MARY BRYANT
The Mary Bryant Story 1791
SLNSW Botany Bay Tea leaves (Smilax glyciphylla).
In 1791, Mary Bryant escaped from Botany Bay in 1791 with her husband, two children and seven other convicts in the Governor's cutter. The epic journey of 3 months and more than 3,000 miles, took them through the Torres Strait - across the Arafura Sea to the Wessel Islands and on to Koepang in Timor. At the Wessels they were fortunate to escape being captured by an unknown vessel - possibly pirates who terrorised the seas around the Spice Islands for centuries. The Past Masters 2013 Expedition found evidence that foreign vessels still frequent the Wessel Islands where they net the creeks and fish the reefs illegally.
Until the advent of steam power, ships would only brave the Torres Strait when sailing east to west. The lateral course to Koepang via the Wessel Islands was also that followed by Matthew Flinders in the Cumberland in 1803.
Following capture in Koepang, Mary lost her husband and children on the voyage to London, where she landed in Newgate prison. Johnson's biographer, James Boswell, took up her case - got her released and allowed her five pounds a year, pending good behaviour.
Mary Bryant evades history for almost 150 years until her tea leaves from Botany Bay are discovered in James Boswell’s papers at Yale University. The leaves were from the native sarsaparilla plant used by the convicts to make 'sweet tea' & to treat stomach disorders, excess fertility & scurvy. In 1956 some of these leaves were donated to the Mitchell Library.
Until the advent of steam power, ships would only brave the Torres Strait when sailing east to west. The lateral course to Koepang via the Wessel Islands was also that followed by Matthew Flinders in the Cumberland in 1803.
Following capture in Koepang, Mary lost her husband and children on the voyage to London, where she landed in Newgate prison. Johnson's biographer, James Boswell, took up her case - got her released and allowed her five pounds a year, pending good behaviour.
Mary Bryant evades history for almost 150 years until her tea leaves from Botany Bay are discovered in James Boswell’s papers at Yale University. The leaves were from the native sarsaparilla plant used by the convicts to make 'sweet tea' & to treat stomach disorders, excess fertility & scurvy. In 1956 some of these leaves were donated to the Mitchell Library.
Mary Bryant (b.1765), convict, was baptized on 1 May 1765 at Fowey, Cornwall, England, the daughter of a mariner named Broad, whose family was 'eminent for sheep stealing'. On 20 May 1786 at the Exeter Assizes she, referred to as Mary Braund, was charged with assault and robbery, convicted and sentenced to death. Her sentence was commuted to transportation for seven years, and she was taken from Exeter jail to the hulk Dunkirk off Plymouth, where she remained until transhipped to the transport Charlotte in the First Fleet for Botany Bay. On the voyage she was 'delivered of a fine girl', who was baptized Charlotte Spence in October at Cape Town. At Sydney Cove on 10 February 1788 Mary was married to William Bryant, a Cornish fisherman of some 31 years, who had been convicted in March 1784 at the Launceston Assizes for resisting revenue officers. Sentenced to transportation for seven years to America, his destination was changed and he too passed through Exeter jail and the Dunkirk to the Charlotte, where he was employed in issuing provisions to his fellow prisoners.
At Port Jackson, William soon acquired the use of a hut and started a garden. He was given charge of the fishing boats, but in February 1789 was convicted of selling privately some of his catch and sentenced to receive 100 lashes. He was deprived of the fishing control, although, being a skilful fisherman, he was kept in the boats. In April 1790 Mary's second child, Emanuel, was born and baptized. In October there arrived at Port Jackson, with badly needed provisions, the Dutch snow Waaksamheyd, under Captain Detmer Smith (Smit). From him Bryant obtained a chart, compass, quadrant, two muskets, ammunition and food. William was known to be planning an escape and was closely watched, but in February 1791, after a squall had nearly wrecked his boat, he contrived to give it a thorough overhaul. On 28 March six days after the Supply was sent to Norfolk Island, the Waaksamheyd sailed for England. That night, with no ship at Port Jackson to overtake them and no moon to betray them to the lookout at South Head, the Bryants and seven convicts escaped in the governor's cutter with new masts, sails and oars and a good supply of provisions. Although one of the fugitives was a navigator and others were familiar with boats, their voyage to Timor was hazardous; they landed at Koepang on 5 June, after travelling 3254 miles (5237 km) in 69 days on an epic voyage in which they found coal, probably near Newcastle, discovered many of the islands of the Barrier Reef and crossed the Arafura Sea.
Bryant and his party posed as survivors from a wreck on the Australian coast, but the truth leaked out and they were detained in the local 'castle'. On 17 September Captain Edward Edwards arrived at Koepang with survivors of his crew from the wrecked Pandora and (sic) of his captured mutineers from the Bounty. He questioned the fugitives who admitted their escape from Botany Bay, but he did not take them in charge until 5 October when he was ready to sail in the Rembang. In November and in irons, the convicts reached Batavia where Emanuel died on 1 December and William Bryant three weeks later. Mary, Charlotte and one convict left Batavia in the Horssen; of the others, one went overboard in Sunda Strait and two died at sea. At the Cape, Mary, Charlotte and the four surviving convicts were transferred to the Gorgon for the voyage to England. Charlotte died at sea on 5 May 1792. Five weeks later they landed at Portsmouth and were taken to London and committed to Newgate. On 7 June at the Old Bailey they escaped the death penalty, but were ordered 'to remain on their former sentences until they should be discharged by due course of law'.
The press took up their story and James Boswell appealed to the Home Office for clemency. Mary Bryant was not pardoned until 2 May 1793, six weeks after her original sentence had expired. Her four companions were released next November, one of them later enlisting in the New South Wales Corps. Boswell continued to help Mary and regularly sent her money when she left London to rejoin her family at Fowey. An acknowledgment of one of these gifts in November 1794 is the last that is known of her.
{C. H. Currey, 'Bryant, Mary (1765–1794)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/bryant-mary-1843/text2131, published first in hardcopy 1966, accessed online 31 December 2014.}
At Port Jackson, William soon acquired the use of a hut and started a garden. He was given charge of the fishing boats, but in February 1789 was convicted of selling privately some of his catch and sentenced to receive 100 lashes. He was deprived of the fishing control, although, being a skilful fisherman, he was kept in the boats. In April 1790 Mary's second child, Emanuel, was born and baptized. In October there arrived at Port Jackson, with badly needed provisions, the Dutch snow Waaksamheyd, under Captain Detmer Smith (Smit). From him Bryant obtained a chart, compass, quadrant, two muskets, ammunition and food. William was known to be planning an escape and was closely watched, but in February 1791, after a squall had nearly wrecked his boat, he contrived to give it a thorough overhaul. On 28 March six days after the Supply was sent to Norfolk Island, the Waaksamheyd sailed for England. That night, with no ship at Port Jackson to overtake them and no moon to betray them to the lookout at South Head, the Bryants and seven convicts escaped in the governor's cutter with new masts, sails and oars and a good supply of provisions. Although one of the fugitives was a navigator and others were familiar with boats, their voyage to Timor was hazardous; they landed at Koepang on 5 June, after travelling 3254 miles (5237 km) in 69 days on an epic voyage in which they found coal, probably near Newcastle, discovered many of the islands of the Barrier Reef and crossed the Arafura Sea.
Bryant and his party posed as survivors from a wreck on the Australian coast, but the truth leaked out and they were detained in the local 'castle'. On 17 September Captain Edward Edwards arrived at Koepang with survivors of his crew from the wrecked Pandora and (sic) of his captured mutineers from the Bounty. He questioned the fugitives who admitted their escape from Botany Bay, but he did not take them in charge until 5 October when he was ready to sail in the Rembang. In November and in irons, the convicts reached Batavia where Emanuel died on 1 December and William Bryant three weeks later. Mary, Charlotte and one convict left Batavia in the Horssen; of the others, one went overboard in Sunda Strait and two died at sea. At the Cape, Mary, Charlotte and the four surviving convicts were transferred to the Gorgon for the voyage to England. Charlotte died at sea on 5 May 1792. Five weeks later they landed at Portsmouth and were taken to London and committed to Newgate. On 7 June at the Old Bailey they escaped the death penalty, but were ordered 'to remain on their former sentences until they should be discharged by due course of law'.
The press took up their story and James Boswell appealed to the Home Office for clemency. Mary Bryant was not pardoned until 2 May 1793, six weeks after her original sentence had expired. Her four companions were released next November, one of them later enlisting in the New South Wales Corps. Boswell continued to help Mary and regularly sent her money when she left London to rejoin her family at Fowey. An acknowledgment of one of these gifts in November 1794 is the last that is known of her.
{C. H. Currey, 'Bryant, Mary (1765–1794)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/bryant-mary-1843/text2131, published first in hardcopy 1966, accessed online 31 December 2014.}
Notes & Confounding
This diary report from convict James Martin suggests that the attack came just south of Cape York. He writes:
“When we came to the Gulf of Carpentaria we ran down the gulf nine or ten miles…we saw a small town of huts about 20 of them just by where the fresh water was…Determined to recruit our water… we saw two very large canoes coming towards us…there seemed to be 30-40 men in each…they had sails made of matting…Determined to cross the gulf which was about 500 miles across…in four days and a half we made the other side and put on shore to look for fresh water in a small river. That night we saw no more land until we came to the north end of the island (Cape Wessel? They tried to land but it was too rough) … and in 36 hours we made it to Timor.”
“When we came to the Gulf of Carpentaria we ran down the gulf nine or ten miles…we saw a small town of huts about 20 of them just by where the fresh water was…Determined to recruit our water… we saw two very large canoes coming towards us…there seemed to be 30-40 men in each…they had sails made of matting…Determined to cross the gulf which was about 500 miles across…in four days and a half we made the other side and put on shore to look for fresh water in a small river. That night we saw no more land until we came to the north end of the island (Cape Wessel? They tried to land but it was too rough) … and in 36 hours we made it to Timor.”
Waakzaamheid (Waaksamheyd, Waakzamkeit) was a Dutch mercant ship of 74 guns, chartered to bring stores to New South Wales - she carried Captain John Hunter back to England for court-martial after the loss of HMS Sirius.
WATKIN TENCH IN THE LITERARY MAGAZINE AND BRITISH REVIEW, VOLUME 11
Capt. Tench mentions the elopement of eleven convicts in the governor's cutter, and his meeting with six of them at the Cape of Good Hope, in his return to England....
It was my fate to fall in again with part of this little, band of adventurers.
In March 1792, when I arrived in the Gorgon, at the Cape of Good Hope, six of these people, including the woman and one child, were put on board of us, to be carried to England: four had died, and one had jumped overboard at Batavia. The particulars of their voyage were briefly as follows. They coasted the shore of New Holland, putting occasionally into different harbours which they found in going along.
One of these harbours, in the latitude of 30 degrees south, they described to be of superior excellence and capacity. Here they hauled their bark ashore, paid her seams with tallow, and repaired her. But it was with difficulty they could keep off the attacks of the Indians. These people continued to harass them so much, that they quitted the main land, and retreated to, a small island in the harbour, where they completed their design.
Between the latitude of 26 and 27 degrees, they were driven by a current thirty leagues from the shore, among some islands, where they sound plenty of large turtles. Soon after they closed again with the continent, when the boat got entangled in the surf, and was driven on shore, and they had all well nigh perished.
They passed through the Straits of Endeavour, and beyond the gulf of Carpentaria sound a large fresh water river, this they entered, and filled from it their empty casks.
Until they reached the gulf of Carpentaria, they saw no natives, or canoes, differing from those about Port Jackson. But now they were chased by large canoes, fitted with sails and fighting stages, and capable of holding thirty men each. They escaped by dint of rowing to windward. On the 5th of June, 1791, they reached Timor, and pretended that they had belonged to a ship, which, on her passage from Port Jackson to India, had foundered; and that they only had escaped.
Capt. Tench mentions the elopement of eleven convicts in the governor's cutter, and his meeting with six of them at the Cape of Good Hope, in his return to England....
It was my fate to fall in again with part of this little, band of adventurers.
In March 1792, when I arrived in the Gorgon, at the Cape of Good Hope, six of these people, including the woman and one child, were put on board of us, to be carried to England: four had died, and one had jumped overboard at Batavia. The particulars of their voyage were briefly as follows. They coasted the shore of New Holland, putting occasionally into different harbours which they found in going along.
One of these harbours, in the latitude of 30 degrees south, they described to be of superior excellence and capacity. Here they hauled their bark ashore, paid her seams with tallow, and repaired her. But it was with difficulty they could keep off the attacks of the Indians. These people continued to harass them so much, that they quitted the main land, and retreated to, a small island in the harbour, where they completed their design.
Between the latitude of 26 and 27 degrees, they were driven by a current thirty leagues from the shore, among some islands, where they sound plenty of large turtles. Soon after they closed again with the continent, when the boat got entangled in the surf, and was driven on shore, and they had all well nigh perished.
They passed through the Straits of Endeavour, and beyond the gulf of Carpentaria sound a large fresh water river, this they entered, and filled from it their empty casks.
Until they reached the gulf of Carpentaria, they saw no natives, or canoes, differing from those about Port Jackson. But now they were chased by large canoes, fitted with sails and fighting stages, and capable of holding thirty men each. They escaped by dint of rowing to windward. On the 5th of June, 1791, they reached Timor, and pretended that they had belonged to a ship, which, on her passage from Port Jackson to India, had foundered; and that they only had escaped.
Note MO - If we assume that they did the entire trip in the cutter - the only harbour at 30' south is Coffs Harbour which is tiny. The only harbour fitting the description is Moreton Bay at 27'S some 200nm to the north just a tad further than the Sydney. The cutter needed major repairs with the uncharted Barrier Reef, Torres Strait and 10k kms to go.
Detail of Flinders chart above.
Footnote:
The stories of Mary Bryant and Australia Bay have drawn together as a result of research by Mike Owen into a piece of driftwood found by Past Masters' senior archaeologist, Michael Hermes - it led to the saga of the loss of HMAS Patricia Cam & the forgotten burials of Stoker Percy Cameron & Gitjbapuy Wanambi - side by side on a small island at the SW of Cumberland Strait in 1943. Percy Cameron's daughter was 2 years old when her father was 'lost at sea' - at 18 years of age she had a chance meeting with stoker Arthur L. Bennett who told her that he had helped to bury her father and had named his daughter after her. In 1786, at the age of 21, Mary's Bryant's name was recorded, at Exeter Assizes, as Mary Braund - Percy Cameron's daughter is Janice Lee Braund.
The stories of Mary Bryant and Australia Bay have drawn together as a result of research by Mike Owen into a piece of driftwood found by Past Masters' senior archaeologist, Michael Hermes - it led to the saga of the loss of HMAS Patricia Cam & the forgotten burials of Stoker Percy Cameron & Gitjbapuy Wanambi - side by side on a small island at the SW of Cumberland Strait in 1943. Percy Cameron's daughter was 2 years old when her father was 'lost at sea' - at 18 years of age she had a chance meeting with stoker Arthur L. Bennett who told her that he had helped to bury her father and had named his daughter after her. In 1786, at the age of 21, Mary's Bryant's name was recorded, at Exeter Assizes, as Mary Braund - Percy Cameron's daughter is Janice Lee Braund.