Captain Edward Faulkner had mixed feelings as he stood once more on the deck of HMS Jupiter watching the wretches that would make up his cargo for this voyage to Port Jackson (Sydney). On one hand he was pleased to be once more in charge of this ship while on the other hand he was missing his recently deceased wife Juliette. It was while on his previous voyage that she succumbed to consumption and died shortly before his return. Her sister had taken charge of his two children, Jeremy 5 and Eliza 3 so he had no worries on that account. His shore leave, while the Jupiter was being fitted out for this voyage, was spent with his children.
It was 1789 and his cargo was one of the first shiploads of female convicts for the newly settled penal colony in New South Wales. There were a hundred and twenty of the most disreputable and slatternly women he was yet to clap eyes on, all of them sentenced to a minimum of seven years penal servitude. He knew that the best of them would become household servants for the officers whose job it was to control the hundreds of male convicts that had settled there the previous year. The rest of the women would become whores for the seamen and others and this depressed him. As they straggled up the gangplank his eye caught one who didn't fit in with the others, she was young, no more than eighteen he guessed, and her clothes were not the filthy rags that the others wore.
Several seamen tried to attract her attention with lewd and suggestive comments but she studiously ignored them. One of the women made a comment to the sailors and turned her back on them before bending at the waist and hoisting her skirts over her back revealing her bare arse to them. One of the sailors grabbed her hips and dry fucked her to the cheers of his fellow crewmen. Edward wondered how many of the women would be pregnant before they reached their destination.
Tom Ward, his first mate came up to him. "Loading is complete Sir, and the passengers are all aboard, if we call for a tow to the roads we can make the high tide."
"Very good, signal the Harbour Master and let's get this cargo of flotsam under way. Tom, would you go to that young girl in the blue dress and invite her to await me in my cabin, do it quietly."
"Very well Sir." His look was one of approval at the Captain's choice. He hurried off to carry out his duties. As the Jupiter reached the channel Edward began shouting orders. "Cast off the tow line, all aloft and set all sails, Coxswain head down wind, as soon as we reach the open sea set your course for due south." Canvas flapped until the sheets were hauled in and as the sails filled she seemed to leap forward in anticipation of the freedom of the open sea.
Edward stood and watched as the crew set about their tasks, straining their backs to haul in the sheets and fixing the ropes to the belaying pins. He admired the way that they went about their duties, many of the crew had sailed on her before and knew her well. She wasn't a large ship, a cargo ship converted for naval use that had recently been fitted out by the Admiralty for this voyage, but she had a reputation as a sturdy ship capable of handling the expected rough weather.
When all was in order and the course set Edward entered his cabin to find her looking at his charts. "Do you find them interesting?"
"Yes I do, I am impressed by the detail, whoever drew these must be proud of his work."
"Yes, Captain James Cook is highly respected by the Admiralty for his cartography. I'm Edward Faulkner, I'm the captain of the Jupiter, and you are?"
"Prunella Copley." He voice was soft but refined as if she had some learning.
Edward scanned through the passenger manifest until he found her name. "It says here that you are eighteen years of age and worked as a housemaid and that you were convicted of theft from your employer and sentenced to seven years transportation. Somehow you don't fit that description, while things are hard for all but the wealthy you do not look like a thief. Can you explain to me the circumstances that have led you to this?"
"My father was a church man and worked under patronage at Leppington Hall, the estate of Sir Richard Lennon. I ran a small school that taught the basics to the children of the tenant farmers as well as helped my father with his pastoral duties. I also helped out in the hall when Sir Richard was entertaining his friends from London."
"That much I can believe but it doesn't explain how you come to be on my ship."
"Sir Richard has a daughter, Jacqueline, who is a couple of years older than I and who was to announce her engagement to Giles Thornby at a party arranged for that occasion. While I was serving at the main table I noticed Giles watching me but thought nothing of it because he was newly engaged, but late in the evening he followed me into the kitchen and tried to kiss me. I refused his advances but he pressed on regardless, it was while he had me pinned to the wall and had his hand on my bodice that Jacqueline came in and accused me of trying to seduce her fiancé. I protested my innocence but she would hear none of it, she was very angry. She tried to get her father to dismiss me from service but he would have none of that as a mark of respect for my father so she decided that there was more than one way to skin a cat."
"So she arranged for something to disappear and for the blame to fall on you?"
"Yes, a silver platter went missing from the dining hall and she insisted that my room should be searched and it was found there. Her father was the local Magistrate and he expressed disappointment that I should stoop to stealing from him and sentenced me to transportation for seven years. Now you know my sorry tale."
"I would like to make the journey a little easier for you, I want you to stay in my cabin and to see to it that it is kept ship shape and that my meals are prepared for me. Do you think that you could do that?"
"With ease Sir, but what will the other women think?"
"Do you care what they think? On this ship my word is law. I am in command and am to be obeyed by all."
"Including me. It would appear that I have little option but to bow to your command."
"Was it a command? If you wish to be with the other poor wretches then I will respect your wishes though I would wish it otherwise."
"I would willingly accept your kind offer but for one reason."
"And what might that be?"
"I have as yet not known a man in the Biblical sense and I fear that I might be tempted to forego my vows of chastity if you should press yourself on me."
"You need have no fear on that account although under different circumstances I would not hesitate in my attempt to win your affections. I don't mean that your convict status is an impediment, for I do not see myself as superior in any way to you, in fact in many ways you are my superior."
"You puzzle me Sir, how am I superior to you?"
"You have been raised in a loving environment, of that I am certain, you have had more schooling than I, your manners are without doubt better than mine for I am little more than a rough sailor. I was apprenticed at thirteen and have served on ships these twenty years, I know little other than the ways of the sea. Speaking of which, I must attend to my duties." Edward touched his forelock in taking his leave of Prunella. She watched from the poop deck as he strolled around the decks, stopping to chat to the crew. She noticed the lack of formality in his manner and the way that the crew responded with smiles and laughter.
"All well Tom?" He stood by the First Mate.
"Yes Sir, she's making fair and the weather looks good for now but the glass is falling so I expect some rough weather ahead."
