To Brave Every Danger

In 1786, Mary Broad, a Cornish fisherman's daughter turned highway robber was sentenced to hang for the theft of a silk hat and property worth 11 guineas. Her sentence was commuted to transportation to Australia and, after a nine month voyage in which her first child was born, she arrived at Botany Bay, where she married fellow convict William Bryant. Determined to escape William and Mary fled the penal colony in an open boat sailing 3254 miles in 69 days to the Dutch East Indies, only to be recaptured and brought back to London chained to the ship's deck in an open cage. Imprisoned in Newgate, and again threatened with death, her cause was championed by James Boswell, who defended her at the trial, winning her first reprieve, then a full pardon.