*Others

Although convict ships travelled from England to various parts of Australia for a period of eighty years, out of necessity, shipboard routines would have been basically the same. Apart from the ship's crew, who were employed to make sure the voyage was a successful one, others were employed to ensure the cargo of convicts reached their destination in good order. Prisoners were housed below decks on the prison deck and were confined behind prison bars. They slept on hammocks and at times were allowed up on deck for exercise and fresh air. A Surgeon Superintendent was employed to care for their well being and a Religious Instructor attended to their education. Warders kept them in order and in many of the Western Australian voyages they were also supervised by Pensioner Guards who were employed to help guard the convicts during the voyage before settling in Australia as part of a recently introduced British emmigration scheme. Often the warders and pensioner guards were accompanied by their wives and families. The Surgeon Superintendents kept detailed journals of each voyage and passed on a report to the Governor of the Colony on arrival. In many cases these journals have survived and are able to be read on films held in the Australian Joint Copying Project. In other cases diaries written by Religious Instructors and some convicts have survived and may be found in the Battye Library in Perth, the Mitchell Library in Sydney and the National Library in Canberra. Apart from day to day journal entries, these diaries can contain such treasures as: Surgeon's Logs have not survived for all voyages, but where they have, they have been listed with each ship's voyage details. Not every voyage journal or diary has the same information and as time permits it is hoped that transcripts of some of the journals can be made available on this site. In the meantime, a selection of Surgeon Superintendent's reports from the Western Australian voyages of the 'Lincelles' in 1862 and the 'Merchantman' in 1863 have been reproduced below. Unfortunately, some words were indecipherable and have been replaced with '???'.
 * A Selection of Surgeon Superintendents' Reports**
 * a list of the rules of conduct on board the ship
 * the daily and weekly routine laid out for the convicts
 * lists of convicts, pensioner guards, warders, wives and children
 * punishment lists for prisoners and guards and the reasons for punishment
 * school reports from the Religious Instructor
 * embarkation details for the prisoners, pensioner guards and warders
 * lists of supplies and rations used during the voygae
 * recommendations from the Surgeon Superintendent
 * <span style="background-color: #dcdcdc; color: #000080; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;">copies of weekly shipboard newspapers published by the prisoners
 * <span style="background-color: #dcdcdc; color: #000080; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"> [|**Rules and Regulations**] : Lincelles, 1862
 * <span style="background-color: #dcdcdc; color: #000080; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"> [|**Daily Routine**] : Lincelles, 1862
 * <span style="background-color: #dcdcdc; color: #000080; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"> [|**General Rules**] : Merchantman, 1863
 * <span style="background-color: #dcdcdc; color: #000080; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"> [|**Daily Routine**] : Merchantman, 1863
 * <span style="background-color: #dcdcdc; color: #000080; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"> [|**Surgeon's Remarks**] : Merchantman, 1863