ON THE HIGH SEAS. 177 



" I have incidentally learned that such mal- practices did exist 

 among the men and women in some of the female transports, 

 but I have not felt myself warranted in making any direct report 

 of such circumstances until the present time, as no complaints 

 were made to me thereon." 



He suggested no remedy, though he expressed himself as 

 eager to carry out any directions which his Lordship might 

 give " in order to save the poor unprotected creatures from 

 being involved in a profligacy during the passage which per- 

 haps the natural inclinations of many of them might be averse 

 to, but which, I have no doubt, when once forced upon them, 

 will tend strongly to render them abandoned during their future 

 lives ". 



With all his humanity Macquarie never displayed genuine 

 interest or care for these women. He seemed to turn with 

 loathing from the terrible subject. He knew his prohibitions 

 were disregarded, but he made as few inquiries as possible, as 

 though he feared to touch one abuse lest a thousand should show 

 themselves. 1 



Bigge believed that the evil might be brought to an end by 

 giving the master more control over his crew in this respect, and 

 power to the New South Wales magistrates to punish them 

 further, if necessary, by forfeiture of their wages, right of appeal 

 being allowed to the Court of Vice- Admiralty at Sydney. This, 

 however, would not have touched the evil when the master him- 

 self was implicated. 



Macquarie was unsparing in hunting out the perpetrator of 

 any crime against the male convicts, and no more awful example 

 of the tragedy possible under the system of transportation could 

 be found than that afforded by the case of the Chapman. 



The arrival of this transport with Captain Drake in command 

 from Ireland on the 26th July, 1817, was the signal for a re- 

 markable outburst of feeling throughout the town of Sydney. 

 The publication of the Gazette was delayed a little that news of 

 the arrival might be inserted, for the shipping news was, of course^ 



1 e.g., the state of the wool factory where the women worked at Parramatta 

 was disgraceful. A new factory, which had been urgently required since 1815 

 (when the need was pointed out to Macquarie by Marsden), was built in 1819, but 

 was little better than the former one. See Bigge's Report, I. 



12 



