Andrew Snowden

Story

Andrew was born on 3 November 1771 at Southwark, London and christened on 1 December 1771 at St George the Martyr Church at Southwark. His father was a soldier who was also named Andrew, his mother’s name was Dorothy.

On 24 August 1790 Andrew was committed (sent to gaol) by William Winch Esq. a Justice of the Peace on suspicion of burglary. On 23 March 1791 Andrew was tried at the Lent Assizes at Kingston-on-Thames in Surrey. The formal charge on the Indictment was that “Andrew Snowden, late of the Parish of St George, within the Borough of Southwark in the County of Surrey, Labourer” had used force to break into the house of William Dawson at about 2am during the night of 17-18 August 1790 and had taken away “three silver tablespoons of the value of 2 pounds, four silver teaspoons of the value of 6 shillings, four pairs of Nankeen Breeches of the value of 30 shillings and four pairs of Worsted stockings of the value of 6 shillings” the property of William Dawson.

The Jury found Andrew guilty of stealing to the value of 39 shillings and not guilty of breaking and entering the dwelling house. This was lucky. If he had been found guilty of stealing 40 shillings or more he would have faced a mandatory death sentence. He was sentenced to be transported beyond the seas for the term of seven years.

Andrew was transported to New South Wales on the convict ship “Pitt” which sailed from Yarmouth on 17 July 1791, part of the so called fourth fleet which reached Port Jackson during 1792.

The journey on the “Pitt” was an absolute nightmare for all those on board. The ship was extremely overcrowded with prisoners, and overloaded with goods. Originally the ship embarked 443 male and female convicts. An anonymous complaint stated that the ship was very overcrowded and there was an inquiry. The inquiry stated that 8 men were accommodated in a space 6 feet wide by 6 feet long by 6 feet high, that every space of 18 inches would be occupied in the hold and that if anyone got sick there was no way of avoiding touching healthy prisoners. The women were accommodated in three separate places before the Great Cabin. Two measured 6 ft. 7 in. in length by 7ft 10 in. in width and were intended to accommodate 10 women, the other measured 13 ft. 7 in. by 8ft. 4 in. and was intended for 27 women. The ship was so full that the officers had to store their baggage in the Great Cabin where they barely had room to hang their cots. As a result of the inquiry many sick or diseased male prisoners were re-landed, so the ship eventually sailed with about 402 prisoners.

Shortly after departure smallpox, which probably had been brought on board by the prisoners, made an appearance. This disease was highly contagious and caused a high fever, raised fluid-filled blisters (pustules) all over the skin (causing scars commonly on the face of most survivors of the disease), lesions in the mouth and throat, nausea and vomiting. Complications included bronchitis, pneumonia, blindness, limb deformities, arthritis, etc. By the time the ship reached St. Jago, in the Cape Verde Islands, there had been 15 deaths from the disease among the prisoners.

The voyage resumed on 20 August 1791 and, in the Doldrums, experienced calms and incessant rain for a month, during which she made almost no headway. The prisoners developed ulcers on their bodies and legs and showed symptoms of scurvy. Among the seamen and military guards and their families, a malignant fever appeared and caused about 27 deaths in a fortnight. There were so few crew left, that when the ship left the calms behind, some of the convicts had to be recruited to help navigate her.

By the time the “Pitt” reached Rio, in mid October, 13 soldiers, 5 soldier’s wives, 11 seamen, and 7 soldiers’ and convicts’ children had died. However no convicts died between St. Jago and Rio. At Rio the sick were sent to hospital and the convicts landed on an island. Fresh provisions improved the health of everyone.

The “Pitt” resumed the journey on 1 November 1791 and made a quick passage to the Cape of Good Hope. When the voyage was resumed sickness again broke out.

The ship reached Port Jackson on 14 February 1792. In total 20 male prisoners and 9 female prisoners had died on the voyage and 120 men were landed sick, many of whom died in the weeks following their landing.

After Andrew had overcome any sickness he had on arrival, he would have faced a very strange place. In 1792 Sydney was only 4 years old and consisted mainly of convicts and guards. There were only a few thousand British people in the whole continent. The seasons were opposite what he knew.

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