Convicts and empire: A naval question, 1776-1811

Business & Money

Frost, Alan

Economics

Oxford University Press

The first dozen years of European settlement of Australia are fixed in our minds by powerful images raised from an incomplete historical record. Alan Frost, after collecting a greatly expanded range of documents from archives around the world, sets the record straight. The images he challenges are immediately familiar and include overcrowded and unhealthy English prison hulks, hasty decisions based on overly optimistic assessment of the land's fertility, a poorly equipped and managed First Fleet, subsequent neglect by Britain, callous treatment of Aborigines, and the opportunistic and aberrant use of the notion of terra nullius.

Botany Bay Mirages: Illusions of Australia's Convict Beginnings

History

Australia & Oceania

Melbourne University Publishing

In August 1768, James Mario Matra, the 22-year-old son of an American loyalist, sailed with Captain Cook to unknown parts of the world. The voyage, fraught with danger and uncertainty, marked the beginning of what was to be, in many ways, a precarious life. On the Endeavour's return in 1771, Matra anonymously published the first major account of Cook's voyage. He never saw New Holland again, but his significant role in the history of the settlement of Australia was not yet ended. When the American War of Independence deprived Matra of his family inheritance, the Endeavour's celebrated naturalist, Sir Joseph Banks, helped get Matra employment as an official in various foreign outposts. In this capacity he turned his mind to ways of promoting Britain's global commercial network. Having personally felt the loss of one British colony, he conceived a plan to found another. In 1783 he proposed a British settlement in new South Wales to "atone for the loss of our American colonies." The settlement would give asylum to dispossessed American loyalists and would be built on the labor of young convicts. Matra offered to be its "Conductor and Governor." The Pitt administration concurred with Matra's proposal but declined to offer him the government of the intended colony. Instead he was given the post of Consul at Tangier, where he remained until his death in 1806. This book blends Matra's extensive and colorful correspondence with a biographical narrative to reveal for the first time the life and influence of this mysterious figure.

The Precarious Life of James Mario Matra: Voyager with Cook, American Loyalist, Servant of Empire (Miegunyah Press Series, 2nd Ser., No. 6)

Biographies & Memoirs

Professionals & Academics

Melbourne University Press

"This study of British maritime and imperial expansion in the Indian and Pacific Oceans in the second half of the 18th century offers new perspectives on Pacific colonization, imperial planning, and the establishment of modern Australia. Discussed is the political origin of this colonization effort, begun when British politicians saw the opportunity to create a trans-Pacific trading empire and struggled to create the infrastructure necessary to support far-flung maritime activity. Historical research delves in-depth into the policy and implementation of colonization and the evolution of the contemporary idea that Pacific Rim countries will be an important economic area in the 21st century."

The Global Reach of Empire: Britain's Maritime Expansion in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, 1764-1814 (Miegunyah Press Second Series)

In 1787 a convoy of eleven ships, carrying about 1500 people, set out from England for Botany Bay. According to the conventional account, it was a shambolic affair: under - prepared, poorly equipped and ill - disciplined. Robert Hughes condemned the organisers' ''muddle and lack of foresight'', while Manning Clark described scenes of ''indescribable misery and confusion''. In The First Fleet: The Real Story, Alan Frost draws on previously forgotten records to debunk these persistent myths. He shows that the voyage was in fact meticulously planned - reflecting its importance to the British government's secret ambitions for imperial expansion. He examines the ships and supplies, passengers and behind - the - scenes discussions. In the process, he reveals the hopes and schemes of those who planned the voyage, and the experiences of those who made it.

The First Fleet: The Real Story

ReadHowYouWant

In 1789, as the Bounty was sailing through the western Pacific Ocean on its return voyage with a cargo of Tahitian plants, disgruntled crewmen seized control of the ship from their captain. The mutineers set their captain and the 18 men who remained loyal to him adrift in one of the ship’s boats, with minimal food supplied and navigational aids, and only four cutlasses for weapons.For the past 225 years, the story of the Bounty's voyage has captured the public's imagination. Two compelling characters emerge at the forefront of the mutiny: Lieutenant William Bligh, and his deputy – and ringleader of the mutiny – Acting Lieutenant Fletcher Christian. One is a villain and the other a hero – who plays each role depends on how you view the story. With multiple narratives and incomplete information, some paint Bligh as tyrannical and abusive, and Christian as his deputy who broke under extreme emotional pressure. Others view Bligh as a victim and a hero, and Christian self-indulgent and underhanded. Alan Frost looks past these common narrative structures to shed new light on what truly happened during the infamous expedition. Reviewing previous accounts and explanations of the voyage and subsequent mutiny, and placing it within a broader historical context, Frost investigates the mayhem, mutiny and mythology of the Bounty.

Mutiny, Mayhem, Mythology: Bounty's Enigmatic Voyage

World

Sydney University Press

Botany Bay and the First Fleet

Black Inc.

In this book you will discover what it meant to sail with Captain Cook, why the Endeavour  sought out the mysterious Great South Land and what kind of man Cook was.

The Voyage of the Endeavour: Captain Cook and the Discovery of the Pacific

Europe

Allen& Unwin

Captain Cook's voyage into the uncharted South Pacific was one of the greatest scientific adventures of all time, provided the incentive for the settlement of Australia and New Zealand, and coincided with the birth of sciences including zoology, ethnology and botany, as well as dramatic advances in navigation and astronomy. It was also part of an ongoing power play between three empires: British, French and Spanish. This text brings all these threads together to explore the adventure and, in some cases, overturn familiar ideas of Lt James Cook RN. The tradesman navigator is revealed as a passionate visionary whose impact on those with whom he worked was profound.

Voyage of the Endeavor

A Most Unusual Friday Knight (Shawn From the Shed)

Science Fiction & Fantasy

Science Fiction

Independently published

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Books by Frost, Alan