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A Narrative of the Sufferings of T. F. Palmer, and W. Skirving, During a Voyage to New South Wales, 1794, on board the SURPRISE Transport
A Narrative of the Sufferings of T. F. Palmer, and W. Skirving, During a Voyage to New South Wales, 1794, on board the SURPRISE Transport

A Narrative of the Sufferings of T. F. Palmer, and W. Skirving, During a Voyage to New South Wales, 1794, on board the SURPRISE Transport

Author (Scottish, 1747 - 1802)
Date1796
Object number00004424
NameBook
MediumPaper, leather bound boards, gilt
DimensionsOverall: 208 x 131 mm, 0.15 kg
ClassificationsBooks and journals
Credit LineANMM Collection Purchased with USA Bicentennial Gift funds
DescriptionBook titled 'A Narrative of the Sufferings of T. F. Palmer, and W. Skirving, During a Voyage to New South Wales, 1794, on board the SURPRISE Transport by Rev. Thomas Fyshe Palmer Late of Queens College Cambridge'. First edition. Published 1796 Cambridge by Benjamin Flower: for W. H. Lunn, J. Deighton and J. Nicholson; and sold by J. March, Norwich;J. Abel, Northampton; T. Langdon, Leeds; G.G. And J. Robinson, and T. Conder, London.HistoryPalmer and Skirving were among the "Scottish Martyrs" sentenced to transportation having been convicted of sedition. On the voyage, Maurice Margarot, another of the "Martyrs", seems to have had a breakdown and denounced his comrades for plotting a mutiny. The master of the SURPRISE, Captain Campbell, "confined Palmer and Skirving under conditions of extreme hardship, which were the subject of complaints before Lieut-Governor Grose on their arrival at Sydney". Palmer's narrative of their sufferings was taken back to England by Surgeon John White and prepared for publication by Palmer's friend, Jeremiah Joyce. It includes depositions of the ship's surgeon and members of the New South Wales Corps against Campbell.