Summary
Personal Information
Voyage
Transportation
James Higgins was transported on the Hercules, departing 29th Nov 1801 and arriving 26th Jun 1802 with 56 passengers.
The "Hercules" ship was built in 1801 at South Sheilds, England. 1801 voyage from Ireland to New South Wales, Australia. Sailed via Rio de Janeiro and the Cape. A mutiny occurred just prior to their arrival at Rio - after 45 minutes it was quashed but 13 convicts had been killed. Jeremiah Pendergass was named as the ring leader and shot. 44 deaths in total on this voyage. There was then another ship, also named, "Hercules" built 1822 at Whitby, England who made 3 trips to Austraia, in 1825, 1830 & 1832.
Hercules (generic)References
| Primary Source | SR NSW, Convict Indents, for "Hercules" arrived 26 June 1802 |
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Convict Notes
JAMES HIGGINS' IRISH CRIME Higgins was a soldier, who was tried along with three others for committing the same crime together. All were sentenced to death, however, Higgins and James Templeton must have had their sentences commuted and were both transported on the Hercules arriving June 1802 in Sydney: Freemans Journal, Thursday 28 August 1800, p.2. “Friday the 15th [i.e August] ended the Assizes of Dundalk, when the following persons were tried and capitally convicted, viz: “Elliott Emerson, James Higgins, James Templeton, William Waitman and Arthur Martin, privates in the Royal Irish Artillery, for burglary and felony at Forkhill, to be hanged on the 1st of September next. Those unhappy convicts were prosecuted by order of Government, and their conviction will, we trust, be an awful lesson to military men not to violate those laws they are sworn to defend.”