Shipboard diary, 09 November 1839-27 March 1840

Component identifier:

File 2

Content Summary:

This extremely detailed diary records Gell's voyage in the Runnymede (Capt. W.B. Forward) from Sheerness to Hobart. The ship carried 200 convict boys and much of the diary is devoted to Gell's efforts in teaching the boys, medical inspections, thefts and other offences committed by the boys, floggings and other punishments, decisions of the surgeon-superintendent, and conversations (sometimes verbatim) between Gell and some of the boys. In addition, there are references to the weather, the seas, seasickness, living conditions on the ship, meals, accidents and illnesses, Gell's reading and reflections arising from his reading, sighting of Madeira and Trinidad Island, Crossing the Line ceremonies, Christmas Day, the observance of Sundays, sightings of albatrosses and porpoises, the visit to Cape Town, the South African College, sightings of other ships, reflections on religion, education and the regulation of the convict service, sighting of Van Diemen's Land, and Gell's plans on arriving at Hobart.(c. 160 pp)

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M377

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