samuel

2nd January 1783

My name is Samuel Bird and I am seventeen years old. I am on one of these hulks because I was in a fight with an officer. I was sentenced to death first and then the judge had mercy on me and gave me fourteen years transportation. The trial was on the eleventh of May 1782 it was held by Judge Wersley. At the trial I didn’t want to be sentenced to death but now I think I’d rather be dead.

27th June 1786

Life on the hulks is horrible. My living space is smaller than a coffee table. My clothes are in rags and I haven’t had a decent wash for months. The air in here is rotten, stale and stinks of vomit and urine. Disease is extremely common. Rats and cockroaches roam freely no matter how many you kill.

13th May 1787

Today we left Portsmouth at 5 o’clock in the morning. I am on the ship the Alexander. My adrenaline was pumpi...