Charlotte

Convict transport

On 5 August 1787, while Charlotte was anchored at Rio de Janeiro, it was discovered that a coin counterfeiting ‘business’ had been going on below its decks. Convict Thomas Barrett, assisted by two other convicts, had been ‘with great ingenuity’ manufacturing quarter dollars out of ‘old buckles [and] buttons belonging to the marines, and pewter spoons’, according to Surgeon General John White’s account (published 1790).

White rated their skill highly, and believed that if only the men had better metal to work with, the coins ‘would have passed undetected’. Despite an extensive search, their coining equipment could not be found and White was at a loss to understand how they managed to work undiscovered, since ‘a centinel was constantly placed over their hatchway’ and ‘hardly ten minutes ever elapsed, without an officer of some degree … going down among them’.

The Charlotte medal

This silver medal is believed to have been made by convict Thomas Barrett at the request of Surgeon General John White. Familiar with Barrett’s skill in forging coins, White likely supplied the metal (a silver kidney dish) and the details of the voyage that are engraved on the reverse of the medal. It is thought that Barrett made the medal during the six days Charlotte was anchored at Botany Bay.

Thomas Barrett did not last long in the colony. On 27 February 1788, barely a month after the settlement was established, he was tried for stealing food from the government stores and hanged the same day. John White recorded in his journal that

Barrett was launched into eternity, after having confessed to Rev. Mr Johnson, who attended him.