In March 1844, the convict ship Blundell departed for Norfolk Island. She was the first convict ship to sail directly, rather than via Sydney. The Blundell was fitted out with a humane experiment; sufficient sleeping room for every convict to allow them to leave their bed without disturbing others.

On board for the voyage was Lieutenant Cooper and 31 rank and file of the 58th regiment, Ensign Coleman and 15 rank and file of the 80th regiment, a few women and children belonging to the guard and 210 male convicts. One of those convicts was my three-times great grandfather, James Goodson.

The Royal Navy surgeon for the voyage was Benjamin Bynoe. He had been the assistant surgeon during Charles Darwin’s expedition on the Beagle in 1831.

Surgeon Bynoe kept a journal during the voyage of the Blundell. A few of his written words were hard to decipher, emphasis has been added by me [in parentheses]:

We left England in March with three hundred and twenty four souls on board including forty of the ship’s company and arrived safe at Norfolk Island on the 6^th day of July with the loss of one man. The number of patients was forty one and out of that number thirty five have been inserted in the journal although many of the prisoners required an occasional cathartic from the want of proper exercise they were so slight in nature as not to admit of them being placed on the list.

The first forms of complaint were diarrhoea and from the patients statements they had suffered from a similar affliction when in Milbank Prison. The temperature at that time on board being about forty five degrees [?] partly in producing such a form of complaint the number did not exceed eighteen and with two exceptions they very soon became well the remaining two were about three weeks before they were discharged.

The patient that died was a case of Phthisis Confirmata about a fortnight after being on board was a Private of the 58^th Regiment he had had pneumonia some few months before he was drafted for the guard and for years had suffered from cough was a very attenuated figure and the expectation when first applying to me was tinged with blood and striated with pus. On approaching the equator, he seemed to be improved but again began to decline as we marked a high southern latitude and expired on the 19^th day of May in latitude 38 degrees south.

One week previous to crossing the equator there was not a sick person on board excepting the case of Phthisis but after leaving the SE Trade and getting into the 41 degrees south temperature 57 degrees catarrh and some terminating in pneumonia became prevalent and these were principally confined to the guard all of them did remarkably well make a prompt [measures?].

Many cases of Obstipatio [constipation!] amongst the prisoners which did with some degree of excitement requiring active cathartics. Two Sero Enteritis were actively depleted all of whom did well. From cases about the decks we had a few superficial wounds that by simple remedies soon became well.

The pistol shot wound requiring amputation was one of the sergeants of the guard who was at the usual hours of the morning loading it when it accidentally exploded and shattered the finger close to the metacarpal bone. It healed rapidly without any degree of inflammation.

The case of acute rheumatism appeared three days before we made Norfolk Island of a very severe nature but was improving when landed. He was the only patient on our arrival.

The passage was made in ninety two days the temperature across the equator did not exceed 89 degrees and in our highest southern latitude it did not descend below 49 degrees and all the prisoners on being landed was considered to be in excellent health.

The separate divisions of sleeping berths for the prisoners I consider admirable. At first there was some difficulty in keeping them up and apart at night but the easy measure in which a man could turn or get out of bed without disturbing his neighbour to the right or left of him and [?] followed up. A visit to the prison at any hour of the night would always find the boards in their proper places.

Three men were obliged to be punished for petty thefts but on the whole they behaved themselves remarkably well and gave very little trouble. B.W. Bynoe Surgeon R.N.

Norfolk Island was a secondary punishment settlement for those who had committed crimes after transportation to New South Wales. These new and remarkably well-behaved arrivals, some of whom had committed petty theft in England, were about to be deposited among some of society’s worst of the worst… prison guard and Commandants included…