ON THE HIGH SEAS. 175 



behaved with a quiet resignation and decency which commended 

 them to officers and passengers. 1 



The treatment of the female convicts differed little from that 

 of the men. There was no punishment by flogging, nor were the 

 women put in irons, and the usual punishments were the wear- 

 ing of a wooden collar and in extreme cases the cutting of their 

 hair. 



The chief evil on the female transports was of a very in- 

 sidious and terrible nature. The usual conditions of the voyage 

 were first made known to the Colonial Office through a letter 

 from Nicholas Bayly, a gentleman-settler, to Sir Henry Bunbury. 

 " Women and sailors," he wrote, " live together on the ships 

 coming to the Colony, and remain on board when the ship gets 

 into port until it leaves." 2 



The Secretary of State was genuinely horrified and directed 

 Macquarie to make immediate inquiries. 3 This was but one of 

 several complaints made by Bayly, and anonymous extracts 

 from his letters were included in Lord Bathurst's rather per- 

 emptory despatch. Macquarie at once concluded that Marsden, 

 with whom he was on the worst of terms, had written the letter, 

 and was furiously angry. 



"... I need only appeal to your Lordship's candour," he 

 wrote, "with the question : How is it possible that I, dwelling 

 in New South Wales, can prevent or be answerable for the 

 prostitution of the female convicts antecedent to their arrival 

 within my Government. . . . All therefore that remains for me 

 to remark ... is that I have never for an instant, directly or 

 by connivance, sanctioned or allowed any prostitution of female 

 convicts, after their arrival in this Colony." 4 



The case of the Friendship a few months later made it per- 

 fectly clear that he was well aware of the circumstances. This 

 vessel carried female convicts, and when it came into port the 

 complaints of some of the women and the report of the surgeon 



1 Men recommended by master or superintendent were supposed to be treated 

 better than other prisoners on arrival at Sydney, but it is doubtful whether such 

 recommendations were of value. Men who behaved well on the voyage frequently 

 turned out badly. See Evidence of Principal Superintendent, Appendix Bigge's 

 Reports. R.O., MS. 



2 Bayly to Bunbury, I3th March, 1816. R.O., MS. 



3 Bathurst to M., D. 82, 24th January, 1817. C.O., MS. 



4 D. 32, 4th December, 1817. R.O., MS. 



