“1818. January 25th.—Mustered the convicts’ clothing, &c., and those who were not dressed clean were not permitted to receive this day’s allowance (half a pint) of wine, which was given to the others. Mustered, also, the bibles, prayer books, &c. At noon, read a sermon in the prison, during which the attention and feeling evinced by many of the convicts gratified me exceedingly. On all occasions of this kind their conduct has been marked by the utmost regularity; and I cannot avoid expressing the heartfelt satisfaction it gives me to find my efforts to lead many of these deluded victims of vice from misery, to reflect seriously and with tranquillized minds regarding a future state, and to administer the healing balm which revealed religion is capable of imparting to the soul, have not been entirely unsuccessful.”
All my watchfulness, notwithstanding, could not prevent some portion of the old leaven from bursting forth. Some would occasionally quarrel and fight: one of these turbulent and troublesome characters being detected in a flagrant instance of delinquency of this kind, twelve lashes were inflicted on him with salutary effect.
Reconciled as the prisoners were to their immediate condition, still the love of liberty naturally clung to them, imbittered recollection, and made many anticipate that severer evils awaited them than any they had been accustomed to endure. Although convinced of the justice of their sentence, and the leniency of the laws, and that they really merited the captivity to which they were consigned, yet an instance occurred which showed that their doom was irksome to them, and that liberty was the feeling most near to their heart under circumstances of any kind.
Private information had been conveyed to me that a sailor had been tampering with one of the convicts. I had the convict brought immediately into the cabin, and on being interrogated he acknowledged that Waterson (the seaman) had frequently sought for opportunities of speaking to him when brought on deck for air and exercise; that a few days previous he had said, that for twenty pounds he would procure his escape from New South Wales, by concealing him in a secret part of the ship, and giving him half of his own allowance of provisions and grog.
The sailor above mentioned had been confined for daring misconduct about three weeks before, and had been released on his expressing contrition for his fault and promising to amend in future. It is very probable that he had a more dangerous object ulteriorly in view, if he could calculate on finding successfully means of tampering in this way with the prisoners. To all his plans Captain Carns thought it advisable to appear blind, as the ruffian was both daring and dangerous: and as nothing could be gained by driving him into open mutiny, we determined, to keep a strict watch upon his future actions, and further agreed on the propriety of giving him up to the Governor on our arrival at the Cape of Good Hope.
The security of convicts going to New South Wales, or elsewhere on a long voyage, has a much greater dependence on the regularity and integrity of the seamen than may at first view be supposed, and even more than upon the vigilance of the guards. The careless, easy, and familiar manner of the seaman sooner enables him to form an intimacy with the convicts, than the stiff, formal, and forbidding air the soldier assumes, whose unbending attention to his duty forms his chief characteristic. The mutinous disposition just noticed was not confined to Waterson alone; for I had an opportunity of witnessing myself conduct exceedingly reprehensible in another of the seamen, which I cannot refrain from relating.
About noon on the 24th of February, I heard Serjeant Bisset (one of the troops) complaining to Captain Carns of some foul language which he said one of the sailors (Wraite) had used to his wife. The Captain ordered the sailor on deck to have the matter investigated; and when he came, nothing could be more disrespectful or subversive of good order than his behaviour was towards the Master. He blustered, and said there was no living with these soldiering *—*, and used a great deal of other infamous expressions to the same effect. He was joined by Anderson, who was then at the helm, and used language if possible still more abominable than the other had done; and although repeatedly desired by Captain Carns to be silent, he paid no attention whatever. His conduct became outrageous, and he offered to fight any of the soldiers, and swore he would be revenged of them.
This Anderson had been for some time showing marks of discontent, and seemed very desirous of making a quarrel. His manner on this occasion was altogether violent, and, in my opinion, most decidedly mutinous. He said all he could to excite a general misunderstanding and immediate quarrel between the soldiers and sailors; but by the prompt and united efforts of Captain Carns and Lieutenant Bunney, commanding the troops, peace was at length restored, and all attempts at violence completely suppressed.
The nature of a seaman’s engagement on board a merchant ship is a certain source of mischief and insubordination; for, should the situation not be agreeable to his mind, which it certainly will not if he be of a depraved and vicious disposition, a wide door is open to disorder, and no provision is made by law to curb his licentiousness, and punish him for disobedience. It is true that the seaman enters into a written engagement with the Master, before the voyage is begun, by which he consents to a forfeiture of his wages in case of disobedience: but as that regards the ship’s duty only, the sailor, if so inclined, can be very troublesome to the Master personally, and by a due exercise of cunning, for which many of that class are remarkable, may interrupt the peace of the ship without subjecting himself to loss of wages.
The law is more severe if the seaman attempt to control the actions of the Master, by laying violent hands on his person, or offering him any opposition in his proper duties: such a case would amount to felony; but to determine that offence, a regular trial before a competent authority, is indispensable: until that can be had, the Captain has to endure the refractory conduct of the sailor, without any means of repressing it, unless he choose to hazard exposure to a prosecution, to which the sailor may have recourse on shore, and to which many interested dabblers in the law are ever ready to urge.