Reid's first duty (before departing) was to draw up
regulation for guidance of the prisoners:
The next duty was to instigate a moral
and religious system and with this in mind he brought with him a number of
bibles and prayer books for the convicts. The ship was kept clean,
ventilated and also warmed by stoves if the occasion arose. Once the ship
got underway Mr. Reid began to attend to the twenty three junior convicts,
all of whom were under 20 years of age, some as young as 13. He mustered
them all and questioned them individually and found to his dismay that
only 5 could read and write. He immediately set up a school on board and
placed the young men under the care of a convict appointed as
schoolmaster. The school continued for the entire voyage and at the end
each boy was literate.
When the Neptune reached the
Cape, Thomas Reid and Captain Carns were disturbed to find that sixteen
men who had escaped from New South Wales in the vessel Harriet and
been apprehended at the Cape, were to be put on board the Neptune
to return to Australia. Facilities and supplies were limited but they were
left with little choice but to take the men on board. Carpenters were
employed to build extra facilities that the convicts and new soldiers
required
Mr. Reid learned that the absconders had
contrived to secrete themselves in the hold of the Harriet where
they lay concealed for more than a month before they were discovered;
having subsisted that time on some 'miserable matter' they had brought
away with them and on a small store belonging to the owner to which they
had penetrated privately. Their appearance when brought on board the
Neptune was 'extremely forbidding'. They were kept separate from the
other prisoners, totally and effectually excluded from the society and
conversation of the original men. Religious books were provided and they
were allowed to bathe and exercise in the open air. They were not allowed
any wine, however the 'old' prisoners requested permission to share their
allowance of wine with the new prisoners which Reid allowed.
There
were eighteen convict ships bringing prisoners to Port Jackson in 1818,
however the voyage of the Neptune was different because of the
benevolent attention to the prisoners by surgeon Thomas Reid and the sixteen men who had
been boarded at the Cape. One hundred and seventy prisoners originally
departed on the Neptune and these men together with the extra 16
totalling 186 prisoners arrived at Port Jackson on 5th May. Every one of
these 186 men signed a letter of thanks to the surgeon
superintendent Thomas Reid for his 'unremitting attention and assiduous
care' during the passage out.
The Sydney Gazette carried the
following account of the punishment of the sixteen men who returned to
Australia on the Neptune:
The male prisoners who had effected
their escape from hence in the Harriet, and
returned by the Neptune from the Cape, were this day brought before
a Bench of Magistrates, and sentenced to receive one hundred lashes each,
and worked in the gaol gang for 12 calendar months. The following is a
list of the prisoners' names: Henry Chambers, John Druet, Benjamin Oliver,
John Cochrane, Robert Plummer, John Skelton, Patrick Lowry, Nathaniel
Ewer, Henry Moore, William Hollady, John Latham, James Quinn, Benjamin
Little, William Chapman, Thomas Edwards and Moses Solomon (a boy). It
appeared from a written statement transmitted from the Cape of good Hope,
that the delinquents had not made their appearance for a considerable time
after the vessel's departure from hence, although it was known by some of
the crew they were on board; and, but for timely information being given
to the Commander, the consequences might have been very serious, as it was
then represented to have been their intention to take the vessel, after
the cargo had been received on board at the Cape, and carry her into South
America; in which design they would very probably have been aided by
seamen and other person on board; with which assistance they could
scarcely have failed in accomplishing their purpose. The result of this
discovery was, that the troops, in concert with the passengers, were
compelled constantly to keep the deck till they reached the Cape.
(2)
1.Australian
Dictionary of Biography Online
2. Sydney Gazette 16 May 1818
