Summary
Personal Information
Voyage
Transportation
Robert Crawford was transported on the George The Third, departing 12th Dec 1834 and arriving 12th Mar 1835 with 220 passengers.
Built at Deptford, England in 1810. 394 tons, 114 feet length, 28 feet 3 inches beam. Registered at the Port of London. George III, was wrecked on reefs at the south-eastern entrance to the D'Entrecasteaux Channel, Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) on 12 March 1835 near the end of a voyage from Woolwich to Hobart Town. 133 of 220 male convicts on board lost their lives, 81 survived, one being a 10yr old boy. Only five of the 88 crew, guards and their families were drowned. Firearms had been discharged to keep the convicts below decks while the latter were being evacuated.
George The Third (generic)References
| Primary Source | Australian Joint Copying Project. Microfilm Roll 90, Class and Piece Number HO11/9, Page Number 489 (246) |
| 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
UK, Prison Hulk Registers Name Robt Crawford Age 15 Ship Ganymede. Place Moored Woolwich and Devonport Date Convicted 26 Jul 1834. Place Convicted Durham Offence; Stealing a mare Register - Comprehensive register of convicts (CORE SERIES) A - L, 1841-1845. P; 156 of 534 LETTER C Robert Colley - Drowned Giles Coates - Drowned Joseph Creed - Drowned James Chislett - Drowned Peter Callam - Drowned Thomas Charlwood - Drowned George Cobley - Drowned Robert Crawford - Drowned William Clark - DIED at Sea Samuel Crew - DIED at Sea
The Wreck of the George III https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/4180709?searchTerm=John woodhall An extract from the above article. The total number saved amounts to 161, 81 of whom are convicts, and a nominal return of them is transmitted herewith. The total number of persons originally embarked was 308, 2 children were born during the voyage, one woman, three children and 12 prisoners died, leaving at the time the ship struck, 294 souls, from which statement it will be seen that 133 souls had perished on this awful occasion. Of this number 127 were convicts, 58 of whom were on the sick list in their berths, and 50 out of them totally unable to help themselves and several were washed overboard during the night. It was naturally to be expected that on the striking of the ship, the prisoners would endeavour to extricate themselves from a situation which must have appeared to them one of imminent peril, and it appears they broke down a barricade of the prison with a view to get on deck. It was at this period, that the sentries over the main hatchway, in obedience to the positive orders they then received, to keep the men below, and bearing in mind their general instructions for the safe custody of the prisoners, fired—and painful as it is for us to report upon a subject of such a distressing nature, that, at such a crisis, man should feel himself compelled, through a sense of duty, to add to the desolation of the scene and fire upon his fellow creatures, yet it is gratifying to observe, from the concurring opinions of all the officers, according to the then existing state of circumstances, it was absolutely necessary that the prisoners should be kept down, for had they at that time got on deck, the long boat, upon which alone the survivors could look with any hope of rescue, would have been rendered useless, and thus to all human appearances a much greater loss of life would have ensued. ---------------------------------------------------- John Bainborough and Robert Crawford, late of Bishopwearmouth, labourers, charged with having at the parish of Bishopwearmouth, stolen a mare, the property of Richard Burlinson.—Thomas Stokes and Win Cole, severally late of Darlington, shoemakers ... Durham County Advertiser, 21 March 1834. JOHN (18), and ROBERT CRAWFORD (15). charged with having Bishopwearmouth, on 6th March last, feloniously stolen a pony, the property of Richard Burlinson. The pony had been turned out to graze in the lane, prisoners had driven it to the tan-yard, where they had sold it. Guilty. His Lordship said in this case had no option, he must Durham County Advertiser, 1 Aug 1834. The following convicts were sent off from the gaol here on Saturday last, for the hulks at Woolwich, in pursuance of their several sentences, viz. :—John Bamborough, Robert Crawford, John McKay, and John Palmer, each sentenced to transported for life; ... Durham County Advertiser, 29 Aug 1834.
Extract of Home Office transportation registers (The National Archives microfilm HO11) Robert Crawford; Durham Assizes; 26-7-1834; Life; Drowned A convict eyewitness related to George Loveless (another convict & Tolpuddle Martyr) that when the ship struck, the prisoners were all locked below immediately. "the bottom of the ship was fast filling with water; they called aloud to have the hatches opened, but to no purpose; and when they were up to their middles in water, they rushed forward and burst open the hatches and endeavoured to ascend the ladder; the soldiers, however, at the top fired on them and killed many; others had their throats cut with cutlasses. The man who was going up by my side, was shot, but I escaped....only eighty-one of the whole shipload was taken on shore alive, and a great number of them were so emaciated and crippled, that they were obliged to carry them to hospital."