Destinations for Britain's transported convicts, c. 1770-1800; West Africa, c. 1780-1822; Introduction; 1 BOUND FOR AMERICA; 2 MR JEFFERSON AND PATRICK MADAN; 3 LONDON IN FLAMES; 4 THE 'BEST SACRIF ICES FOR DEATH'; 5 AFRICA; 6 THE BATTLE FOR THE COAST; 7 DESERTING TO THE ENEMY; 8 A PLANTATION WITH SLAVES; 9 A MUTINY AND A MOST PECULIAR MURDER; 10 TROUBLE AT GORÉE ISLAND; 11 'NAKED AND DISEASED ON THE SANDY SHORE'; 12 TRYING AMERICA AGAIN; 13 THE ONCE MIGHTY ARE FALLEN; 14 LEMANE ISLAND; 15 THE END OF THE AFRICAN DISASTER; Afterword; Acknowledgements; List of Abbreviations; Notes
Summary
Since Robert Hughes' The Fatal Shore, the fate of British convicts has burned brightly in the popular imagination. Incredibly, their larger story is even more dramatic--the saga of forgotten men and women scattered to the farthest corners of the British empire, driven by the winds of the American Revolution and the currents of the African slave trade. In A Merciless Place, Emma Christopher brilliantly captures this previously unknown story of poverty, punishment, and transportation. The story begins with the American War of Independence, until which many British convicts were shipped across th
