06.20.08
Never to Return and the Bounty
Since Isle of Man is such a tiny island in the middle of the sea, it’s no wonder that they have a long history of sailing and fishing. As a result, one of the Story of Mann sites is the Nautical Museum. I’ll share some pics and more info from there later, but I mention it now because it was from there that I learned of a book called, Never to Return by Hampton Creer. Our tour guide was discussing how Isle of Man was used at one point for lots of smuggling of which also intersected with the slave trade. The mention of slave trade made me ask whether the Manx were involved with the slave trade (I hoped not!) The answer I got wasn’t a definite “no,” so our guide continued to explain, and I was informed of Creer’s book, Never to Return. The slaves involved, it turned out, were not black African slaves, but white Manx slaves.
Creer currently lives on his farm, Ballabunt, on the Isle of Man. His family has lived there for generations, and it was from his interest in learning more about his family lineage that he stumbled across some information of Manx prisoners who were transported to other lands to either serve their time at other prisons or as slaves. Creer had found that one of his earlier relatives had been sentenced to transportation to Jamaica on the Speedwell, one of the first ships built specifically for the slave trade. It was Creer’s relative, Christian Hampton, who was sentenced for transportation in 1697. Her crime? sheep stealing. That revelation was the beginning of what would later become Creer’s book, Never to Return, which documents crimes committed on the IoM during the 1600s to the mid 1800s for which the sentence was either death or transportation to foreign lands. Fortunately, there were relatively few death sentences actually carried out. Instead more cases were commuted to transportation to places like Australia or Van Dieman’s Land (Tasmania). I should mention, too, that there were much fewer Manx transportations in comparison to the black African slave trade. However, there were a significant number, nonetheless, and part of their history.
I found Never to Return an interesting book. It’s easy reading, but yet enlightening about how different things were in those days and how some things came to be today. Among the many differences is how much more strict crime was handled back then. Children as young as 10 were sentenced to transportation for what would be considered today as petty crimes. Certainly there were some serious crimes such as murder worthy of severe punishment, but even the more minor crimes such as stealing ribbon or some food were met with severe punishments by which a prisoner would be sent away from his homeland with no means of being able to ever return home to his family. Suspicion was often enough evidence for a guilty verdict. It was from one of the shipwreck disasters of the convict ship, the Amphitrite, in 1833 in which 130 female convicts, crew, and their children were lost that a new maritime safety requirement came into effect. Amongst those being transported and lost was a female Manx prisoner, Ann Thompson. Her death as well as the others later induced Sir William Hillary of Douglas, Isle of Man to insist on mandatory lifeboat services for all ports. That practice has persisted to this day.
Another tidbit linked to Manx history that I didn’t know about although, I read the book about 20 years ago. . ., is the famous story of the Mutiny on the Bounty. Like many people, I found it quite captivating. However, I had no recollection of Manx men on the Bounty probably because I didn’t know what they were. I had just thought they were all British in that story (which technically they were, but now the differences make a bit more sense to me). Turns out, there were three Manx men aboard the Bounty–Edward Young from Peel, Peter Heywood from Douglas, and Fletcher Christian, the famous leader of the mutiny. Captain Bligh had married a woman from Isle of Man, so also lived on the isle. From reading Hampton Creer’s book, I became curious to know more about the Speedwell. So I hunted my library catalog for anything on it, and came up with not only a book on the Speedwell, but also the The Bounty, the True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty by Caroline Alexander. Oh, my. . . the “true” story? Well, I had to check that one out, and I’m already half way through the book. Very good! Alexander’s Bounty not only relays the story, but also includes pictures and quotes from Bligh’s and other crew members’ journals and letters. Her book on the Bounty is much more detailed that the book I read years ago, which pretty much read like a story book. Alexander’s account is more historical with a documentary flare to it. I’ve always enjoyed reading exploration books anyway and especially enjoy the little details they give such as how much the crew members earned in their day for those kinds of jobs, how young they started, the conversion of currency, how the nautical day began and ended at noon, with the noon sighting, not at midnight as in civil time, etc. Also enlightening is the character of Captain Bligh. The first book I read years ago gave me the impression that Bligh was a mean and heavy handed Captain, but Alexander’s book shows him to be quite the opposite. References to Captain Cook is also revealing as Bligh’s comments seem to contradict what historically happened when Cook was killed in the Hawaiian Islands.
I’m not yet done with The Bounty, the True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty, but so far it is reading very well, and I’m enjoying it. Funny how something that happened 200 years ago is still so captivating today. I have finished reading Never to Return, which I think is okay if you like reading case after case of various crimes, many being petty crimes. There are other historical points of interests such as the potato famine and a little about the economy of the time discussed in the book as well. I have yet to start reading the Speedwell, and if it reads well, I’ll comment on that later.
That about it for my book reviews today. 
Marlakins
