Summary
Personal Information
Voyage
Transportation
Martha Andrews was transported on the Lady Shore, departing 31st Jan 1797 and arriving 28th Aug 1797 with 69 passengers.
1797 - August. Mutiny on board. Did not arrive in Australia. Fate of the Female Prisoners There were sixty-four young female convicts on board, and when they arrived at Monte Vido, it not being customary for Europeans to do any work, they were taken under the care of the female inhabitants who provided them with Spanish dresses, and made them their companions. some of the women conducted themselves with a deal of propriety and are married and settled there - some to the inhabitants and some to American Captains. Several of them behaved in a very loose and disorderly manner, and were in consequence taken into custody, and carried before the Governor who committed them to prison at Buenos Ayres where they reformed and agreed to profess the Roman Catholic Religion [5] https://www.freesettlerorfelon.com/convict_ship_lady_shore_1797.htm
Lady Shore (generic)References
| Primary Source | Australian Joint Copying Project. Microfilm Roll 87, Class and Piece Number HO11/1, Page Number 219 (110); HARDIE, Elsbeth, 'The Passage of the Damned' published 2019 |
| Source Description | This record is one of the entries in the British convict transportation registers 1787-1867 database compiled by State Library of Queensland from British Home Office (HO) records which are available on microfilm as part of the Australian Joint Copying Pro |
| Original Source | Great Britain. Home Office |
| Compiled By | State Library of Queensland |
| Database Source | British convict transportation registers 1787-1867 database |
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Convict Notes
Martha Andrews was convicted at Chelmsford in Essex on 11 March 1795. She was sentenced to Seven years transportation. Her crime is unknown. One year later she was joined in Moultham Gaol in Chelmsford, Essex, by another transportee for the Lady Shore, named Martha Bottle, who had also been sentenced to seven years transportation. Martha Andrews waited in Moultham Gaol for two years before being sent for transportation. Finally, when the two Essex women were sent in early February 1797 from their gaol to London, they were about two weeks too early. The Lady Shore was not yet ready to receive the transportees. It was not the fault of the Essex gaol Keeper that the women arrived early. The shipping agent for Lady Shore had told the Transport Commissioners at the beginning of January that the ship could receive women on board “almost immediately”. [HARDIE, p.17] The two Marthas were placed in Newgate in the interim. Then on 28 February these two were among the first to be loaded onto Lady Shore, which was at anchor in the Thames at Woolwich. [HARDIE, p.17] SHIP-BOARD The convict women were at anchor on Lady Shore for another month until the ship moved down to Portsmouth, arriving on 14th April 1797. Here it took on its full load – NSW Corps soldiers, ship’s officers and men, and a second male convict, the infamous conman, Major Semple. (per Hampshire Chronicle, 22 April 1797). The NSW Corps on board included many disaffected and resentful men. Some had been press-ganged into service, some had been placed there as deserters, and some were originally foreign prisoners of war. The prisoners of war comprised eight Frenchmen captured aboard French ships, one German, one Swiss-German and one Puerto-Rican. Some of these (Delis & Thierry) had been very troublesome, escaping twice from imprisonment. Yet the English authorities made the strange decision to send these resentful prisoners of war into service in the NSW Corps, instead of remaining as prisoners in England. While at Portsmouth, Semple told the Captain that several of the Frenchmen planned to mutiny when the ship was at sea. The captain was worried about the danger of going to sea with such men who, re-invented as NSW Corps soldiers, would have access to arms. The Lt-Colonel of the NSW Corps arrived from Chatham Barracks to investigate “but he, perhaps hesitating to give credit to Semple (the convict), and from the Benevolence of his own heart entertaining a better opinion of his men than they deserved, overruled Captain Wilcox’s desire.” (per Belfast Newsletter 4 August 1798) The ship was sailing in a convoy of merchant ships for its protection, and after one week at anchor at Portsmouth, they moved down to Torbay. Storm damage caused Lady Shore to sail round to Falmouth on the Cornwall coast. The French remained on board as NSW Corps soldiers. At Falmouth it again lay at anchor some weeks, and finally left England on 7 June 1797.