Free Settler or Felon
Convict and Colonial History




Convict Ship Anne - 1801


Embarked: 147 men; 24 women
Voyage: 240 days
Deaths 20 men
Surgeon's Journal - No
Tons:384
Previous vessel: Royal Admiral arrived 20 November 1800
Next vessel: Earl Cornwallis arrived 12 June 1801
Captain James Stewart.
First Officer W. House
Follow the Female Convict Ship Trail
Follow the Irish Convict Ship Trail
Prisoners and passengers of the Anne identified in the Hunter Valley

The Anne (or Luz St. Anna) carried 12 guns and a crew of 42. She was a prize to the Dover and Cecelia and registered at London on 9th April 1799. Owners Princep and Saunders. [5]

She was the next convict ship to leave Ireland for New South Wales after the departure of the Friendship in August 1799. The Freeman's Journal reported in April 1800.....Above 60 female prisoners under the rule of transportation, are confined in the New Prison. The sooner they are shipped, the less will be the expence on the city for their support, and the more likely are they to be reclaimed from their vices. [8]

Free Passenger

A young man by the name of Gordon who was to be employed as a botanist with a salary of 8 pounds per month came as a free passenger.

Departure

The Anne departed from Cork on 26 June 1800, with 147 men and 24 women. Clothing sent in the Anne including 31 mens' clothing sets, 94 striped trousers, 9 women's jackets, 36 shifts, 36 petticoats, 36 caps, 7 pairs of women's shoes, 15 handkerchiefs, 10 sets of boys and girls clothing, 225 combs and thread. There was also 7,500 gallons of spirits on board.

Rio de Janeiro

They sailed via Rio de Janeiro and were there at the same time as the Royal Admiral. They were to depart Rio soon afterwards bound for the Cape of Good Hope.

Cape of Good Hope

At the Cape eight seamen and soldiers were embarked [3].

Mutiny

There was a mutiny on board on the 29th July 1800. In correspondence to the Duke of Portland dated 10th March 1801, Governor King reported the uprising......

In a former part of this letter I mentioned the Anne's arrival with 127 Irish convicts and 20 women. The master reports that before that ship's arrival at the Brazils, the convicts rose on the officers and ship's company, and had nearly murdered the master and one of the mates. Fortunately the insurgents were overcome; when the officers all agreed in opinion with the master, that it was necessary to execute the ringleader as an example, which was done, and another shot in the affray.[1]

Following is a letter written by Captain Stewart and published in the Freeman's Journal........

Extract of a letter from Captain Stewart of the transport ship Anne, which sailed last year with convict for New South Wales, dated Rio Janeiro August 26 1800.....

'We continued our voyage from Cork without anything happening very particular, until the 29th when we were in latitude 6.32 north, and longitude 21.34 west of Greenock. The surgeon being taken ill a short time after sailing, I took upon myself to administer everything to the convicts to preserve their health.

During this part of the passage the prison was whitewashed twice, fumigated twice a week with gunpowder and vinegar mixed, and washed with vinegar twice a week; and I had them upon deck for the benefit of air twice a week. This attention was followed by the most beneficial effects; all the sick we had at our departure were nearly recovered, one old man only having died. On the 26th as above, I went to see the prison fumigated, attended by the mate and gunner.

The instant the smoke began, I was seized by the throat by a convict, vociferating death or liberty. 'The gunner and mate were seized at the same time by others; and the party of them upon deck, about thirty, wrenched a cutlass from one of the centinels, and some iron bars from the cab house; the alarm became general, and the officers and men were quickly armed at the prison door. The convicts mutiny on deck being quickly quelled, I extricated myself from the man who first seized me, and was rescued from the crowd by two convicts and got upon deck. The mate and gunner being still in their custody, and the mutiny still continuing, recourse was had to firearms, when one man attempting to take a pistol from a seaman was shot dead, and two more were wounded.

This had the effect of rescuing the mate and gunner, but not until the first had received some violent contusions on the head. At this crisis a speedy and exemplary punishment was necessary, and from the information of the mate, as well as my own recollection, Marcus Sheehy was the ringleader. He confessed his guilt and was, by the sentence of all the officers immediately shot, in the presence of the convicts. Christopher Grogan, the ringleader upon deck, was sentenced to 250 lashes; and thus ended this disagreeable affair. We arrived here August 22'
[6]

The Master and the Chief Mate were later tried by a Vice Admiralty Court, and honourably acquitted. [2]

Port Jackson

The Anne arrived in New South Wales on 21 February 1801. She was the next convict ship to arrive in New South Wales with female prisoners after the Speedy in April 1800.

Lieut-Col Paterson later noted that 'by the arrival of the Anne transport from Ireland, we have received some of the most desperate characters that acted in the rebellion, and we have no doubt but they will make themselves very troublesome in this country if not kept in awe by a respectable military force. [7]

Crimes of the Prisoners of the Anne

Some of their crimes included:

John Ahern - Rebel Captain and murderer

William Browne - Treasonable practices

Louis Bulger - Suspicion of murdering his master - Sentenced at Wexford. Informant at the Castle Hill Rebellion. In 1806 he was working for D'Arcy Wentworth at Parramatta and was still in NSW in 1811 (Unfinished Revolution - Mary Ann Whittaker)

Moses Brennan and Michael Brennan; John Campbell; Andrew Clarke, William Cahill, Stephen Dodd, John Dogherty, John Daly, John Doyle, John Delaney, Patt English, John Ferack, John Flynn, - United Irish men

Thomas Burke - Burglary and threatening to murder

Patt Coden - Seditious Practices

Philip Cunningham - Fomenting Rebellion (later executed for his part in the Uprising at Castle Hill)

Matthew Doyle - Assembly in arms and murder

Christopher Grogan - Conspiring to murder and house robbery. In Colonial Secretary's Index recorded as a housekeeper in Pitt St, Sydney. He died in 1820.

John Hickey - murdering his brother, concealed arms. [4]

Governor King's Concerns

Governor King to Portland 10th March 1801....

Since then, we have been very quiet until the Arrival of arrival of the Ann, transport, from Cork, with 137 of the most desperate and diabolical characters that could be selected throughout that Kingdom, together with a Catholic priest* of most notorious, seditious, and rebellious principles - which makes the numbers of those who, avowing a determination never to lose sight of the oath by which they are bound as United Irishmen, The numbers amount to 600, are ready, and only waiting an opportunity to put Irishmen" and their diabolical plans in execution. I do not wish in the most distant manner to impress your Grace that I am alarmed, or that I have any idea of their plans succeeding. The steady behaviour of the officers and men of His Majesty's New South Wales Corps, the discipline and good behaviour of the Associations and the greater part of the English inhabitants, are so many sureties to me of peace and tranquility being observed. [9]

It was Governor King's intention to send some of the most troublesome of the Anne's prisoners to Norfolk Island on the Porpoise. Major Joseph Foveaux of the New South Wales Corps was appointed Acting Lieutenant-Governor at Norfolk Island in June 1800.

Departure from Port Jackson

The Anne departed for China on 9th July 1801.

Prisoners of the Anne identified in the Hunter region :

Coyne, Thomas

Thomas Coyne came free on the Anne as a soldier of the NSW Corps. He was sent to Newcastle penal settlement for a colonial crime as early as 1810. Over the next few years he escaped many times and was returned each time. In 1811 he absconded from the limeburners with four other men Joseph Reyfield, John Baker, James Camen and John Pierce. They were captured and punished with 48 lashes each for running away from the limeburners and taking a boat from along side the Resource on 18th September. Thomas Coyne was punished with an extra 12 lashes for cutting his leg irons off at the limeburners.


Fitzgerald, John

John Fitzgerald was sent to Newcastle penal settlement as early as 1806. He became a notorious bushranger making his escape from custody on multiple occasions. He died in 1817


McKeever, Thomas

In 1828 Thomas McKeever was employed as an overseer at the estate of John Howe at Patrick Plains


Raddock, Thomas

Prisoner for Life. In 1823 he was granted permission to pass from Windsor to the farm belonging to Phillip Thorley at Patrick Plains. He was granted a Ticket of Leave for Newcastle district in 1824 and employed by Gentleman John Smith at Wallis Plains in 1828. He was assigned to a road gang when he died in March 1830

Notes and Links

1). Political Prisoners

2). Thomas Langan (alias Captain Steel) was sentenced to 7 years transportation however served longer because of the lack of paper work that accompanied prisoners. In Correspondence from Major General Bunbury to Governor Macquarie dated 12 September 1814 permission was granted for Langan to return to Ireland.

3). Andrew Clarke was severely punished with 500 lashes and 12 months in the gaol gang for stealing a pig in 1807 (Sydney Gazette)

4). In 1810 the following people who had arrived on the Anne received their Certificates of Freedom being restored to all the Rights of Free Subjects in consequence of their terms of transportation being expired... Eleanor Moore, Jane Quin, James Tracey, Patrick Doyle, Thomas Kelly, William Hayes and Edward Hilbride.

5). Hunter Valley convicts/ passengers on the Anne in 1801


6). The following letter was printed in the Freeman's Journal in 1822. The prisoner mentioned may have been Alexander Maguire who arrived on the Anne. ......

The Irish Rebellion of 98...Mr. Hugh Maguire,- of No. 8, Little St. Martin's Lane applied to the Lord Mayor in the hope of obtaining his Lordship's interference with Government in a case of very great hardship, affecting the liberty of an unfortunate brother of his, who was transported in the rebellious period of 1798, for having taken part in the disloyal agitations in Ireland.

Mr. Maguire stated, that his brother while in the course of education for the law, had, when about twenty years of age, been induced by some of the wild speculators in rebellion, to join a society founded upon the avowed basis of hostility to the existing order of things in this country. Without being aware of the consequences, of effecting or of attempting a dismemberment of the empire, the Unfortunate young man became a disciple of that band of men so remarkable for their genius and misfortunes, who died in or fled from the desperate struggles against the state.

The part he took however, must have been of little importance; as upon being, tried for high treason in Enniskillen, in which town he was born, he was, without hesitation, acquitted. But at that time, at least on that occasion, a power was exercised in Ireland to which even that country, disorganized and distressed as it had since been, was now a stranger. Soon after young Maguire's acquittal, he was apprehended, placed on board a transport, and sent off to Botany Bay.

His father, who was at that period one of the most respectable shopkeepers in Enniskillen, had applied in vain for a knowledge of the motives by those who had acted in opposition to the verdict, of the Jury, and of the authority upon which they had acted so completely in, the teeth of the law: The only satisfaction he received was the assurance that the term of his son's transportation was but seven years, and that the young man should be restored to his family at the expiration of the time. The father, without complaint, endeavoured to brave the calamity, but it was too heavy, and he sunk under its weight when he found that the seven years were never to have an end. Adversity was not slow in its approach. His business was neglected, his affairs were thrown into confusion, and on his deathbed he had the misery to know that all his children were scattered through the world on account of the indiscretion of one.

The Lord Mayor here observed, that the statement, so far as it went, proved that the violation of the law, particularly a violation of so desperate a nature as had been described, was sure to extend beyond the criminal in its consequences. At the dreadful period alluded to numbers of families went to destruction on account of the folly and madness of individuals. . . .. Mr. Maguire said his poor brother had long been convinced of the impropriety of his conduct and in a letter received some time ago by one of his family, attributed, in the language of, a broken heart, all the misfortunes with which it had pleased God to afflict those who were nearest to him to his own absurd impetuosity.

Mr. Maguire then stated that his brother had written to him frequently after the expiration of the seven years, and in every letter assured him of his expectation of being sent back to his native country without delay; The different Governors had, he intimated, pledged themselves, that he should either be sent home or made a free settler. A privilege to which he became entitled, many years before by his irreproachable conduct in the settlement as well by the services he had rendered..

During the life of Governor King he had received the solemn promises of a redemption from the captivity which he then considered insupportable, and he had no doubt of the sincerity of that gentleman, to whom he had for considerable time acted as cleric. He had now, however, exceeded the term of his transportation by 17 years, and by the force of habit become reconciled to his situation.. In fact his native country presented such a blank to one who had been so long away, in the death of relations and friends, and the general desolation that visited that unfortunate island, that all he looked for was the privilege Just described.

Governor Macquarie had repeated the assurances he had been so long accustomed to receive, that 500 acres of land should be given to him, and left entirely at his disposal; but the promise was great, and the performance nothing. In despair of ever being improved in his condition, or of ever seeing his mother (to whom he was very dear) or any other of his relations, the last letter he wrote was filled with self-reproaches, and the effects of a bitter recollection of what he might have been, contrasted with what he was.

Mr. Maguire, who was much affected during part of this recital, observed, that he by no means presumed to attempt a justification of his brother's conduct. Of the necessity, of pursuing those who meditated an attack upon the constituted authorities at the period of the disturbances; there could be no doubt; even many who were more deeply concerned in the transaction of 1798 than his brother, had long since acknowledged that fact without looking at the sad picture of their children grown into life without the hopes or expectations they might have naturally formed from hereditary respectability. His object in making his application to his Lordship was, that as his Lordship was well acquainted with Ireland, and had long been connected with one of the first houses there, he might be led by the detail of so severe a case to interfere and represent the grievance in their proper quarter. The Lord Mayor asked whether Mr. Maguire had procured the necessary certificate to which the latter answered that upon applying by letter for it he received information that it had been transmitted to the settlements. His Lordship then assured Mr. Maguire that an application to Mr. Capper of the Home Secretary's Office, would meet with immediate attention, and that the unfortunate man whose case had been so pathetically stated by his brother would no doubt be done justice to. Mr. Maguire said he was aware of the humanity of Mr. Capper, but had no idea that an application in that quarter would be attended with the desired effect. As, however, he had His Lordship's recommendation to state the grievance, at the Secretary's Office, he should make no delay. He then very gratefully returned thanks to the Lord Mayor, and left the Justice room.
. (Freeman's Journal 11 November 1822)....... In the 1828 Census Alexander McGuire is 48 years of age and employed as a Clerk at Dunheved, South Creek, the estate of Harriett, wife of Philip Parker King. He had received an Absolute Pardon some years previously.

7). There was also another young lad on board who was sentenced to transportation for seven years but owing to a clerical error was treated as a lifer. Twenty years later his petition was dealt with by William Downes, Lord Chief Justice of Ireland who had presided over Swaine's case all those years ago......Downes stated that he received Swaine's petition, recalling the details of the trial in which he presided over in 1799. He stated that Swaine, and another individual, John Flannigan, being then both young boys, were sentenced for stealing money, having been 'made part of a gang of Boys who lounged about the Banks in Dublin watching those who entered the Banks for business with the view of picking their pockets';. He recalled having received a petition several years ago from one of the prisoners in New South Wales, concerning the mistake in their sentence, and which Downes had urged Chief Secretary Robert Peel to send orders to authorities in New South Wales. Downes urged that justice be done, and the men liberated, having already 'suffered 20 years transportation on a sentence for seven. Chief Secretary's Office Registered Papers, National Archives, Ireland.

8). Purchased from Mr. J. Stewart Master of the Anne Transport February 21st 1801 : -

29,607 lbs Sugar @ 8d. pr lb

8 Barrels Tar @ 62s 7d pr Barrel

2 Barrells Pitch @ 79s

3 Pieces Red Cloth 7 Doz and

7 Clasp Knives

6 Doz. Looking Glasses

4 Doz. Razors

1 Hand Saw.

(HRA vol. 111, p. 159)

9). Female Prisoners of the Anne:
Margaret Wilson
Catherine Claffy
Catherine Hickey
Ann Cassins
Ann Watson
Catherine Brenan
Mary McNally
Elizabeth Woods
Elizabeth Flinn
Mary Madden
Jane Quinn - Certificate of Freedom 1810
Mary Quinton
Mary Lawler
Margaret Mooney
Elizabeth Gallagher
Mary Quinn
Elinor Moore - Certificate of Freedom 1810
Mary Rigney
Anastasia Lynch - Received a pardon in 1812. Departed the colony as a free woman on the Kangaroo in 1817.
Judith Hyn
Mary Lewens
Mary Denahy
Bridget Buckley - For stealing a silver watch, the property of John Hobbs sentenced in Cork in April 1800 to 7 years transportation - Cork Ancestors Online
Eleanor Walsh - Sentenced to 7 years transportation for stealing several articles of wearing apparel, the property of Ann Walsh in April 1800

References

[1]. HR NSW., Vol. IV, p.325

[2]. HRA., Series 1, Vol. III, p 84

[3]. HRA., Series 1, Vol. III, p 18

[4]. (Ancestry)New South Wales Government. Musters and other papers [4]. (Ancestry)New South Wales Government. Musters and other papers relating to convict ships. Series CGS 1155, Reels 2417-2428. State Records Authority of New South Wales. Kingswood, New South Wales, Australia.

[5]. HRA., Series 1, Vol. III, p 127

[6]. Freeman's Journal 31st January 1801

[7]. HR NSW., Vol IV, p 309

[8]. Freeman's Journal 22 April 1800

[9]. HRA, Series 1, Vol. III, p. 9