Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 2.djvu/84

 88 THE SECOND FLEET. ^790 plainly that he " only came in the ship to navigate her." Finding that he could obtain no help in that quarter, Kent " contrived to get the convicts themselves to preserve order, cleanliness, and regularity," and he found his reward in '' the little trouble there was with them in the medical lelS^ department." In his letter to Nepean, 2nd September, proposal. 1793^ lie made the very pertinent suggestion that the captains of transports should be bound down to obey the orders of the naval agent in matters affecting the health and lives of the convicts. That the surgeon of the Bodding- tons should have been constrained to make such a remark shows how defective was the system. The instructions given were sound and well judged, but as they could not be enforced they were practically useless. A better If the atrocities committed on board these vessels failed system Introduced, to meet with the punishment they deserved, they led, at any rate, to a radical alteration in the system of trans- portation. Contracts were made on a different basis, and a naval officer was placed in charge of each vessel, with in- structions to look after the welfare of the convicts, and see that they received the provisions for which the contractors had been paid.* More than that — a bonus was given to those in charge for delivering the prisoners in safety at their destination. When the Surprize made her second voyage she had on board a superintendent and a surgeon. To these A monetary officers, and also to the master of the vessel, an allowance inducement. t c • t was made of a gumea each for every convict landed at Port Jackson, ''as an inducement to them to take every possible care for their preservation." The Governor was informed of the step that had been taken by the Commissioners of the Navy, in a despatch dated 5th March, 1794, and he was • Beferring to the Kitty, which arrived in Kovember, 1792, Collins says (vol. i, p. 246) : — ** There was also on board this ship, on the part of the Crown, a medical gentleman who was appointed for the express purpose of attending to such convicts as might be ill daring the voyage ; so extremely solicitous were the members of Administration to guard against the evils which had befallen the convicts in former passages to this country.*'