The Neptune entered the Heads of Port Jackson at 10.30am on the 5th May 1818 and shortly afterwards the pilot was received on board. At noon they anchored to wait for the tide and at 12.30 the Naval Officer boarded. The Master of the vessel, Captain Carns accompanied by Surgeon Superintendent Thomas Reid, then went on shore to deliver dispatches to Governor Macquarie.

The convicts of the transport Neptune were not unlike many other prisoners arriving in New South Wales in 1818. They had left family and friends behind and they had little idea if they would ever see them again or of what truly awaited them at 'Botany Bay', however the passage out was different to other voyages primarily because of the attention of surgeon Thomas Reid. SELECT HERE to read Thomas Reid's journal of the voyage.

The Neptune brought with her 170 convicts who had departed the Downs 20 December 1817 as well as 16 men who had escaped from New South Wales in the vessel Harriet and were apprehended at the Cape. SELECT HERE for more information about these absconders.

Surgeon Thomas Reid was born in Ireland in 1791 and educated in County Tyrone He entered the Navy around 1811 and was admitted to the Royal College of Surgeons in London in 1815. He was a prison reformer and at the instigation of Elizabeth Fry he made voyages as surgeon-superintendent of the convict ships Neptune, to Sydney in 1818, and Morley, to Hobart Town and Sydney in 1820. He died in London in 1825.(1) The prisoners by the Neptune were fortunate in having him as their surgeon on the voyage to Port Jackson. He was humane and treated the men fairly throughout the voyage.

Thomas Reid's journal of the voyage has a list of the Crimes of the prisoners under his care:

Eighty-five men were Transported for Life; Thirty-three were Transported for 14 years and Fifty-two were transported for seven years. A Report of their conduct while in the Hulks awaiting transportation was provided to Mr. Reid. He recorded an Abstract View in his Journal:

(click)

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 of 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 totaling 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