Sentenced Beyond the Seas is a project that State Records NSW is doing, and digitising and indexing Australia’s early convict records, making colour images of early convict indents available online for the first time.

Starting from the First Fleet in 1788, and including the Second and Third Fleet, the project includes other convict ships that arrived up until the end 1801.

The comprehensive Early Convict Index includes over 12,000 names which appear in the records, including not just those who arrived but those on the lists who were embarked, those who died on route and even those whose names were crossed off the lists. While the greater portion of them were transported to Australia, there are also records of convicts sent to America and Africa.

The index includes: surname, first name, alias, ship page and ship entry, age, tried at, county, tried when, sentence, occupation, ship and remarks. There are links from each entry to the digital images for the ship’s indents and/or the Alphabetical Indents.

The digital images in Sentenced beyond the Seas include archives held by State Records NSW and selected archives held by The National Archives (United Kingdom), the National Library of Australia and the State Library of New South Wales.

This digitisation project is State Reords NSW’s gift to the people of Australia, and has been done to mark the 225th anniversary in 2013 of the arrival of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove on 26 January 1788. Start your search now …

Ships in the First Fleet, arrived 26 January 1788
Alexander
Charlotte
Friendship
Lady Penrhyn
Prince of Wales
Scarborough

Ships in the Second Fleet, arrived 3-28 June 1790
Lady Juliana
Guardian  (disabled en route)
Justinian
Neptune
Surprize
Scarborough

Ships in the Third Fleet, arrived 9 July-16 October 1791
Active
Admiral Barrington
Albemarle
Atlantic
Britannia
HMS Gorgon
Mary Ann
Matilda
Queen (came from Cork, Ireland)
Salamander
William and Ann

Other early convict ships (1792-1801)
1792, Feb 14 – Pitt
1792, Oct 7 – Royal Admiral
1792, Nov 18 – Kitty
1793, Jan 16 – Bellona
1793, Aug 7 – Boddington (or Boddingtons)
1793, Sep 17 – Sugar Cane
1794, Oct 25 – Surprize (2) (or Surprise (2))
1796, Feb 11 – Marquis Cornwallis
1796, Apr 30 – Indispensible
1797, May 27 – Britannia II
1797, Jun 2 – Ganges
1798, May 18 – Barwell
1798, Jul 18 – Britannia III
1798, Oct 27 – Marquis Cornwallis 1799
1799, Apr 26 – Buffalo
1799, Jul 26 – Hillsborough
1800, Feb 16 – Friendship II
1800, Jan 11 – Minerva
1800, Feb 21 – Anne
1800, Apr 15 – Speedy
1800, Oct 13 – Royal Admiral (2)
1801, Dec 14 – Minorca, Nile and Canada

In addition to the Sentenced Beyond the Seas project of convict records the State Records NSW is doing, they also have over 130,000 other convict records indexed and online. These are available to search online for free.  These records include certificates of freedom; bank accounts; deaths; exemptions from Government Labor; pardons; tickets of leave; and, tickets of leave passports. Start searching now …

Further convict links:
More details on the ships in the Sentenced Beyond the Seas project, click here.
For more details on the Sentenced Beyond the Seas project, click here.
For heaps of links relating to Australian convicts, the ships and the records, click here.
A great idea for every descendant of a convict, here is the ‘Australian Aristocracy: My Ancestor was a Convict’ t-shirt, click here.