Monday, February 21, 2011

Crime and Punishment in Boston - January 1776

Crime was always prevalent in Boston under British occupation but in the first half of January 1776 it became a crime wave. The shortage of provisions provoked large scale plundering. Howe determined that 'Robberies and housebreaking have got to such a height ... that some examples must be made.' Such examples began with the conviction for stealing of a marine from the First Battalion, who was given 500 lashes. Another court-martial sentenced two men to death, a decision which probably appalled David Collins, who, later, as Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land was frequently lachrymose at convict hangings. A private and his wife who had enterprisingly gone into the business of receiving stolen goods were court-martialed.  (The  woman as the spouse of a serving soldier and official camp-follower was deemed to come under military, not civil justice.) The husband received 1,000 lashes and the woman was tied to a cart's tail, dragged through the Boston streets and given '100 lashes on the bare back ... in the most conspicuous part of the Town', after which the pair were imprisoned for three months. Two other soldiers were sentenced to 800 lashes for housebreaking and stealing. Two more got 800 lashes each for stealing 'a piece of limen.' Another got 500 lashes for shoplifting. Francis Grose had seen floggings before at Bunker Hill, but nothing like this fortnight's orgy of punishment. Probably at this time he developed that aversion to flogging that later would gain him a reputation for mercy among the convicts of New South Wales when he trimmed back the cat-o'-nine-tails to lessen its severity.1

1Howe cited in Michael Pearson, These Damned Rebels. The American Revolution as seen through British Eyes, New York, 1972, pp. 142-143; Howe, General Sir William Howe's Orderly Book ... pp. 187-188; Currey, David Collins, p. 239; Carr, After the Siege, p. 31; Alan Atkinson, The Europeans in Australia. Volume One. The Beginning, Oxford, 1998, p. 259.

Friday, February 18, 2011

HMS Boyne Leaves Boston 5th December 1775

On 5 December 1775 HMS Boyne left Boston for England, taking home General Johnny Burgoyne. Burgoyne would return to North America in May 1777 eventually to end his military career in ignominy. Evan Nepean, a clerk to the Boyne's Captain Evan Hartwell, remained in Boston. It is possible between then and January 1776 when he became secretary to Vice-Admiral Molyneus Shuldham , who replaced the cantankerous Graves, he first made the acquaintance of Captain Robert Ross.. As Under secretary to the Home Department from 1783 Nepean would remember him and play a major part in 1786, in securing his appointment in New South Wales. Vice-Admiral Samurl Graves commanded 'our Invalids, together with a Number of American Seamen, whom ave ordered to be borne on a supernumary list for Wages and Victuals' to board the Boyne. Hartwell was instructed, once back in England, to distribute them throughout the Royal Navy, 'so they may not serve in any Numbers together in America.'1 Among them was probably young James Proctor, of whom we know no more until he joins the Sirius bound for Botany Bay in 1786.

1Roberson, His Diaries and Sketches in America, p. 90; Narrative of Admiral Samuel Graves, Boston, 25 November, 1775 in Clark (ed.) NDAR, Vol. 2, p. 1129; Richard J. Hargrove, Jr., General John Burgoyne, East Brunswick, 1983, p. 113; Vice-Admral Samuel Graves to Philip Stevens, 30 November, 1775, in Clark, (ed.) NDAR, Vol. 2, p. 1203; Washington was told by an informant at Chelsea, within the American lines, who did not have full knowledge of the situation that 30 Masters of Vessels Pasheners on board.' -cf. [Enclosure] Captain Richard Dodge to George Washington [Chelsea] Dec the 16th, 1775 in Clark (ed.) NDAR, Vol. 2, p. 122] but this contradicts Vice-Admiral Graves's advice to London, and I have accepted the latter.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Theatre in Boston 1775 and Sydney Cove, 1789 Compared

Some time between September and December 1775 David Collins probably went to a play for the first time in his life.Probably by early October he was now stationed in Boston as a Deputy-Adjutant Marines under the keen eye of his father and General Howe who supplanted Gage as Commander-in-Chief on October 10. A performance of an English adaptation of Voltaire's Zara was taking place every week at Faneuil Hall. General John Burgoyne, himself a dramatist of some note, had fitted out the Hall's upper floor, once the meeting place for the Sons of Liberty, 'very Elegantly for a Theatre', much to the chagrin of Boston Puritans, who, since 1750, had banned the performance of plays because 'they caused great mischiefs', mi;itated against industry and frugality, and most importantly, increased 'immorality, impiety and a contempt for religion.' Lord Rawdon gave the prologue, written by Burgoyne, and a ten year old girl delivered his epilogue to the play. Probably to Collins's and the rest of the audiences' delight, 'The Tragedy ... was Performed beyond Expectation [with] Zara by Miss Flucker and Ormon by Lt. Medham of the 47th Regt.' Fourteen years later Collins would attend, not a theatre or palatial hall, but 'a hut fitted up for the occasion' at Sydney Cove, New South Wales, with 'three or four yards of stained paper and a dozen farthing candles stuck around the mud walls.' where convicts put on a rough performance of Farquhar's The Recruiting Officer with their own humourous prologue. It, too, was 'an opportunity of escape from the dreariness and dejection of [the] situation.'.'1

1Despite French's arguments -cf. Allen French, The First Year of the American Revolution, Cambridge, Mass., 1934, p. 537 and Richard J. Hargrave Jnr., General John Burgoyne, East Brunswick, NJ, 1983, p. 82; For dating of Collins's appointment Collins as Deputy Adjutant cf. Journal of the Cerebus, Captain John Symonds, 26 Sept. 1775 in William Bell Clark, (ed.) Naval Documents of the American Revolution,{NDAR} Vol. 2, Washington,1966, p. 210 and John Currey, David Collins. A Colonial Life, Melbourne, 2000, p. 23. Currey places Tooker Collins's arrival in Boston in October, 1775 For Howe becoming C-in-c, John Richard Alden, General Gage in America, Being Principally A History of His Role in the American Revolution, New York, 1948, p. 283; Lieut. William Feilding to Lord Denbigh, Boston, Jany 19, 1776, in Marion Balderston and David Syrrett, (eds.) The Lost War. Letters from British Officers during the American Revolution, New York, 1975, p, 58; Jacqueline Barbara Carr, After the Siege. A Social History of Boston, 1775-1800, Biston, 2005, p, 199; Edward Barrington de Fonblanque, Politicak And Military Episodes In The Latter Half Of The Eighteenth Century Derived From The Life And Correspondence Of John Burgoyne, General, Statesman, Dramatist, London, 1876, pp. 88-86; Francis Hjtcheson to Major-General Frederick Haldemand, Boston, December 4, 1775, in Clark, (ed.) NDAR, Vol. 2, pp. 1267-1268; David Collins, An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales with Rtemarks on the Dispositions, Customs, Names, etc., of the Native Inhabitants of that Country,Sydney, 1975, pp. 57-58; Watkin Tench, 'A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson' in Tim Flannery, (ed.) Two Classic Tales of Australian Exploration, Melbourne, 1996, p. 109.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

John Shea

When on 11 February 1788 just beyond the Sydney camp Captain John Shea blasted a kangaroo with his musket, he probably did not care that the well-known portrait of the marsupial famed from Cook's 1770 voyage was inaccurate. He was glad enough to be fit enough to hunt, for death had haunted him since the age of twenty-one when his father was killed at the battle of Bunker Hill. Of his four children, all boys, two do not appear to have survived to adulthood. On the voyage to Botany Bay Shea had nearly died of tuberculosis, but he seemed well enough now. That afternnon Shea sat for the first time on the Criminal Court with Judge Advocate, David Collins and others. He, like Collins, had served in Boston in mid 1775.
Re-routed there from New York Shea probably had 'thoughts of loin of veal and lemon sauce' as he neared the Harbor, rather than the 'hard as wood, ... lean as carrion ... and rusty as the devil' fare on offer. He probably did not learn of his father's death until he landed at Boston. Shortly thereafter Captain Shea's effects were sold off, the proceeds going to his wife and her large brood of children. His son undoubtedly bid in the street auction for mementoes of his father, but beyond that grief it is as difficult to trace his life in Boston with certainty apart from noting that he was probably on sea-service. He was possibly part of the marine complement of the men-of-war, 'several schooners and armed ships' policing the port. These naval forces were in addition to those of the Army, the latter comnprising now 6767, excluding two uncounted regiments and the marines, in Boston and on Charlestown Neck. Six thousand of these were effectives. According to its critics, the Royal Navy had been supremely inactive ; ... whale-boats ... have insulted and plundered islands immediately under the protection of our ships ...' These moonlight raids by several hundred men had stolen stock, taken hay and burnt down barns on Long and Moon Islands over several nights, and once during the day. They greatly discommoded the newly arrived Light Cavalry forcing them to send their horses temporarily to Charlestown 'where alone there is any chance of grazing.'  By mid to late July fresh meat was so scarce that Lord Percy 'killed a foal , had it roasted and invited a party to dinner.' 'Major Musgrave's fat mare was stolen and sold at the market for beef.' To counter this chronic 'scarcity of meat' 'eight sail of transports and a frigate' went to Fisher's Island to collect livestock. Shea may have been on this expedition..
On 19 and 20 July the rebels in their whaleboats attacked the Nantasket Light-house on Brewster Island at the entrance to Boston Harbor. They carried away '1,000 bushels of barley, all the hay, the lamps', some small cannon and some boats. 'The wooden parts of the light-house' they burnt. In the calm the man-of-war, moored 'but a mile from the light0house, nor the navy longboats could catch the Massachusetts whale-boats, 'remarkable for moving quick.' Cannon fire was blocked by 'a small island lying between them and the ship.' Marines from Collins's battalion were sent to protect the artificers sent to make repairs and suffered casualties and imprisonment at the end of the month. 
When not in combat marine officers on sea service had little to do. Too frequently they distracted sailors on watch or disturbed them with rowdy drinking sessions, a problem more pronounced in Boston because of the easy availability of the debilitating Massachusetts rum.Conditions on board Royal Navy ships were an improvement on those suffered by troops ashore. Sailorsand marines were 'coolly and cleanly lodged' below decks and there was 'always a little sail of wind in the water that is not upon the Shore.'
By mid-August transports had arrived from Quebec with yet more salted meat, more flour, oats and entrenching tools. Days later a transport ''with about 2,000 sheep and some oxen',  was greeted with 'bells ... set to music to the no small joy and comfort' of the besieged. At month's end some drunken British soldiers celebrated by cutting down the Liberty Tree, Boston's centre of 'political Heat', for winter firewood.
In October John Shea was promoted to first lieutenant. Further sea-service saw him advance to captain-lieutenant by 1779. By 1780 his war was over. He married Susannah Linzee, daughter of an official at the Plymouth Naval Base and sister of Captain John Linzee, whom Shea may have met in Boston. Probably to escape a miserable existence on half-pay, in December, 1786 Shea enlisted for service in the New South Wales penal colony. Captain John Shea, as he was then, may have had the strength to bag several kangaroos and hear court cases but the energy to supervise his Company in the building of a barracks at Sydney Cove was beyond him.It was not 'any part of his duty.' Whatever tuberculatory lassitude convinced him of this, by 2 February, 1789, it had killed him. He 'was buried the next day in Miliatry form very Neat and handsom.' In the unseemly negotiations after Shea's death the then Major Robert Ross's attempt to embarrass the colony's Governor Arthur Phillip and his Judge-Advocate, David Collins, came to nought. Lieutenant George Johnston was promoted to Captain-Lieutenant. Ross's nine year old son gained a lieutenancy, which may have caused Johnston, now twenty-five, to reflect with some piquancy on his earlier North American career.