complete control over them during the voyage. The master of the ship and the owners signed a Charter-party whereby the master was bound to hand over the convicts in safety to the Governor at the end of the voyage and was liable to heavy penalties if he did not. He was also bound by Instructions from the Board to fit up the ship in particular ways for the reception of the convicts, to allow them on deck as much as possible, and to note in his log-books all that happened on the voyage. The log-book was submitted to the Governor's inspection at Sydney, and if he was satisfied that the master had carried out his contract satisfactorily, treating the convicts fairly, serving out their rations regularly and in the right amounts, he gave him a certificate to that effect. If no certificate were given, or if the Governor gave a bad report of the master's behaviour, he might be prosecuted in England or lose part of the payment for his services. If the certificate were in order, however, he received an honorarium from the Treasury. The owner or master of the transport was under the further obligation of providing a surgeon, whose duty it was to care for the health of the prisoners, and to keep a full and particular diary of the voyage. This diary also was submitted to the Governor, who might, if he felt any suspicion of its genuineness, require the surgeon to make an oath on the subject.[1]
The duty of the surgeon was to keep the convicts in good health just as that of the master was to keep them "safe," and the surgeon received a reward if the Governor's certificate was satisfactory.[2] It was, of course, a very difficult thing to decide whether illness on board was or was not the fault of the surgeon. On the General Hewitt there was an outbreak of fever and great mortality,[3] but Macquarie, after an inquiry held in Sydney, did not consider himself justified in withholding the surgeon's certificate. The Home Office, however, refused to recommend him for a gratuity to the Treasury, and the Under-Secretary wrote to Goulburn asking that Macquarie should be more strict in future.[4] In 1815 a change was made and the Government
