Title page of “Two Voyages…”
In 1817, Thomas Reid accepted an appointment as “Surgeon and Superintendant” of male convicts on the Neptune, a ship carrying prisoners sentenced to transportation from England to New South Wales.
Transportation was a relatively new solution to the problem of overflowing prisons in England. Since the 1770 “discovery” of Australia, everything seemed to indicate it was a vast land with few if any occupants. The criminal justice system in England had already been forced to house convicts in ships moored in rivers, notably the Thames and off the coasts of Ireland. What could be simpler than putting them on a sea-worthy vessel and taking them a bit farther? Recidivist prisoners could be transported even further: from the Australian mainland to harsher prisons in Tasmania or the smaller islands in southern waters.
Reid dedicates his volume to Elizabeth Fry, a well-known Quaker philanthropist. One of her causes was prison reform and Reid credits her with having either inspired or insisted on his voyages to the south. Reid’s own interests seem to lie in the problem of the rehabilitation of the prisoners, less in the quality of their living spaces. He is concerned by the fact that one crime seems to beget another and criminals put in prison simply reinforce each other in criminality.
Reid’s narrative is a fascinating first-person account of two prison-ship voyages, complete with his musings on his own role, the prisoners who surround him, and the possibilities for reform.
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