Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 2.djvu/78

 :62 THZ BEOQSrXI TXEDT. ^^"^ was laid^ bad, at tlte time this defence was pnUifiked, been dead nearly two jeaxB.* 'So attempt whatever was made to aceoimt for the ezK)nnoti& loss of haman life. The statement in defence^ it must be remembered^ was purely an ex parie one, made by the most int^ested parties — the cantracton. It is probable that somie of the asaertions of the snrTiying convicts were exaggerated; but> on the whole, there is every The weight reason to believe that the statements of independoat parties, ^^' particularly Captain Hill and the Eev. Richard Joihnson^ are true in the main, and that the treatment of the ocmvicts, on these vessels— e&pedally the Neptune — was inhuman in tbe extreme. As soon as the transports had come to anchor, the work of disembarkation was hurried forward. Many of the cob- of ^^d8. ^^^^ were unfit to be moved at all ; numbers of them expiamd when they were brought up on deck, or in the boats whidi conveyed them to the shore. No attempt was made to strengthen or reectore thenu Gammon humanity required that they should be given a chance of Hf e, now that the long and painf nl voyage was over ; but, instead dE being carefully treated and tenderly handled, they were ^ slung aver the ship's side in the same manner as they would dmg a cask, a box» or anythiDg of that nature.^' Nor did tixe barbarity with which these wretched beings were trested during the voyage and at its close end with their miserable COTvictB' lives, for, according to Mr. Johnson, the bodies of a uum- bodies OMt ° • ^;g^ ber of men who had died before they could be taken to land were thrown into the harbour; they presently drifted on shore, wh^e — scandalous spectacle — they were seen lying '^ naked upon the iDcks.'' Mr. Johnson ^'took an oceaskm to represent this to his Excellency, in consequera^e of which immediate orders were sent on board that those who died on board should be carried to the opposite north shore and be buried." •IJffuiamiit Shapeote difld SB ilw panage from tfa»C^ie of €h)od Hoi^ Sydney, under circumstances which aroused suspicion of foul plaj. — ^Historical 'Aec^orofl, voU ii, p. 8QS.