"The Floating Brothel"

On July 14, 2003, I read the book "The Floating Brothel" by Sian Rees. It is an account of one of the first female convict ships sent to Australia during the latter part of the 18th century. It follows the lives of women and men on the ship. Most of the women had committed what would be considered misdemeanors, but at that time were generally punished severely. In some cases the punishment of transportation to "New South Wales" was a reprieve from death, to others the sentence may have seemed similar to death. The "Lady Julian" was lucky enough to have been commandeered by relatively decent individuals. Later convict ships became known as "coffin ships".

The fact that a number of women prostituted themselves and shacked up with the crew and officers of the ship (and men in ports) is presented to the readers in two ways. They can be viewed as victims or, as women who did assert their will upon their lot in life. From the research it appears that many of them used the fact that they were women to better their conditions on the ships and their new roles in Australia. Victims or opportunists, or a mixture of both? Just as with most of the people on earth, very few are documented in the historical records.