What do I do with the research I’m carrying out into my family story and the historical background? It may not make it into a blog post, or it may be inconclusive.
But I don’t want it to go to waste, and what I find out might interest someone else.
So I’ll be posting about it here.
What I’m concentrating on now is the voyage of the Friendship, which left England on July 3, 1817, with a cargo of female convicts. One of these was my 3xgreat grandmother, Sarah Marshall.
The ship became notorious for the treatment of the women on board and the almost inevitable tales of “the intimacy which had taken place between the women and some of the officers and seamen” (Bateson, The Convict Ships).
I’m also looking at what life was like for female servants like Sarah, and the conditions for women prisoners waiting to be transported.
Watch this space for updates…
