How were the convicts treated on the first fleet's ships?

Answer 1

The convicts of the First Fleet had to contend with all the problems of establishing a settlement in a foreign and hostile land.

British farming methods, seeds and implements were unsuitable for use in the different climate and soil, so farms were very slow to be established. Much of the seed had rotted or been eaten by rats on the journey over, or the seeds were just unsuitable for the tough Australian soil. The implements and tools could not stand up to the tougher treatment and conditions of the Australian soil and climate. The colony faced near-starvation in its first two years, and was finally saved by the success of a barley crop. lems for the british gaols.

There was also a great deal of miscommunication with the local indigenous people. Aborigines had no concept of "ownership" as they were a generous people who were willing to share, so they saw nothing wrong with killing the settlement's livestock to use for their own food. The Europeans retaliated, often carrying out revenge killings. This only increased the hostility between the races.

Answer 2

Convicts spent most of their time below decks. They were occasionally permitted up on deck for the fresh air and a little exercise, but they were generally kept below decks where they had to find ways to occupy themselves. Having no possessions of their own, this generally meant that all they could do was talk.
The convicts were not given chores or activities to keep them busy during the voyage. On rare occasions, if the ships were not approaching a port or if the weather was fine (which it rarely was), the convicts were allowed up on the decks to walk around. Apart from that, they had to find their own ways to occupy themselves.

Answer 3

The convicts were treated better on the First Fleet's ships than on the second and third fleets. Captain Arthur Phillip was fair and just, and he had a genuine desire to reform the convicts. Although he was compelled to treat the convicts as the prisoners they were, he tried (with very limited resources) to keep them as healthy as possible.

Thanks to Captain Arthur Phillip, the convicts on the First Fleet were treated surprisingly well. Phillip was, in fact, harsher in his discipline with the marines and sailors than he was with the convicts. He was concerned at all times for their health, trying to give them sufficient rations of food and water, and allowing them above decks for some exercise and fresh air as often as was possible. He avoided them coming above decks when the ships hit the rainstorms and wild weather once they crossed the equator, because he knew they had no linens or blankets to dry themselves, and he wanted to limit illness among the convicts.

Rations were not too limited, but sickness was rife, particularly cholera, fever, scurvy and dysentery. The convicts had a bucket of fresh water for drinking and washing and a bucket for their waste, and the convicts themselves had to empty the waste.

Convicts were not punished unnecessarily, but only if they did something that threatened the other passengers or the marines. Unfortunately, Phillip (who had quite high morals) could not be on all the ships at the same time, and the marines had a tendency to use the convict women for their own purposes. The women were subject to be used promiscuously by the sailors, but in many cases they were quite willing to sell themselves for a bit of extra food.

Answer 4

Port Arthur was one of Australia's most brutal convict colonies. Convicts were subject to floggings, ofte with a cat o' nine tails, for minor infractions. A cat o' nine tails was a whip with nine leather strips, or tails, each embedded with a sharp triangle of metal which would dig into the convict's skin and literally rip it out with each stroke. Between the 1830s and the 1870s, Port Arthur was often referred to as "hell on earth". A convict who tried to escape would receive an average of 100 lashes.

Port Arthur was a very labour-intensive convict colony. Convicts were put to work in various industrial and manufacturing industries such as ship-building, smithing, timber getting, brick making and even shoe-making. Timber-getting was the worst, being an uncomfortable, hot and dirty job.