No, this is not a painting of Woodman, but it is a fine example of a 19th century West Indiaman.
She is Britannia, built in Bristol in 1829 and painted by Bristol-based artist Joseph Walter (1783-1856).

The Ship

The ship was built and then launched at Gainsborough, an inland port on the east bank of the River Trent, on 7th September 1808. At the time of the build her specifications were 397 tons; 115 ft. 9 ins. length; 28 ft. 5 ins. breadth; 5 ft. 9 ins. height. She had one deck; three masts; square rigged; square stern; 17 ft. draft when loaded. She was described in Lloyds Register (left) as a copper sheathed ship registered in London, as A1 (a first class vessel with first class quality materials).

Builder and Owners
Woodman 1808 was built by John Smith of Gainsborough and her owner was a Mr M Bousfield. John and Henry Smith were ship builders in Gainsborough, launching an impressive list of vessels for river transport, trade and ferry work. But Woodman is not the list; with a name like John Smith, the builder will probably remain a mystery. Bousfield, on more than one occasion was master of Woodman and he remained her owner from 1808 through to 1832 when she was sold to Lemuel Cambridge of Bristol and Samuel Welsford of London as equal majority shareholders with other investors. In 1835 she changed hands again when William Ward, merchant of Sculcoates, Yorkshire purchased her.

Career
Woodman began her career as a merchantman, on voyages to Corunna, Northern Spain. In 1812/13 she switched to a short career as a West Indiaman, taking her trade between London and Jamaica for a couple of years. In 1815 she underwent some repairs in readiness for Bousfield to successfully apply for a licence from the East India Company to sail to Calcutta in 1816 – making her, one would suppose, an East Indiaman! It seems that Bousfield had a good run with this ship by keeping her well maintained for long distance journeys; there was at least one sailing every year for over 20 years during Bousfield’s ownership.

Woodman made her first convict voyage in January 1823, when 97 female convicts left Cork, Ireland along with around 40 free women and their children via Rio de Janeiro. The ship arrived in Sydney in June and returned to England where major repairs were required in 1825 for her next convict voyage as follows.

The Voyage 1825/26

First to board Woodman at Deptford on the Thames were 18 soldiers of the 57th Regiment on 8th November 1825. Next were 23 soldiers of the 39th Regiment on 9th November. The ship, chartered from M Bousfield, left Deptford on 12th November picking up convicts from hulks moored along the Thames Estuary. The last sight of England was Sheerness on 6th December as she set sail for Van Diemen’s Land. Woodman’s voyage, via The Cape, took 144 days. John Rodmell, the original Royal Navy Surgeon Superintendent on board died on the way to The Cape and and another RN Surgeon, Cornelius Kelly from HMS Helicon took over and started his journal; more of these men later. Woodman left The Cape on 12th March 1826 and arrived at Hobart Town on 29th April. After disembarking the prisoners, Woodman left Hobart on 27th May for Port Jackson, Sydney, arriving 7th June 1826.

Throughout this long voyage, the ship’s master was Captain Daniel Leary. This was the only convict voyage he made to VDL. However he made two subsequent voyages to NSW – on Eliza in 1827 from Cork with 192 convicts on board, and York in 1830/31 from Sheerness with 200 convicts.

The Unwilling Passengers

Most of the 150 convicts processed and embarked on Woodman were from the prison hulks Justicia, Retribution and Ganymede. The surgeon superintendents’ journals often recorded the specific locations and number of prisoners, but in this case the journal did not survive to tell the tale. These convicts were sentenced in assizes, quarter sessions and other courts from counties all over England and from courts of judiciary in Scotland. Two of the convicts on board Woodman would ultimately be among the group of 23 men to arrive in New Holland on the brig Amity on Christmas Day 1826: John Marsden from the hulk Retribution had already visited Australia once before after being convicted of highway robbery and transported in 1822 on Caledonia. He illegally managed to return to England and was being sent back to Van Diemen’s Land for life after his conviction at the Surrey Assizes in Croydon. George Metham boarded Woodman from the hulk Ganymede at Chatham; he had been given a life sentence for manslaughter/culpable homicide at Lancaster Assizes after stabbing another inmate in Kirkdale Gaol.

There was only one convict death recorded in the surgeon’s journal for the voyage from Cape Town (see right). William Bateman, aged 28, was put on the sick list on 24th April 1826 and died two days later. Surgeon Kelly remarked, that there was no apparent predisposition to epilepsy in this man, either in the conformation of his body or his arterial action. The circumstances of being confined below by bad weather, in very close and unwholesome air, and with his berth being so positioned that his head was towards the list of the ship, and the motion of the ship; combined with a certain degree of septic tendency of the fluids, contributed to his illness. The official shipping lists indicate that only 146 convicts were landed in Hobart, thus three others may have died between England and Cape Town. Six convicts were sent to hospital upon arrival and perhaps the discrepancy lies in subsequent deaths at the hospital.

The Convict Guards

Many detachments of the 57th Regiment were already serving in NSW before the 39th even left Deptford on Woodman in November 1825. This included Major Edmund Lockyer, Commandant of King George’s Sound fame, who arrived on Royal Charlotte in April 1825 with his detachment of the 57th with his wife and ten children! It was therefore not surprising that some replacement or top-up troops from the 57th embarked on Woodman along with the first detachment of the 39th arriving in NSW in mid-1826, The list (left) records the name of the 39th troops with those who would later serve at KGS highlighted. Thus far two have been profiled on this website: Captain Joseph Wakefield and Private Robert Forred.

The Surgeons and the Journal

John Rodmell was a Royal Navy Surgeon appointed 24th February 1800. He was Surgeon Superintendent on convict ships Mary arriving in Sydney from Portsmouth in January 1822 and Medina from Cork in December 1823. He wrote comprehensive journals for both voyages. As Rodmell seems to have embarked at Deptford on both these previous voyages, we can assume he boarded Woodman at Deptford in November 1825 on his final voyage. He died at sea, date unknown, and his journal apparently died with him.

Cornelius Kelly was appointed Assistant Surgeon in the Royal Navy in 1812 and Surgeon in 1815. He had been serving on HMS Helicon when he took over the position of Surgeon Superintendent on Woodman in Cape Town on 9th March 1826. He started his Journal on that date which he maintained until 6th May 1826 in Hobart. This was his only convict voyage. His abstract of cases indicates the medical information of only the first half of the voyage. As was common in the era, scurvy was the most significant medical problem.

The Ship’s Demise

Only one source [Farr:173] has been found for the loss of Woodman in 1836 recording no other details. The last Lloyd’s Register listings were in 1835 and 1836 with J Tripp as Master and the ship’s registration place as Bristol; no details of voyages are shown. The fact that she does not appear in Lloyds Register thereafter only indicates that she was not registered, not that she was ‘lost’.

1838 Bark Woodman, Samuel Murphy master, from Belfast for St. John, N.B. in ballast, 63 days out, struck on the east side of Blanche Point, on the night of the 4th January, and became a total loss. Crew saved [Lawson:210]. This paragraph is an unlikely indicator of our Woodman‘s fate, and without further detail cannot be verified.

Trivia

Woodman’s Ensign Innes on the Woodman‘s embarkation records, although never serving in WA, did become Captain Joseph Long Innes of NSW. When a Lieutenant, he married Elizabeth Ann Reibey. They had seven children and Innes died aged 79 in Sydney in 1885. His mother-in-law was Mary Reibey (nee Haydock) Sydney’s famous entrepreneur/ philanthropist and teenage horse thief who now graces Australia’s current (2019) and previous $20 bank note. Her husband Thomas Reibey arrived as a seaman on the Third Fleet convict ship Britannia in October 1791. Mary Reibey was transported on the Royal Admiral which arrived in NSW in 1792.

Sources and Bibliography

Books, Journals & Websites
Australian Medical Pioneers Website.
Crew List Index Project (CLIP) Website
Records of Bristol Ships 1800-1838, ed. Grahame E Farr, Bristol Record Society.
Humber Packet Boats Website.
Lloyds Registers and Supplements of British and Foreign Shipping 1808 to 1838.
Yarmouth [Nova Scotia], Past and Present: A Book of Reminiscences, J Murray Lawson.
Wikipedia and Wikipedia Commons websites.
Wrecksite Website.

Archives
Embarkation and Disembarkation Returns WO-3503-50 & 68, The National Archives, Kew.
Home Office Convict Prison Hulks, Registers and Letter Books 1802-1849, the National Archives, Kew.
Surgeon Superintendent’s Journal ADM101-75-7, The National Archives, Kew.
Musters and Pay Lists WO12-5263-97 to 130, Chatham, The National Archives, Kew.

Newspapers
London Courier 18 Nov 1825 – embarkation on Woodman.
Hobart Town Gazette 6 May 1826 – arrival Woodman, Hobart.
Sydney Gazette 24 May 1826 – arrival Hobart & surgeon’s death.
Sydney Gazette 10 Jun 1826 – arrival Woodman, Sydney.

Illustrations
Britannia, artist Joseph Walter 1783-1856.
Alamy Stock – Ann Ronan Picture Library (for non-commercial use).
Major Lockyer, artist William Macleod 1850-1929.
Twenty Dollar Bank Note, designer Garry Emery.

Diane Oldman 2024