9781422285800

New South Wales was just the place. It was desolate, barren, a wilderness surrounded by ocean. And so it was that in 1787 Beckford boarded one of the eleven ships, known to history as the First Fleet, for the seven-month voyage to Australia. Most of the convicts—about 1,000 in all, including males and females—were pale and mal- nourished and in chains when they left port. Yet, from all accounts, there was a lot of drinking and debauchery on the voyage by both convicts and sailors. PETTY CRIMINALS All the prisoners on the 1787 voyage that landed in Australia were petty crooks. There was not a murderer, rapist, political prisoner, or kidnapper among them. Elizabeth Powley, for example, stole a “few shillings” worth of bacon, flour, and raisins and “24 ounces weight of butter.” James Grimes, eleven, purloined a bit of ribbon and silk stockings. William Francis stole a book.

The First Fleet: Entering Port Jackson, January 26, 1788 , lithograph by E. Le Bihan (1888).

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MAJOR NATIONS IN A GLOBAL WORLD: AUSTRALIA