Convicts Sent to Virginia

A news article that appeared in the Virginia Gazette on June 24, 1737, describes an aborted revolt by convicts being transported from England to Virginia. The so-called Transports planned to "murder the Vessel's Company, burn the Vessel, and get ashore with the Boat" when the ship approached land. A fellow convict, who was not trusted by the ringleaders, was being kept below deck; nonetheless, he managed to convey a copy of the plan to a "Lad that was on board." The boy showed the plot to his master, and once the scheme was revealed the convicts were prevented "from perpetrating their execrable Design."