19 Crimes

Another Christmas day has come and gone with much giving and receiving of gifts. My daughter's partner presented me with this excellent bottle of Oz red wine. Commemorating it as it does the unfortunate convicts who were transported to Australia I have placed it in front of Peterhead, Scotland's very own convict prison. The 19 crimes are those for which you could be transported to Australia. One version of the 19 crimes lists: 1.) All theft above the value of one shilling. 2.) Thefts under the value one shilling. 3.) Receiving stolen goods, jewels and plate. 4.) Stealing lead, iron or copper. 5.) Stealing ore from black lead mines. 6.) Stealing from furnished lodgings. 7.) Setting fire to underwood. 8.) Stealing letters. 9.) Assault with intent to rob. 10.) Stealing fish from a pond or river. 11.) Stealing roots, trees or plants. 12.) Bigamy. 13.) Assaulting, cutting or burning clothes. 14.) Counterfeiting the copper coin. 15.) Clandestine marriage. 16.) Stealing a shroud from a grave. 17.) Watermen carrying too many passengers on the Thames , if any drowned. 18.) Incorrigible rogues who broke out of prison and persons reprieved from capital punishment. 19.) Embeuling naval stores.

Embeuling isn't in the Oxford English Dictionary and so I can only guess that it is an obsolete term for stealing.

The convict portrayed on the bottle was John Boyle O’Reilly who was transported in 1867. O’Reilly was no ordinary convict, he wrote poetry throughout the harrowing journey to Australia and, once there, outwitted prison guards to escape to America.

#afternoon #monday #sky #architecture #tower #europe #december #urban-scene