The Convict Ships: 1787-1868
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Good
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
Between 1787 and 1868, over 160,000 convicts were transported across treacherous oceans to the distant shores of Australia, packed into vessels that became floating prisons — and The Convict Ships by Charles Bateson stands as the definitive chronicle of that dark and dramatic chapter in British imperial history. With meticulous scholarly rigour, Bateson catalogues every ship used in the transportation system, detailing the conditions endured by convicts, the mortality rates, the brutality of guards, and the sheer logistical audacity of one of history's most ambitious — and inhumane — penal experiments. A landmark work of maritime and social history, this volume presents an authoritative and exhaustive record that remains unrivalled in its scope, drawing on primary sources, ship logs, and official records to reconstruct the human stories behind the statistics. Bateson's prose is measured and precise, yet the cumulative weight of his evidence leaves the reader with a profound understanding of the suffering that underpinned the founding of modern Australia. For historians, genealogists tracing convict ancestry, and anyone captivated by the intersection of maritime adventure and colonial injustice, this is an indispensable volume — one that asks uncomfortable questions about the price of empire that still resonate today.
Author: Charles Bateson
Format: Paperback
Genre: Maritime history
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Good
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
Between 1787 and 1868, over 160,000 convicts were transported across treacherous oceans to the distant shores of Australia, packed into vessels that became floating prisons — and The Convict Ships by Charles Bateson stands as the definitive chronicle of that dark and dramatic chapter in British imperial history. With meticulous scholarly rigour, Bateson catalogues every ship used in the transportation system, detailing the conditions endured by convicts, the mortality rates, the brutality of guards, and the sheer logistical audacity of one of history's most ambitious — and inhumane — penal experiments. A landmark work of maritime and social history, this volume presents an authoritative and exhaustive record that remains unrivalled in its scope, drawing on primary sources, ship logs, and official records to reconstruct the human stories behind the statistics. Bateson's prose is measured and precise, yet the cumulative weight of his evidence leaves the reader with a profound understanding of the suffering that underpinned the founding of modern Australia. For historians, genealogists tracing convict ancestry, and anyone captivated by the intersection of maritime adventure and colonial injustice, this is an indispensable volume — one that asks uncomfortable questions about the price of empire that still resonate today.