Felix O'neil

42

Tim Flynn on 23rd May 2013

On the night of the 12th September 1816 ten prisoners of the Guilford together with two men from the Fanny and another from the Baring made a desperate bid to escape from the Colony. They seized Simeon Lord's brig Trial , Master William Burnett, which was at anchor near the Sow and Pigs in Watson's Bay and sailed out of the harbour. They headed north and by daybreak were out of sight. Passengers on the Trial may have included Sergeant and Mrs. Annandale, William Briskland, William Probert, John Suibson, William Morgan, and two Otaheitans Touboui and Dick as well another woman. None of the passengers had been allowed to return to land. Governor Macquarie was informed at midday on the 13th and that evening about 5 o'clock the armed colonial brig Rosetta with a detachment of soldiers of the 46th regiment was sent in pursuit of the fugitive prisoners. The Rosetta returned to port a fortnight later without having found them. Their descriptions were soon posted in the Sydney Gazette........... Francis Harrison per Guildford, a convict from the County Gaol, Dublin, tried December 1814 and sentenced to 7 years transportation. Age 30; occupation stonemason. 5ft 8 3/4in, dark brown hair, black eyes, dark ruddy complexion. Had been employed in the Stonemason's Gang, Sydney Hugh Ward per Guildford, tried at the County Gaol of Dublin in July 1815 and sentenced to 14 years transportation . Age 23. Occupation brass founder. 5ft 8 in, Brown eyes, sandy brown hair, florid complexion. Is reported as a useful man on board a ship. Employed as a brass founder in the dock yard, Sydney. Patrick Doyle per Guildford, Tried at Kildare in April 1815 and sentenced to transportation for life. Age 23. Occupation horse shoer. 5ft 6in, grey eyes, sandy hair, fair pale complexion. Employed in the lumber yard, Sydney Thomas Dalton per Guildford. Tried in County Westmeath in August 1815 and sentenced to transportation for life. Age 35. Occupation groom and servant. 5ft 7 in, hazel eyes, sandy hair, fair ruddy complexion. Assigned as Government Servant to Mr. T. Rose Sydney. James McMahon per Guildford. Tried at Trim in July 1815 and sentenced to 14 years transportation. Age 25. Occupation Labourer. Native of Kildare. 5ft 7 1/2 in, grey eyes, brown hair, dark pal complexion. Late employed in the Town Gang. James Murphy per Guildford. A notorious offender, formerly convicted and sent to the Colony in the name of Brown, was convicted the second time at Dublin in March 1815 for seven years. Age 27. Occupation mariner. 5ft 1 in, black hair, hazel eyes, dark pale complexion, Absconded from the Town Gang. He claimed a woman of the name of Mary Scott as his lawful wife who arrived per Alexander. John Ferrara, per Guildford. Native of Portugal and mariner. A young man of mild temper about 5ft 9 in, dark yellow complexion and owing to his desertion from the Guildford on arrival, was not mustered with the prisoners of that ship. He was generally in company with Manuel de Sylva, and belonged to the Boats' Crew. Thomas McGrath, per Guildford. Tried at Limerick county in March 1815 and sentenced to transportation for life. Age 26. Trade Stonemason. 5ft 8 1/2in, grey eyes, dark brown hair, dark ruddy complexion. Lately employed as labourer at Macquarie Tower. Nicholas Russell per Guildford. Tried County Down in July 1815. Age 28. Trade Stonemason. Native of Wicklow. 5ft 11in. Stout made, hazel eyes, light brown hair, ruddy complexion. Employed as a labourer at Macquarie Tower. Francis O'Hara, per Guildford. Tried at Dundalk in March 1815. Age 28. Trade cooper and labourer. Native of co. down. 5ft 5 1/2in, hazel eyes, brown hair, fair pale complexion. Employed in His Majesty's Stores, at Sydney. Felix O'Neil, per Fanny 1816. Age 29. Trade Stonemason, Native of Armagh. Tried at Edinburgh Manuel de Sylva, Fanny 1816. Age 42. Occupation sailor and sailmaker. Native of Carthegena. Employed in the Boats' Crew. Charles Dyche per Baring 1815. Age 40. Occupation sawyer, lately publican at Burton upon Trent. Tried at Derby and sentenced for life. Either from infirmity of imposition was employed in the Invalid Gang. On 12th January 1817 six soldiers embarked at Newcastle on the Lady Nelson commanded by Thomas Whyte to investigate a report of a wreck fifty miles to the north of Port Stephens and ascertain the fate of the vessel. (Thomas Whyte, master mariner had arrived as a convict on the Baring in 1815). They discovered part of the wreck on 14th on the beach of a deep and extensive bay in latitude 30° 20' South. They learned from natives in the vicinity that the Trial had been wrecked and some of the men constructed a boat out of the materials of the wreck in which a large party once more went out to sea. Others had taken to the bush, among whom was a woman with a young child of whom not a single trace could be found. The soldiers spent several days exploring the bushland in the vicinity to ascertain the fate of the passengers. They could not positively establish whether the small vessel made from the Trial sank or only disappeared from the view of the black spectators on shore. The Captain, passengers and crew, had endeavoured to make their way towards Newcastle, but no account had been further received from them. There were rumours of a woman who had stowed away on the Trial and was living with the natives in a most distressing state, however in February 1817 Richard Palmer wrote to the Sydney Gazette regarding this woman claiming that she was a relative of his and that she had not secreted herself but had a regular clearance for the Derwent where her husband was in the employ of Simeon Lord. He offered a reward of twenty pounds to any person finding her. In 1826 an anonymous correspondent to the Monitor claimed to have knowledge of the woman who escaped from the wreck of the Trial and was sojourning with a tribe of Aboriginal natives with her daughter about 12 or 13 years old. She was married to one of the tribe by whom she had two children and acted as a midwife to the matrons of the tribe. He received his information from a native of a tribe near Liverpool Plains. http://www.jenwilletts.com/convict_ships_g.htm#Seizure of the Trial