Page:A colonial autocracy, New South Wales under Governor Macquarie, 1810-1821.djvu/201

 of convicts, the authority of the surgeon should be more defined, and that to him should also be given the property in their services and the safe custody of their persons."

Bigge thought that such a course would have been a dangerous one, for the master who was responsible for the safe navigation of his ship should have power to interpose whenever he considered it endangered by any concessions or laxity of discipline amongst the prisoners. He thought the only remedy lay in the fearless exercise by the surgeon of the right to enter in his journal any refusal of the master to do what the surgeon considered necessary for the health and fair treatment of the convicts. If the master and surgeon agreed in treating them badly there was no remedy.

From 1810 to 1820 the average length of the voyage was four months. No description can include all the variety of good and evil conditions which existed on different ships. The character of master and officers affected the convicts no less than that of the surgeon-superintendent. But in general outline life on one transport differed little from that on another. The convicts slept in long prisons below deck, in bunks and hammocks. In these prisons they worked and ate their food and spent the greater part of the day. They were allowed on deck in small parties, well guarded and for but a few hours at a time. When they first came on board they wore double irons, but these were usually struck off as soon as the voyage commenced. They were occasionally replaced as punishment for insubordination or disobedience, and corporal punishment was often inflicted. The surgeon was bound, however, to make an entry in his journal of all punishments. The hospital which was fitted up on each transport was a favourite resort, for there discipline was relaxed and more liberal rations given. But the surgeon had stringent instructions only to admit those who were suffering from severe or contagious diseases.

The voyage must have been intolerably tedious. The men