Counterfeit Coins

Background

At Rio de Janeiro, on the outward voyage of the First Fleet, one of the convicts (by the name of Thomas Barrett) manufactured counterfeit Spanish quarter dollars (or English shillings and sixpences) using old buckles, buttons and pewter spoons. He used them to purchase provisions from the bum boats which visited the ships.

The incident is significant for a number of reasons:

• it demonstrated how ingenious some of the convicts could be, in manufacturing these articles whilst under close supervision from the marines;
• it confirms that the convicts were allowed to purchase fresh provisions from the bum boats while they were in foreign ports;
• a marine who tried to pass some of the counterfeit coins was severely punished, whilst there is no record of the convict himself being punished.

Journal Accounts

5 August 1787 (at Rio) – Collins noted:

"Some propensities to the practice of their old vices manifesting themselves among the convicts* soon after their arrival in this port had given them an opportunity, the governor, with the lieutenant-governor, visited the transports, and informed the prisoners, both male and female, that in future any misbehaviour on their part should be attended with severe punishment, while on the other hand propriety of conduct should be particularly distinguished and rewarded with proportionate indulgence."

In a footnote, he added:

"* Counterfeit coin was offered by some of them to a boat which came alongside one of the transports." (David Collins, An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales [1798], Sydney: A.H. & A.W. Reed, 1975, Vol. I, p.lxxiv)

John White dated this on the 5th of August:

"Still calm. This morning a boat came alongside, in which were three Portugueze and six slaves, from whom we purchased some oranges, plantains, and bread. In trafficking with these people, we discovered that one Thomas Barret, a convict, had, with great ingenuity and address, passed some quarter dollars which he, assisted by two others, had coined out of old buckles, buttons belonging to the marines, and pewter spoons, during their passage from Teneriffe. The impression, milling, character, in a word, the whole was so inimitably executed that had their metal been a little better the fraud, I am convinced, would have passed undetected. A strict and careful search was made for the apparatus wherewith this was done, but in vain; not the smallest trace or vestige of any thing of the kind was to be found among them. How they managed this business without discovery, or how they could effect it at all, is a matter of inexpressible surprise to me, as they never were suffered to come near a fire and a centinel was constantly placed over their hatchway, which, one would imagine, rendered it impossible for either fire or fused metal to be conveyed into their apartments. Besides, hardly ten minutes ever elapsed, without an officer of some degree or other going down among them. The adroitness, therefore, with which they must have managed, in order to complete a business that required so complicated a process, gave me a high opinion of their ingenuity, cunning, caution, and address; and I could not help wishing that these qualities had been employed to more laudable purposes.

"The officers of marines, the master of the ship, and myself fully explained to the injured Portugueze what villains they were who had imposed upon them. We were not without apprehensions that they might entertain an unfavourable opinion of Englishmen in general from the conduct of these rascals; we therefore thought it necessary to acquaint them that the perpetrators of the fraud were felons doomed to transportation, by the laws of their country, for having committed similar offences there." (John White, Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales [1790], Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1962, pp.70-71)

Sirius crew member, Jacob Nagle placed this event in Tenerife (although he was writing his account later from NSW). He claimed:

"The convicts got hold of the soldiers’ buttons and transformed them into English shillings and sixpences and passed a great quantity to the bumboats for their traffick and when they discovered it was bad money. They came to the Governor and showed the coin, but he told them they must abide by the loss as they were people already condemned by their country for that trade, therefore they could not receive any satisfaction. (John C. Dann (ed.), The Nagle Journal: A Diary of the Life of Jacob Nagle, Sailor, from the Year 1775 to 1841, New York: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1988, p.87)

29 August 1787 – Lieutenant Ralph Clark:

"wrot all most the Best part of this day to my lovely wife after going on board the Charlott with Capt M: to a court Martial of James Baker a Privat Marine." (Paul G. Fidlon, et al (eds.), The Journals and Letters of Lt. Ralph Clark, 1787-1792, Sydney: Australian Documents Library, 1981, p.42)

31 August 1787 – John White:

"James Baker, a private marine, received two hundred lashes, agreeable to the sentence of a court-martial, for endeavouring to get passed on shore, by means of one of the seamen, a spurious dollar, knowing it to be so; and one he had undoubtedly got from some of the convicts, as it was of a similar base metal to those which they had coined during the passage, and had attempted to put off on our first arrival at this point." (White, p.76)

Newspaper Accounts

General Evening Post, 16-19 February 1788

"The following singular circumstance, it is said, may be depended upon as a fact:

"Before the convicts sailed for Botany-bay, every individual was very strictly searched; notwithstanding which it was found on their touching at the last place they had contrived to make some dollars, not easily distinguishable from the true one; - a plain proof that some gentlemen will make money any where."

Leeds Intelligencer, 4 March 1788

"Letters are received from some officers on board the ships bound to Botany Bay, giving the most favourable accounts of their voyage. By this time they are supposed to have passed the Cape. The convicts have in general been very orderly. One man attempted his escape in a boat, at the island of Teneriffe, but was apprehended. Another contrived to coin some pewter dollars, and passed a few of them there among the Portuguese."