1788 by David Hill

It's a desperate story of the first shipment of convicts transported to Australia from mainland Britain. And it's makes a fascinating reading, though the immense details sometimes make difficult to read. Two in every ten dwellers in London were making a living out of thievery, while the government of the time was trying to enforce probably the toughest rule of law imaginable, where one could be hanged if caught stealing even a silk handkerchief. But the real issue was enforcement of these harsh punishments as all internments and ruling carried a cost on the exchequer which pushed the government into banishing the convicts abroad. Australia was chosen because of the loss of Americas after its independence. What makes this story even more remarkable that nothing went according to plans. This includes the very study which this excursion was base upon, the choice of landing site, the choice of governor and the efficacy of the land to provide. Human desire to survive under the most dire conditions is probably the single most important lesson I have learnt from this book.