Within the period since Naval Surgeons have been appointed to the superintendence of convict ships, the calamity has been considerably lessened; and now, if two or three deaths occur in a voyage, it is thought very unfortunate indeed. I may add of my own knowledge, that in 1818, when I was first in New South Wales in that service, out of 1,059 convicts embarked in England and Ireland, 1,057 were landed at Sydney in tolerably good health. This favourable result may have been influenced considerably, perhaps, by much greater attention having been given to ventilation and cleanliness, and the convicts being less crowded than they used to be for many years after the settlement of the colony.
Such, it appears, was formerly the mode in which the transportation of convicts used to be conducted; but at present, under the superintendence of men regularly educated in the profession, it has become a point of duty for the Surgeon to take cognizance of every circumstance connected with the care of the convicts. To this intent, the Instructions issued to him from the Navy Board require the strictest attention to ascertain that the convicts’ stores are economically expended, and to see that every tendency to waste, irregular distribution, and improper application of the Government property, is instantly checked and prevented. Under these circumstances, his professional respectability becomes unavoidably merged, in some degree, in the character of a spy, in which odious light he is liable to be viewed by the commander, over whose actions he is directed to exercise this disagreeable, and in many cases unnecessary, controul.
The situation, therefore, of a Surgeon in a convict ship, besides being one of great responsibility, is subject to serious inconvenience and embarrassment from many existing circumstances, which are independent of his power or choice, and which, deriving influence from long established custom, have become inveterately incorporated with the present system of the service, and render the appointment by no means a sinecure. This is more strikingly evident in a female convict ship, where delicacy of management must be combined with a firmness of discipline bordering upon severity, which is at all times disagreeable, but becomes peculiarly odious when enforced, as must generally be the case, where corporal punishment is excluded. To regulate and duly restrain minds of ordinary purity and habitude of obedience, is not unattended with difficulty: but the duty is palpably irksome, though exercised with the utmost discretion, over dispositions vitiated and turbulent, as those which are generally found among female convicts; so much so, indeed, that few, knowing the extent of this painful responsibility, will be found willing to give the trial a repetition.
If he sanction, for instance, or connive at, the prostitution of the women, he is liable not only to severe animadversion, but even to be cashiered, and otherwise punished, by the authority under which he serves. On the other hand, his embarrassments are equally pressing; for, if he “enforce” the orders of the Navy Board, which will often involve the commission of an act of violence, he may subject himself to a criminal prosecution, the consequences of which may be fatal. Strange as this may sound, it is perfectly correct. During the forty nights I kept watch in the prison of the Morley, it was my firm determination to obey the letter and spirit of the orders I received in my Instructions, persuaded then that in so doing I should have acted legally; and had any of the seamen broken in, as they frequently threatened to do, I would most assuredly have shot at the first that entered; which as I have lately learned, would have been felony. Here is Charybdis on one hand, and Scylla on the other.
In fact, the Surgeon in those ships has no means whatever but his own physical strength to carry his instructions into effect; and should the opposition he meets with in the discharge of his public duty be formidable enough to trample down his authority, he can obtain no redress, as the law has provided no remedy against the licentiousness of sailors: consequently, to prefer complaints so as to give grounds for prosecution against them, would only be a useless waste of his time. It will, perhaps, be expected that the authority and co-operation of the Master will be effective in support of the Surgeon’s intentions; such expectation can only arise from the supposition that the Master’s authority over his seamen is absolute, or at least that his orders are promptly obeyed; but this supposition has been shown, in the journal, to be unfortunately without foundation.
To act up closely to his Instructions, a Surgeon must examine every bale, cask, parcel, or article which is to enter the ship, as will appear from the subjoined extract from the Instructions.
“You are to take particular care that neither the Master nor any other person be suffered, under any pretence whatsoever, to put on board any private goods or articles of any kind, without the special permission of the Board; and as the whole of the tonnage of the stores which may be permitted to be shipped will be reported to the Governor of New South Wales, the ship will be liable to seizure, if any greater quantity should be found on board.”
Would not this duty be better performed by a Custom-house officer during the continuance of the ship at any British port? If the vessel do not depart without the stipulated quantity of water, which ought to be determined by previous inspection, there will seldom be occasion to touch at any other place during the voyage, and consequently no opportunity can occur to take in goods without permission. The time which must be given to matters of this nature, will be found to interfere with the more immediate and important claims upon his attention as Superintendent, such for instance as the following: “You are to be careful that the convicts and passengers have their due rations of provisions without any deduction whatever, and to see that the victuals are properly cooked, and regularly issued at the usual meal-times, as also that they have a sufficient proportion of water. You are also to attend the opening of every cask of provisions supplied to the vessel by Government, and to notice in your journal its mark, numbers, and contents.”
In the discharge of duties so multifarious as are those of the Surgeon Superintendent in a convict ship, any leaning to remissness justly subjects him to the displeasure of the Board from whom he has the honour of receiving his appointment and instructions; or he incurs the liability of quarrelling perpetually with the Commander, when ever the conduct of the latter may be thought to require his interference; which becomes a constant source of uneasiness and vexation. Some men might be driven by such annoyance to study their own comforts, and self-interest grow importunate for a large share of consideration: in this case, sense of public duty may perhaps become weak in proportion as self predominates, and necessity, which rarely admits of compromise, compels to an acquiescence with the Master’s views, in order to conciliate his friendship, and cultivate a disposition to reciprocal concession on his part.
Should this mutual understanding fail to be established very early in the voyage, there is likely to be continual bickering between them, and endless thwarting on every trifling occasion, until at length an open rupture takes place, and the Master takes his revenge by dispensing with the Surgeon’s future services as soon as the convicts have been disembarked, and leaves him on shore to find a passage home in the best manner he can. It is fair, however, to state, that the Navy Board so far makes the Surgeon independent of such an unpleasant casualty, as to allow him fifty pounds by way of passage money returning from the colony: but whether this liberality be an equivalent for the severe discharge of an ungracious duty, by which he is subject to that emergency, is more than questionable, as it is a well known fact, that the sum demanded for a passage from New South Wales to England is from one hundred and fifty to two hundred pounds. To remain at the colony is productive of manifold inconvenience, as the allowance of fifty pounds will soon be expended for the necessaries of living, while the same demand and difficulty to return will still continue.