Lady Juliana: A Controversial Female Convict Transport Ship

Botany Bay & A Female Transport: the London Chronicle, October 20-22, 1789: A small article but a big story, this edition carries an 'Extract of a Letter on board the Lady Juliana, Aitken, for Botany Bay, dated Santa Cruz, Sept.1' in which the correspondent notes 'I have the pleasure of informing you of our safe arrival in this place...We are all in good health, the women have behaved much better than was expected... The British government chartered the Lady Juliana to transport female convicts. Her master was Thomas Edgar, who had sailed with James Cook on his last voyage. The surgeon was Richard Alley, who was apparently competent by the standards of the day, but made little attempt to maintain discipline. She took 309 days to reach Port Jackson, one of the slowest journeys made by a convict ship. One reason was that she called at Tenerife and St Jago, and spent forty-five days at Rio de Janeiro, and nineteen days at the Cape of Good Hope. She carried 226 female convicts, five of whom died during the journey. Most of the convicts were London prostitutes, but there were some hardened criminals - thieves, receivers of stolen goods, shoplifters - among them. Lady Juliana gained the reputation for being a floating brothel. Nicol recalled that 'when we were fairly out to sea, every man on board took a wife from among the convicts, they nothing loath.' At the ports of call seamen from other ships were freely entertained, and the officers made no attempt to suppress this licentious activity. No provision had been made to set the convicts to any productive work during the voyage, and they were reported to be noisy and unruly, with a fondness for liquor and for fighting amongst themselves. The low death rate during the voyage was due to Edgar and Alley's care. Rations were properly issued, the vessel kept clean and fumigated, the women were given free access to the deck, and supplies of fresh food were obtained at the ports of call. This treatment was in sharp contrast to that meted out on the infamous second Fleet. When Lady Juliana arrived at Port Jackson she was the first vessel to arrive there since the First Fleet's arrival almost two and a half years before. In the grip of starvation, with HMS Sirius having wrecked at Norfolk Island, Judge Advocate David Collins was mortified at the arrival of 'a cargo so unnecessary and so unprofitable as 222 females, instead of a cargo of provisions'. Lieutenant Ralph Clark was more blunt, lamenting the arrival of still more 'damned whores'.