Convict Ship Hebe 1820

Convict Ship Hebe - 1820

Embarked: 160 men
Voyage: 153 days
Deaths:1
Surgeon's Journal: no
Previous vessel: Elizabeth arrived 31 December 1820
Next vessel: Prince Regent arrived 9 January 1821
Captain Thackeray Wetherall
Surgeon Charles Carter
Convicts and passengers of the Hebe identified in the Hunter Valley region

The Hebe was built at Hull in 1810.[1] On this voyage in 1820 Joseph Drake was employed as Chief Officer and W.P. Ellis, Second Officer.

The Convicts

Some of the prisoners had been incarcerated in Newgate prison before being transferred to the York Hulk on 5th June 1820. They remained on the York until 12 July when they were embarked on the Hebe. They joined other convicts from counties throughout England - Somerset, Warwick, Suffolk, York, Stafford, Hertford, Wiltshire, Berkshire etc., and three who had been court-martialled in Gibraltar.

Military Guard

The Guard consisted of 1 serjeant and 30 rank and file of the 48th regiment commanded by Lieut. Campbell of the 59th regiment.

Departure

The ship departed England on 31st July 1820, touched at Rio de Janeiro and remained there 10 days and arrived at Van Diemen's Land on 31st December 1820 on their way to Port Jackson.

Port Jackson

Governor Macquarie recorded the arrival of the Hebe in Port Jackson in his journal:
Sunday 31 Decr. 1820 At 1. P.M. anchored in the Harbour the Ship Hebe Commanded by Capt. R. Wetherall, with 158 Male Convicts on board from England, whence She Sailed on the 10th. of August last; Dr. Carter R. N. being the Surgeon Supdt. - and the Guard, consisting of 1 Serjt. and 30 Men of the 48th. Regt., being Commanded by Lieut. Campbell of the 59th. Regt. The Hebe on her Passage hither touched at Rio, and remained there for Ten Days.

Major Frederick Goulburn (a younger Brother of the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies) the newly appointed Colonial Secretary has arrived Passenger on board the Ship Hebe. He has brought me Dispatches from Earl Bathurst the Secry. of State for the Colonies, all of a very unpleasant and mortifying nature. I am however rejoiced to find by those Dispatches that my Resignation of this Government, sent Home on the 1st. of March last per the Ship Admiral Cockburn, has at length been accepted - and that I am promised to be relieved as soon as a Successor can be Selected - which he is not yet. I have asked Major Goulburn to live with us, which he has agreed to do till he can get his affairs arranged. [2]

Convicts Disembarked

The prisoners were landed at Port Jackson on 11th January 1821. With the convicts who arrived on the Elizabeth, they were inspected by His Excellency Governor Lachlan Macquarie, before being allotted to their various employments in the districts of Parramatta, Liverpool, Airds and Windsor.

Surgeon Charles Carter

No Surgeon's Journal is available however a list of articles for use in case of sickness can be found amongst the Colonial Secretary's correspondence: Tea, sugar, chocolate, sago, scotch barley, ginger, black pepper, allspice, red port wine, rice, pearl barley and lemon juice. Hospital supplies included 9 duck frocks, 9 pairs flannel trousers, 9 flannel waistcoats, 18 pr cotton hose, 18 pocket handkerchiefs, 18 nightcaps, 18 towels, 16 prs sheets. Charles Carter was also surgeon on the convict Hibernia in 1819 the Arab in 1822 and Sir Godfrey Webster in 1823, Henry Porcher in 1825

Departure from the Colony

The Hebe was intending to sail for England via Batavia in February 1821. The Asiatic Journal reported that the Hebe under Captain Maitland (late Wetherall) arrived in England on 23 January 1822 having been at Bengal on 25th August and Cape of Good Hope 15th November 1821.

References

[1] Bateson, Charles Library of Australian History (1983). The convict ships, 1787-1868 (Australian ed). Library of Australian History, Sydney pp.344-345, 383

[2] Lachlan and Elizabeth Macquarie Archive

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