Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 2.djvu/212

 .174 THE THIED FLEET. 1791 Anivalof the Third Fleet Mortality on voyage. Sick convictn. Loss of life explained. Few deaths on some vessels. The arrival of the transports was spread over a period of three months. The Mary Ann entered the port on the 9th July, and the Admiral Barrington on the 16th October. According to Phillip's despatch of the 5th November, 1791,* there were shipped on board these vessels 2,061 male and female convicts, while only 1,863 were landed ; 194 men and 4 women, nearly one-tenth of the gross number, having died on the voyage. A great many were landed sick, and others became ill shortly after their arrival. The chief surgeon's report, dated several weeks after the arrival of the last ship, was to this effect : — " Under medical treatment and inca- pable of labour, 626 — 576 of whom are those landed from the last ships.^t It is obvious from these facts that abuses such as marked the conduct of affairs on board the vessels of the Second Fleet were not absent from the ships of the Third Fleet, although the consequences in the latter case were not so disastrous. If any doubt existed as to the cause of the great mortality and the unsatisfactory condi- tion of the convicts who survived, it would be removed by the knowledge that while some of the vessels lost large numbers of prisoners and came into port with a heavy sick- list, in other cases the loss of life was small, and the convicts arrived in good health. The inference to be drawn from these facts is that the sickness and death arose from pre- ventible causes — in other words, from the treatment which the convicts received on the voyage. Phillip gives no details concerning the ships and their passengers ; but in CoUins's book each vessel is alluded to separately. The Mary Ann's passengers (women) were '^all very healthy " when they arrived, and spoke highly of the Phillip, when the affair came to his knowledge, approyed of what had been done. — Historical Records, toI. i, part 2, p. 559. OoUins (vol. i, p. 181) remarks : — " Thej had at this time parted company with the other transports, and no other means seemed so likely to deter the conyicta from any future attempt of the like nature. It afterwards appearinc; that two of the seamen had supplied them with instruments for sawing off their irons, these were left at the island of Madeira, where the Albemarle touched, to be s^ot prisoners to England." • Historical Eccord?, rol, i, part 2, p. 63S. t Il>-