Elizabeth Pulley Sets Sail I

Introduction and Contents

Descendant A. Maie

Winter had ended and the Spring festivities, including Lent, were in full swing when on 11th March 1787 Elizabeth Pulley, Ann Turner and Susannah Holmes, with whom she had spent the last 3 years in custody, were received on board the transport ship, Friendship, docked with the Charlotte, at Plymouth. They were also accompanied by Sussanah's son Henry Cabell/Kable who Elizabeth had helped to deliver while in Norwich castle gaol, and the father Henry Cable after they had received last minute permission to travel together.

Once all the convicts and marines had boarded the two vessels, the ships made their way down the river to join the rest of the fleet at the Spithead, otherwise known as Mother Bank, Portsmouth. While waiting there the convicts were allowed to write letters home to friends, and were, on the whole, ‘remarkable healthy’, according to Lt. Clark.

There are reports that the women spent their time lolling about ‘on the deck half naked and filthy’ for although fresh clothing had been promised, it never arrived. There are other reports that some convict women were actually well dressed and clean, and had an extensive wardrobe. But as Elizabeth needed to be loaned clothes for her wedding one year later, she probably fell into the first group, and continued to wear the clothes she had worn in prison.

It was a long wait. Two months passed. Then, on 13th May 1787, after Easter and Mayday celebrations were over, at ‘5 oClock in the morning the Sirius made the Signal for the whole fleet to get under Way’ and they set sail. ‘By ten o’clock they were clear of the Isle of Wight’, and three days later the fleet finally cleared the channel.

Eleven ships sailed, accompanied for the first few days by the pilot vessel, the Hyaena. Captain Arthur Phillip travelled on the lead vessel, Sirius. A smaller vessel, Supply, kept an eye on all the ships, and served as a communication vessel. The other vessels were transport ships. Anthony Rope, Elizabeth’s future husband, travelled on the Alexander the largest ship in the fleet. Anthony had been among the first to embark months earlier, in January, at Woolwich.

The Friendship, which carried Elizabeth, was the smallest of the transport ships, really a brig, with only two masts and square rigged. It was carrying ‘76 male and 21 female convicts; 1 captain, 2 lieutenants, 2 sergeants, 3 corporals, 1 drummer and 36 privates, with 1 assistant surgeon’. The captain was Lt. Ralph Clark.

On the deck a barricade studded with iron prongs had been erected to keep the crew and convicts away from each other. Below deck the convicts were enclosed by another bulkhead studded with nails, which also had holes, through which the guards could keep an eye on them and ‘fire in case of mutiny’. In spite of these precautions by the third day of sailing the seamen on Friendship had broken through to the convict women and Lt. Clark was not amused.

I never met with a parcle of more discontent fellows in my life the[y] [the seamen] only want more Provisions to give it to the damed whores the Convict Women of whome the[y] are very fond Since they brock throu the Bulk head and had connection with them -- I never could have thought that there wair So many abandond wreches in England, the[y] are ten thousand time worse than the men Convicts, and I am affraid that we will have a great dele more trouble with them.

It seems that Elizabeth was one of the women. During the rest of the voyage Lt. Clark continued to rail against the women, but when they were later transferred to another ship and replaced by sheep, he turned his attention to railing against the male convicts.

The Friendship continued out to the open sea on the first leg of the journey. Almost immediately it began to storm and the seas became rough causing seasickness in both the convicts and crew, including Lt. Clark. During the rest of the voyage periods of calm were replaced by gales and storms, which caused damage to the ships and would have been uncomfortable for all on board. This time the Friendship lost the Top Gallant Mast.

During the day the convicts, still in irons, had been allowed on deck and by the second week the order came through to take the irons off. Lt. Clark, however, was reticent and, instead, decided ‘to put them out [of irons] when we think proper and on the Smales falt to put them in again’.

By the 2nd June the Fleet spotted their first stopover, the port of Santa Cruz.

 NOTE.  This is part of a work I compiled for my family in 2010, 'Elizabeth Pulley: and her first five years in Australia'.  The photo is from a performance series which was inspired by Elizabeth's story.  

The information for this journey came from the journal of Lt. Clark as well as other sources which are listed in the Bibliography and in the notes at the end of each story.  Lt. Clark's writing about the convict women was indicative of the attitudes held at the time, attitudes that were repeated by male free settlers during the early years of the colony.  Not all the convict women were 'whores', nor were they always responsible when there were problems, and a number of officers, including Lt. Clark ended up forming relationships and having families with convict women. There are a number of books where the portrayal contained in Lt. Clark's writing is carefully critiqued, including in Anne Summers' 'Damned Whores and God's Police' and Grace Karsken's 'The Colony', pp. 313 ff.

c. Annette Maie, 2019


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