John Casey - Voyage to NSW Aboard the Sir Godfrey Webster
John Casey
The conditions on convict ships during the 1820’s left a lot to be desired. Private contractors were responsible for the transports, and many would cut corners and ignore regulations in favour of lowering their costs. When the Navy took over in the early 1830’s, things got a little better, but it’s not the sort of journey that anyone would choose to make.
John Casey was part of a group of 196 male prisoners who sailed from Cork to NSW aboard the Sir Godfrey Webster. This is an account of that voyage, based on the journal of Surgeon William Evans.
William Evans was a well-experienced surgeon, with the Sir Godfrey Webster being his fifth voyage to the colonies in that capacity. On examining the prisoners he argued with the principal superintendent, Dr. Trevor, regarding the sense in taking two prisoners who were extremely ill. Dr. Trevor agreed to have them taken back to the prison hulk. Evans also objected to several other passengers on the same grounds, but he failed to get them removed.
The Sir Godfrey Webster departed Cork on 11 July 1825 with 196 prisoners. For most of the convicts this would be the last time they would see their homeland. For the first fortnight they were mostly quite ill. Evans attributed this to the different food to that given in the hulk, where the men had been previously held, as they hadn’t been allowed any solid animal food.
Continuous rain prevented many men from coming on deck which contributed to more discomfort. Whenever it was practical to do so, fires were lit in the stoves to dry the prison room. Convicts came down with diarrhoea and dysentery, and scurvy began to appear as well, for which they were given lime juice and vegetable soup.
So, there were 196 guys stuck below deck, with half of them throwing up and shitting themselves. And little did they know that this was going to be one of the longer voyages to NSW, as almost 6 months of travel lay ahead. And sadly, no one had remembered to pack the shuffleboard.
TENERIFE
On the 2nd August they made the peak of Tenerife and the next day anchored off the town of Santa Cruz to replenish water. Here they also took on board fresh beef and vegetables for the convicts and guards, along with fruit for the sick. The ship weighed anchor on the 5th August and came abreast of Cape de Verde Island where the weather was fine, health improved, and the prisoners were released from their irons.
Santa Cruz, Tenerife
CROSSING THE EQUATOR
They reached the equator on the 1st September, at which time one of the prisoners, James Develin suffered from sun stroke, having exposed himself to “the direct rays of the sun” without any covering on his head. Clearly, your UK gentleman’s fondness for the knotted handkerchief atop the head had not yet found favour.
After crossing the equator for reasons I’m yet to determine, they were forced to retrace their steps, something that was not received well given that the ship was so crowded and the weather excessively hot. They headed north and then south finally re-crossing the equator on 2nd October 1825, a month after their first crossing.
William Evans recorded the death of one of the convicts off the coast of Brazil:
Michael Bergan, aged 30, nearly blind and under other bodily infirmities was in the act of going below when he lost his hold of the hatchway and was precipitated into the main hold; died 8 September 1825 at 10.30. His remains were committed to the deep the following day.
CAPE OF GOOD HOPE
By the 8th of October the ship was making rapid progress to the south. Scurvy and dysentery became prevalent, and the store of lime juice was nearly gone, so the remainder was rationed only to the sickest of the convicts, with none being given to the guards. Because of the serious illness on board, they were forced to proceed to the Cape of Good Hope.
On 4 November 1825, the ship reached anchorage in Table Bay. The following day fresh beef and vegetables were received for the guards and convicts, and a requisition for supplies was made to the naval storekeeper at Simon Town. By now 38 of the convicts and 2 of the guards were on the sick list all afflicted with scurvy. On 9th November they shipped eight live bullocks and fifty sheep, which delayed their departure, during which time strong westerly winds and heavy swell set into Table Bay. The upshot was that they couldn’t put to sea again until 13th November, when they finally said goodbye to the Cape, after a stay of nine days.
Cape Town and Table Bay
The only casualty that occurred during this part of the voyage was that of Patrick Conlan, a 49 year old convict, who died on 22nd November of Scorbutic Dysentery. I did a quick lookup of “Scorbutic Dysentery”, and I’ll be honest, it’s not the way I want to go. But I also found this book from 1855 “On the Use of Creasote in scorbutic camp dysentery”, and the good news is that it’s available on Kindle!!
CLOTHING
On 1st December the prisoners were supplied with a checked shirt, one pair of flannel drawers, one pair of duck trousers and one pair of stockings each. What are “duck trousers” I hear you ask. Well, duck is a kind of canvas which is stiffer and not as comfortable as denim. The name has nothing to do with the bird, but comes from the Dutch word for cloth - “doek” – as this type of cloth was generally made in Holland.
ILLNESS
In his journal, the surgeon described one of the convicts, James Jackson aged 27, in these words:
He came on board with extensive ulcers situated on the tibia of both legs; these he said he laboured under for upwards of two years; they were in a healing state when he embarked. The usual application of dressings had been resorted to both on board the convict ship at Dunleary, as well as that at Cork with various success.
Though a young man, his constitution is completely broken from constant dissipation previous to his incarceration and conviction; he has been well brought up under a surgeon of some repute (Doctor Walker of Kells County, Meath). On coming on board here suitable application were had recourse to with considerable benefit and the ulceration became small but never completely cicatrized. However during our protracted voyage together with salt rations, the ulcers have put on a late appearance much less favourable; indeed repeated sloughing has taken place from time to time and he is now using the common poultice and I consider him a fit object for hospital treatment.
Sloughing is the removal of slough from a wound, and “slough” is a yellow/white material in a wound bed. It’s normally wet, and it generally has a soft texture. It consists of necrotic cells that accumulate in the wound and attract harmful bacteria. So, no doubt Mr Jackson would have said “slough away my good man, and rid me of these oozing ulcerated bacterial breeding grounds”. I mean, it’s not like this wasn’t already a bad enough voyage.
SYDNEY COVE
On the 5th of December, as they passed by the Island of St. Paul they experienced a series of heavy gales, causing the ship to roll A LOT, and of course this had a negative impact on all the passengers, but especially those who were already sick. The convicts who were well enough assisted the crew.
William Evans recorded in his journal that at:
4 pm on the 27th of December we descried Kings Island lying at the entrance of Bass Strait, and by 10 o’clock the following night got clear through into the Pacific Ocean”. On the evening of 3rd January 1826, the ship anchored in Sydney Cove at 8pm.
The voyage had taken 176 days, just short of six months. During that time there had been three deaths amongst the 196 convicts.
I’m guessing none of the journeys to Australia were anything approaching “pleasant”, but this one sounds particularly horrendous. And there was my great great grandfather, John Casey, in amongst it all. Once again, I’m reminded of the tenuous nature of the string of events that led to myself, my siblings and our 45 first cousins existing at all. Had one or two more misfortunes struck The Godfrey Webster this O’Brien story would not have existed.
Sydney Cove, 1825
Written by Rob Landsberry, last updated 13 May 2023
References:
https://www.freesettlerorfelon.com/convict_ship_sir_godfrey_webster.htm
An eleven page document I found amongst Gwen Landsberry’s papers which included Casey history starting with John.