David Sullivan

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Dianne Jones on 21st November 2023

FOOTNOTE: 1. The Register of Convicts on Convict Ships, 1851-1853 lists his age at death as 38. This would suggest a Year of Birth of 1815 or 1814 if his birthday fell after July 17. 2. Year of Birth was drawn from the above official record but day and month are not known. The latter dates have been entered as 01/01 because the site does not allow those fields to be left empty. --000--

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Dianne Jones on 21st November 2023

#3. From the Register of Convicts on Convict Ships, 1851-1853: David Sullivan, died 17 July, 1853, from cholera, at sea (https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2308603007/view). --000--

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Dianne Jones on 21st November 2023

#2. David Sullivan Birth: 1823 Death: 17 July, 1853 at sea; on voyage to WA. Convicted: Sheep stealing and sentenced to 7 years on 24 October, 1849 at County Clare, Ireland. Literacy: Literate as at 2 June, 1853 Family Status: Married Occupation: Carpenter Transported: To WA on the Phoebe Dunbar leaving from Kingston, County Dublin, Ireland, on 3 June 1853. He had been collected from Ireland prison. He died on the journey. Convict No.: 2416 (https://waconvicts.fhwa.org.au/g0/p97.htm#i2391). --00--

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Dianne Jones on 21st November 2023

OTHER RECORDS: #1. Record from “Ireland-Australia transportation database”: Last name: SULLIVAN First name: DAVID Full name: DAVID SULLIVAN Sex: Male Trial place: Co. Clare Trial date: 24/10/1849 Crime desc: Sheep stealing Sentence: Transportation 7 yrs Ship: PHOEBE DUNBAR 00/06/1853 Document ref1: TR 9, p 194 (https://findingaids.nationalarchives.ie/). --00--

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Dianne Jones on 21st November 2023

MEDICAL RECORD: The journal of the Phoebe Dunbar’s medical officer, John W Bowler, shows that DAVID SULLIVAN suffered from cholera for one week before he died at sea: Folios 18-20: David Sullivan, aged 30, convict; case number 6; disease or hurt, cholera. Put on sick list, 10 July 1853. Died 17 July 1853 (https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C11542199). --00--

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Dianne Jones on 21st November 2023

ABOUT THE DREADFUL VOYAGE: By Weaver, P (2004) at https://fremantlebiz.livejournal.com/37766.html “Part 1. Irish prisoners for Western Australia on Phoebe Dunbar & Robert Small in 1853 This is the first part in series of eight which were extracted from a public talk which I gave at the Old Fremantle Prison celebrations in June 2000: On 30 August 1853 the 704 ton hired British convict ship Phoebe Dunbar hove-to in Owen’s Anchorage off Fremantle, Western Australia. On board was a consignment of 286 mostly Irish convicts and 29 British pensioner guards with their families, numbering 21 women and 42 children. A few days earlier on 19 August a similar sized consignment of Irish prisoners and British guards had arrived at Fremantle on board another hired convict ship, the Robert Small. Robert Small lost nine convicts and the figure would have been higher had it not been forced to put into Rio de Janeiro to off-load 150 tons of putrefied ballast, a black peat-like mixture of sand and Dutch clay. A medical board of enquiry convened at Fremantle laid most of the blame on the ballast, ‘...the smell of which was most offensive and likely to prove a fertile source of disease.’ However, had the leaky ship not inadvertently stopped off in South America where fruit and vegetables were purchased the death toll probably would have been much higher than nine. Surgeon Superintendent Harvey Morris - doctor on at least three other convict shipments to Norfolk Island and Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) had by his own admission deliberately falsified his records by registering only one third of those who came to him sick. His intention, as he wrote in his shipboard journal, was to instil in the prisoners a false sense of confidence in his abilities: ‘It is always advisable in a Convict Ship, especially when diseases are numerous, to keep the sick list down, as it is termed, with a view of deceiving the general body as regards the healthiness or unhealthiness of the Ship; and the more effectually to do this it is often necessary to keep the names of some off the list who ought to be there, and to register those of others who have little or nothing the matter with them...’ Those passengers on board the other ship, the Phoebe Dunbar, were not so fortunate, being obliged instead to endure a non-stop, 89 day voyage from Ireland. The ship put to sea from Kingston Harbour on 2 June 1853 and by mid-June an epidemic described only as a ‘fever’ had broken out. Most people including the guards and their families were ill at one time or another, and diarrhoea was common throughout the ship. On the 21 June the first convict, a young man aged 21 died of typhus and by the end of July symptoms of scurvy were appearing in many of the prisoners. Most convict deaths occurred in August as the ship was bearing down on the Western Australian coast. Medicines which were carried on board were in the main ineffective. Although Surgeon Superintendent Bowler subsequently claimed that large doses of mineral acids and quinine were the most effective as remedies, this may have been because they were so repulsive that patients were reluctant to come back for more. Mineral acids as medicine had their origins in the 13th century and included nitric, sulphuric and hydrochloric acid. They were frequently mixed with wine to disguise the vile taste. Bowler was supposed to ensure that lemon juice was distributed about every three days in order to counteract scurvy, but his journal indicates that this did not happen. When this was queried at the enquiry in Fremantle he offered the excuse that the ‘temperance men’ on board would not take lemon juice mixed with wine, and that this was the reason it was not distributed more frequently. He also claimed that the stock of ships biscuit had deteriorated soon after departure and that as a result it could not be distributed to the prisoners. Including civilians, sixteen persons died on the ship en route to Swan River [including David Sullivan] or while it was at Owen’s Anchorage off Fremantle. In addition, three more convicts died not long after disembarkation, and eighteen of the Phoebe Dunbar convicts died before their tickets-of-leave had expired.” --00--

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Dianne Jones on 21st November 2023

EMBARKED ON THE PHOEBE DUNBAR: From the Freeman’s Journal, 3 June, 1853, p 2: “KINGSTOWN. June 3, 1853.-Wind N.E. by N. This evening the Phoebe Dunbar, convict ship, was towed out of harbour, having on board two hundred and ninety-five convicts, chiefy young men; she took the northerly course, and while I am I now writing (half-past nine p.m.) has cleared the banks. Should the wind remain in the present point she will reach the Tuscar Light on to-morrow evening. Heretofore convicts, when in harbour, were allowed to come on deck in squads, which enabled those remaining below to cleanse deck, &c., but this arrangement, conferring such benefits, has not been resorted to in the Phoebe Dunbar; since she received her human freight they have been stowed between decks. On yesterday I was permitted to visit her interior, accompanied by her commander, seemingly a most humane man, who, I am disposed to think, may have perhaps exercised a sound discretion in deviating from former arrangements -- such a number crowded below must be productive of the worst results. The unfortunate creatures, from their appearance, seemed perfectly resigned to their fate; many of them I observed reading their prayer-books, and now that they have leisure time may, perhaps, be the means for mature reflection and a fixed determination to make amends for their past life. I cannot state whether there is a chaplain in charge.” (https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000056/18530603/003/0002) --00--

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Dianne Jones on 21st November 2023

In 19th century Ireland, there were several types of prisons: “Bridewells... were houses of correction and where those awaiting trial were put. These would have been the most common prison in Ireland. Debtors prisons and marshalseas were for those who could not pay their debts... Convict depots were where those awaiting transportation were sent. Prisons were for those convicted of criminal wrongdoing, frequently where they would serve out their sentences of hard labour. Many prisons and gaols served a variety of functions. ... Convict depots were usually national, with prisoners from around the country. Kilmainham [Dublin] served as a depot, as did Grangegorman [Dublin] and, in the later 19th century, prisoners from around the country were sent to Spike Island in Cork [Cork Harbour] to await a ship ... Transportation sentences were generally for at least seven years, although shorter sentences were given. The prison population peaked around the time of the Great Famine between 1845 and 1852 where many sought to get themselves arrested to escape from the harsh conditions.” (Irish Prison Registers 1790-1924 at https://www.findmypast.com.au/) --0--

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Dianne Jones on 21st November 2023

David Sullivan was most likely held at Ennis Gaol before being sent to a convict depot. The County Gaol, in Jail Road, Ennis, was built in the 1830s and extended in the 1840s. During the course of the Great Famine, the jail became overcrowded due, in no small degree it has been argued, to the guarantee of a higher standard of food in jail than in the Workhouse or the homes of many in the wider community. As prisoner numbers swelled, the Old Town Jail in O’Connell Street “had to be reopened and long term convicts were sent to Spike Island penitentiary. On 5 February 1849, 580 prisoners were incarcerated in the county jail which had a normal a capacity of 115.” (Kelly, T 2006 “Ennis County Jail”, p68 at https://www.limerickcity.ie/media/NMAJ%20vol%2016%2006%20Ennis%20County%20Jail,%20by%20Tim%20Kelly.pdf) --0--

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Dianne Jones on 21st November 2023

“ENNIS SESSIONS-RULE OF COURT. The following are the sentences passed on those persons who were not sentenced at the time of trial: ... Michael and David Sullivan, sheep stealing, 7 years’ transportation.” (Clare Journal & Ennis Advertiser, 1 November, p3 at https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001317/18491101/016/0003). --00--