THE STORY OF MARY BRYANT
In January 1786, Mary Broad from Fowey, Cornwall, along with her two accomplices, Catherine Fryer and Mary Hayden, held up Agnes Lakeman on a main road into Plymouth.
Mary attacked her before making off with a silk bonnet and valuables.
All three were caught and trialled at Exeter. Mary was initially sentenced to be hanged by the neck until dead; there were 222 crimes punishable by death at the time. But this sentence was re-considered and Mary was finally charged to seven years transportation.
Transportation was a dreadful punishment, forcing criminals to travel overseas to serve on plantations in the new colonies. The cramped conditions were appalling, without adequate food, water or sanitation, the long voyage claimed many lives.
Transportation was virtually a life sentence as no provision was made to bring back those fortunate enough to survive their term. Any one of 400 crimes could earn you a seven, 14 or 21 year sentence.
In May 1787, Mary left England aboard the Charlotte, part of the ‘First Fleet’ that founded a penal colony becoming the first European settlement in Australia. Whilst on board Mary gave birth to a child whom she named after the ship, Charlotte.
Once in Australia, Mary married William Bryant, a convicted Cornish smuggler who was also on the Charlotte, and the two had a son together. William’s fishing background gave him useful skills in New South Wales and he was put in charge of looking after the fishing ships… until he was caught selling fish on the side; a crime earning him 100 lashes.
On March 28th 1791, Mary Bryant and William, along with their children and fellow prisoners, successfully stole a vessel and after a 66 day voyage and a journey of five thousand kilometres, they reached Kupang. It remains one of the most remarkable journeys made in an open boat.
Mary Bryant and her crew claimed to be shipwreck survivors, this story kept them safe until William apparently confessed all. The Bryant’s were sent back to England to stand trial. Unfortunately, Mary was the only member of the Bryant family that survived the journey home.
The ship reached Portsmouth on June 18th 1792. On July 7th, it was declared that Mary should serve the rest of her sentence in Newgate prison. Here she grabbed the attention of famous biographer and lawyer, James Boswell, who made it his mission to get Mary a pardon.
Boswell was eventually successful and on May 2nd 1793, seven years after her sentence, Mary became a free woman. According to Boswell, Mary received news from her family in Fowey, and by October she had arranged to reunite with them.
After an incredible journey, Mary safely returned home to Cornwall.
PIRATE ARTICLES
Captured crew are given the choice to sign the articles or be treated as slaves and killed.
- Every man has equal vote on action and equal share of food and drink.
- All men have equal share of treasure – the captain shall receive two persons share of any treasure.
- No person shall play cards or dice for money.
- Lights and candles put out at 8 o’clock.
- Each person must make sure his cutlass and pistols are ready for use at all times.
- No boy or woman shall be allowed on board when sailing.
- No fighting on board – all quarrels to be settled on shore with sword and cutlass.
- No person shall consider leaving the crew until everyone has shared at least one thousand pounds.
- The ships musicians shall be allowed rest on Sunday.
PIRATE PUNISHMENTS
Disobey the pirate articles and you’ll find yourself punished…
You could have your feet nailed to the deck and be beaten to death, be chopped into pieces and eaten, have your ears cut off or be shot on the spot.
A regular punishment is a beating with a cat o’ nine tails; a nine stranded whip with a knot tied in each end and soaked with the dried blood of past victims. If the whipping doesn’t kill you, infection or blood poisoning might.
The punishment reserved for the most extreme rule breakers was MAROONING. You’d be left on a small strip on land with only a small amount of gunpowder, rum and pistol. If you didn’t die from the lack of shade and intense heat, or starve to death, the pistol would begin to look very tempting.
In 1704, Alexander Selkirk, fed up with disagreements with his captain, asked to be put ashore. He was on his own on the island of Mas a Tierra which is 400 miles off the coast of Chile. Fortunately food and water were plentiful and there he lived for over 4 years until rescued by Woodes Rodger in 1709. Two years later they returned to London and his story was written up by the essayist, Richard Steel and published in 1719. Robinson Crusoe remains as popular today as when it was written.
A brutal naval punishment adopted by pirate crews was KEELHAULING. The keel is the long wooden spar that runs down the centre of the hull for the whole length of the ship, usually covered in shell fish. If you were chosen to be keelhauled, you’d have a rope tied around your feet, be thrown overboard and dragged under the ship. Either you’d have your skin ripped to shreds as you scrape along the keel, or you’d drown and end up as shark food!
TOWAN BLYSTRA
In the 15th century, the Cornish town of Newquay was known as Towan Blystra. Towan is a Cornish word for ‘hill’ or ‘dune’, and Blystra means ‘blown’. Towan Blystra earned it name by being an anchorage fully exposed to winds from the North East.
In 1439 locals applied to the Bishop of Exeter for permission and funds to build a new quay at Towan Blystra. Since permission was granted and the quay was built, the town has since been known as ‘Newquay’.
HUER’S HUT
The bright white, Huer’s Hut sits high on the Newquay cliff top and was home to the ‘Huer’. The Huer would shout ‘Heva, heva’ when he saw shoals of pilchards arrive in the bay, from his high vantage point. He would hold furze bushes in his hands to direct boats with nets so they could locate and surround the fish.
CRANTOCK STOCKS
The last man to undergo punishment in Crantock Stocks, near Newquay, was William Turney of West Pentire in 1817.
William was a smugglers son and a vagabond. He violently robbed a widow woman of Cubert Parish and was placed in Crantock Stocks to receive his humiliating punishment.
Luckily for William he was insufficiently secured and shortly afterwards appeared on the top of the church tower. He had cut the rope from the tenor bell and used this to access the roof. From here he jumped down to the churchyard and bolted! He found a ship that would take him to sea and was never brought to justice or seen in the neighbourhood again.
“I paid my price for finding out,
Nor never grudged the price I paid,
But sat in clink without my boots,
Admiring how the world was made.”