtful. Molly took particular note of these marines. She might need to make herself agreeable to one of them, the likeliest to be successful. For now, though, she needed Joshua, so she kept her interest in the other men a secret from him. She had no desire to arouse his jealousy.

  *

  'Them's mine!'

  Molly awoke from an uneasy sleep to hear men further along the row of cages complaining bitterly and soldiers ordering them to keep their dirty mouths shut.

  Listening hard, she and the other women realised the men's possessions were being searched, and anything of value being taken from them.

  'They'll sell 'em,' one of the women said.

  'That's worse theft than I was accused of!' Molly complained to Joshua.

  He shrugged. 'They found lots of knives, too, and couldn't leave them where they might be used in a mutiny. The men'll be chained most of the time now.'

  'That's inhuman!'

  'Traill's orders.'

  'What about Shapcote? I thought he was in charge.'

  'No one's really in charge, so it's who shouts loudest, and that's Traill. Nepean says he's not involved in the running of the ship, and Shapcote gives way to Traill whenever there's any argument.'

  Christmas and New Year passed, and still the ships did not sail. Joshua said they had been waiting for favourable winds. Finally, in January 1790 they set off. It would be a long voyage, but Molly breathed a sigh of relief. She'd been on this ship for two months now, and would have to endure it for many more, but at least they would be getting closer to New South Wales. The ship might be tossing, the decks were both cold and damp, yet fusty and stinking, but it would eventually be over and she'd be able to breathe in fresh air, and stand on land again.

  *

  Molly was able to go on deck more, and she witnessed several arguments between Macarthur or his wife and the officers. Donald Traill had ordered a reduction in the rations, and the Macarthurs protested loudly. Elizabeth Macarthur never stopped complaining, and all the convicts within earshot heard her whining voice. John Macarthur quarrelled with the Captain, with Nepean, whose cabin he burst into, shouting loudly, and Shapcote, and finally, rather to Molly's relief, he and his wife and baby were transferred to the Surprize, when the two ships were able to come close together.

  'That's the only good thing,' Joshua said. 'The rest is a shambles. There's men dying every day.'

  Molly nodded. She'd seen dead bodies in the cages, and when she'd asked one of the men why they didn't report the deaths, he'd winked at her and grinned.

  'We props 'em up, till the stink gets unbearable, an' gets 'is rations,' he whispered.

  The food was poor and scanty, but even ship's biscuits were welcome when they had some ox-cheek soup to soak them or the hard crusts of bread and make them soft enough for chewing, especially by men whose teeth had become rotten or fallen out.

  She and the other women who had attracted the attentions of the soldiers or crew fared better. The food was unappetising, but they were given more than the men chained below.

  The days were monotonous, but at least it became warmer, and since the women were given some freedom they could enjoy being on deck. This was a welcome relief, as below decks the greater heat made the stench unbearable. Molly made friends with one of the women who had joined the ship intending to be midwives in New South Wales.

  'The conditions are deplorable,' she said, 'but there's nothing we can do. I shall certainly write home to complain about it when – or rather if – we ever get to our destination.'

  'Do you think the ship'll sink?'

  'It's not the most seaworthy vessel. There's water coming in, but I understand we'll be stopping a while at the Cape, so maybe proper repairs can be made there.'

  When Molly repeated this to Joshua he scoffed at her worries.

  'It's none so bad. Time to worry when the orlop deck's six feet under.'

  'It's only just over six feet high,' Molly reminded him. 'Men have to duck under the beams.'

&
nbsp; Worse was to come when Captain Traill cut the rations and allowed the convicts less water. More men died, their bodies tossed overboard without any ceremony, and many of the others seemed barely alive.

  It was a huge relief when they arrived at the Cape and anchored in what Joshua said was False Bay.

  'It's the safest harbour, I'm told.'

  Belatedly, Shapcote ordered fresh meat and vegetables every day.

  'He's afraid the scurvy will kill off more men,' Joshua explained. 'Some of the crew have deserted, and I can't blame them.'

  Then they heard of a fresh disaster. The Guardian, the ship carrying supplies for the new colony, had sunk. Some of the crew and convicts had been saved, and the damaged ship had staggered to the Cape. Several convicts were brought to the Neptune.

  Just over two weeks later the convoy set off again, on the last part of the journey.

  *

  When Joshua reluctantly took Molly from his cabin, leaving it for the use of his friend and the friend's woman, he persuaded her to remain with him on deck.

  'It's a warm night, we can sit out here awhile.'

  They had gone to sit in a corner of the deck, and could see almost as clearly as in the daytime, for the stars were bright. Then the quiet, disturbed only by the rush of the waves and the gentle flapping of the sails, was torn by a screaming woman who ran onto the deck.

  'He's dead!' she wailed.

  'Who's that?' Joshua was on his feet, but Molly pulled him back.

  'Take care. It's Shapcote's woman!' Molly warned. 'Does she mean Shapcote's dead?'

  When the sailors, alerted by her screams, investigated, they discovered this was true. The Captain was roused, and after a brief inspection the body of the naval agent was brought onto the deck, and after a short while consigned to the sea.

  Molly had been sitting, bemused, in her corner. It was dark there and no one could see her and Joshua. He had his arm around her and warned her to remain silent when she started to protest at the speed and inhumanity of what they were doing.

  'You can't change anything,' he whispered. 'You'll just get into trouble yourself. Traill will do whatever he wants.'

  'They just don't care!' she said. 'At home, even the worst of sinners has a few prayers said over him, to cleanse his soul. They've thrown dead convicts overboard without so much as a thought, but they might have cared more about a gentleman like him!'

  Joshua shrugged. Shapcote had not been doing his job of protecting the convicts, so many had died who might have survived. He was going to survive, and if there was such a thing as a gentleman in New South Wales, he intended to become one. He'd get land, and use any other privileges his army rank entitled him to.

  *

  Molly found the casual disposal of Shapcote's body hard to forget during the next few days, until one morning she was approached by one of the sailors from the Guardian, who had come aboard the Neptune at Cape Town.

  Molly deflected his clearly amorous intentions by asking what had happened to the Guardian.

  'We saw her at Cape Town,' she said, 'and heard only the convicts had survived.'

  'And the crew that stayed on board. We hit a damned iceberg,' he replied.

  'An iceberg? But it's warm.'

  'They float all over the place, but it was further south. The Captain sent boats to get chunks of ice.'

  'Why?'

  'Fresh water. We needed a lot, we had cattle and plants aboard that needed fresh water.'

  'Yes, I see.'

  'It was Christmas Eve. Then it got foggy, and we sailed on, as slow as possible. When we thought we were past it a huge block of ice appeared. Like a mountain, it were. I hope I never see anything to terrifying again!'

  'What happened then?'

  'We hit some ice that was under water. Icebergs are like that, there's a deal more below the surface than on top. It bashed a hole and the sea came in. Then there was a gale. We put a sail over the hole which helped a bit, then the sail split, and another we tried. Riou, he was Captain, had the stores and the cattle chucked over the sides.'

  'Oh, the poor things!'

  Molly thought of the cattle in Corvedale, unable to swim. These poor animals would have drowned almost at once.

  'It was them or us. Most of the crew took to the boats. Only the launch survived, and that because a French merchantman saw it. It took us till late February to reach Cape Town.'

  *

  Molly could not forget the fates of the men from the Guardian. Was it worse to die of disease and starvation aboard the Neptune, or drown? To distract her thoughts from such miseries she had been reading Captain Gilbert's book when she was able to sit on deck. She asked Joshua to keep it for her, since she dared not leave it below. There was more time since leaving the Cape, and she became interested in the many islands the author described, with their strange animals, trees, and natives. Gilbert had captained the ship the Charlotte in the first fleet, then had to sail for Canton to load a cargo of tea. The Charlotte and the Scarborough sailed amongst many uncharted islands, and Gilbert gave them names. Molly was intrigued by these, reflecting the names of the captains and owners of the two ships, such as the Gilbert and Marshall Islands. As well as tea the captains bought other goods to sell for themselves back in England.

  Her enjoyment was ruined again one day when the mate, Ellington, ordered one of the male convicts on deck and accused him of having his irons off during the night. When the man protested he had not, Ellington began to beat him with a thick rope. Traill then had the man tied to the longboat and he was flogged until his back was raw, covered in blood, and he could no longer stand. Molly winced at every blow, tears streaming down her cheeks, and though she knew he could not intervene, begged Joshua to help the poor man, who was lying, groaning.

  'He needs the surgeon!' she whispered, afraid Traill would hear her.

  'I cannot summon him,' Joshua said. 'If I did, without authority, I'd be flogged myself.'

  Molly grasped his arm, and wiped away her tears. One of the sailors, glancing round to make sure Traill and Ellington had left the deck, gave the injured man some of his own ration of water, but it did little to help. Three hours later he was dead, and tossed overboard as were others of the convicts who had died.

  'That was murder!' Molly said.

  There were more murders. The cook and one of the mates were murdered, no one knew by whom or why. More of the convicts were dying every day. They were all so hungry that when a few of the men were brought on deck to do some of the worst jobs, they stole the pig swill, and even snatched at the wads of chewing tobacco still in the mouths of dead comrades.

  'That damned Traill has cut our water rations again,' the convicts complained. 'But they don't share out the rations of them that died amongst the rest of us.'

  'Why not?' Molly demanded of Joshua.

  'They'll have more to sell when we reach New South Wales. Governor Phillip might take some action.'

  'Are they deliberately killing us?'

  He shrugged. 'Mayhap we can complain when we reach New South Wales.'

  Molly didn't reply. What good would any complaint by her do? No one would listen to a convict. She was on her own now. Joshua might not want her once they reached their destination, and she did not believe he would complain. But there were other men, some on board who would have given her protection had Joshua not claimed her. From all she had learned, women were scarce in the new colony. As well as convicts there were Marines and the Corps. She would use them as men had used her.

  *

  Finally, to Molly's relief, they sighted land. Their miserable journey was almost over, and conditions could not be as bad as they had been on the ship. They sailed eastwards past the huge continent, and finally turned north along the coast of New South Wales, aiming for the settlement which was at Sydney Cove, part of Port Jackson, Joshua told her.

  'I thought we were going to Botany Bay?'

  'That was the first idea, but they say it's not suitable. We'll pass it soon, it's onl
y a few miles from where we are going. There's a huge harbour at the mouth of the Parramatta River, with fresh water and a better anchorage.'

  The coast was barren, with huge sandy bays and white-topped surf crashing onto the beaches, behind which were dunes where coarse grass grew. There were trees in the distance, sparsely scattered from what Molly could see. There was no sign of life, though the sailors who had been on the first fleet assured Molly the natives would be watching.

  'Don't they have towns?'

  'No, nor regular houses. They're nomadic, they move around and stay in one place for only a few days.'

  She had to control her impatience. Soon, she thought, she would be rid of this stinking ship, able to breathe fresh air. After eight months here and in the goal at Shrewsbury, she would be free to begin a new life. Until, a small inner voice whispered, she could contrive to return to England.

  *

  CHAPTER 8

  She had to wait one more day. The Neptune anchored for the night near an island one of the sailors told Molly had been planted to supply vegetables to officers.

  'Garden Island, they call it. But Sydney Cove is a way up river.'

  Molly, however, was far more interested in what they would find when they eventually went ashore. She could see gently rolling hills and far in the distance what looked like a range of mountains. There were many more trees here, it looked a much more welcoming place than had Botany Bay.

  They finally reached their destination on the following morning. It was a very wide river, she saw as they were winched along, with many rivers joining it, and inlets and bays, plus scattered islands. She had thought the Thames in London was wide, but this river could hold hundreds more ships.

  As they anchored again Molly was staring at the shoreline. It was a cold, wet day, but not so bitterly cold as it often was in England. Hundreds of people lined the shore, and behind them she could see what looked to her like a jungle, with odd trees Joshua said he thought were gum and eucalyptus.

  'Captain Gilbert described them in his book.'

  Molly turned round towards him. Would he continue to help and protect her? Then her eyes widened as she looked past him.