Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 2.djvu/213

 THE THIED FLEET. 175 treatment they had received from the master of the vessel. ^'^^ There were very few deaths on the Albemarle and the Britannia, which landed their convicts in a healthy state. On the Salamander and the William and Ann there had been five and seven deaths respectively, while the former had only one and the latter five sick. In the case of the other five transports the mortality had been heavy, and they brought Heavy a number of sick convicts into port. Collins briefly describes Shew. ^ ^^ their condition as " unhealthy." The worst case was that of the Admiral Barrington. This vessel took on board one hundred and twenty-nine convicts, of whom thirty-six, or more than one-fourth, died on the voyage, while eighty-four were brought in sick. So that of the whole number embarked on this vessel only nine escaped either sickness or death. It is impossible to believe that this wholesale loss of life and general sickness could have taken place if the convicts had been properly cared for. In one case, that of the Matilda, there appears to have been a special reason for a high death- rate and a heavy sick-list. Her convicts for the most part ^edand were old and infirm.* The sufferings of these unfortunate ^°^™' people can be easily imagined. The voyage to Australia in those days, under close confinement and unhealthy con- ditions, could hardly but prove fatal to such men when it tried the constitutions of the young and robust. That the convicts in some cases had not received fair treatment was apparent to other people besides Collins. When reporting the arrival of the Third Fleet, Phillip Phillip's described to Grenville, in forcible terms, the condition which the majority of the convicts were in when landed. Many of them, he declared, would never recover their strength. The " greatest part '^ were so emaciated by long confinement, or want of food, that for many months they would be a " dead- • " The conricts in this ship, on their landing, appeared to be aged and infirm, the state in which they were said to have been embarked. It was not, therefore, to be wondered at, that they had buried twenty-five on the passage. • • • Twenty were brought in sick, and were immediately landed at the hospital."— Collins, vol. i, p. 172.