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He nodded gravely. ‘I am so sorry, Mary. I wish I had the right words to comfort you in your loss.’

The sincerity in his voice made her cry. In the past he had comforted her in so many different ways, for so many different reasons, and to find he was close by again when she needed a friend so badly was almost too much to bear.

‘You were always such a good friend,’ she said through her tears. ‘And here you are again.’

‘I missed you a great deal after you’d gone from Sydney Cove,’ he said. ‘It just wasn’t the same place without you. You can’t imagine the rumpus you caused.’

Mary tried to control herself and wiped away her tears. ‘James, William and the others, are they here too?’ she asked.

‘James Martin, Bill Allen, Nat Lilly and Sam Broome are,’ he said.

The hesitancy in his voice alerted her that something was wrong. ‘And the other three?’ she asked.

He looked away for a moment, as if afraid to admit the truth.

‘They’re dead, aren’t they?’ She slumped back on to her pillow in utter dejection. ‘Was it the fever?’

He nodded. ‘William Moreton and Samuel Bird died soon after leaving Batavia,’ he said, reaching out to touch her arm in sympathy. ‘Jamie Cox jumped overboard in the Straits of Sunda. Maybe he was trying to escape, but it’s more likely he was maddened by the fever.’

Mary looked at Tench in horror. ‘Oh no,’ she croaked out, ‘not Jamie!’

Jamie had become like a member of her family, he’d shared so much with her and Will. On the Dunkirk and then the Charlotte and in Sydney Cove he’d been Will’s shadow. He had always seemed more of a boy than a man, even when he shared a hut with Sarah. He had a sweet innocence about him that set him apart from the other male prisoners. It was horrible to think of him ending his life in such a way.

‘The other four are in poor shape,’ Tench went on, ‘but I believe they will soon recover. James told me everything about the escape, and that they all owe their lives to you. They send good wishes to you and Charlotte. They hope once we sail they’ll be able to see you both.’

Mary turned her head towards Charlotte who lay asleep in the crook of her arm. ‘I don’t think she’ll live to see them, let alone England,’ she whispered.

Tench didn’t reply, and when she turned her face to look at him, she saw tears in his eyes.

‘Fate has treated you extraordinarily harshly,’ he said in a low voice, ‘and you have been so very brave. A line should be drawn now. You have suffered enough.’

‘Did I hear right?’ she asked. ‘Did that sailor call you Captain Tench?’

He touched her face gently. ‘How like you, Mary, to think of someone else at such a bad time for you. Yes, I’m Captain Tench now. I’m just glad my higher rank gets me a few more privileges, like this cabin for you.’

And with that he left suddenly, and Mary hugged Charlotte tighter and cried. Would Tench ask why they escaped? Or would he understand?

She had left New South Wales with eight healthy men and two children. Maybe she hadn’t known some of the men very well then, and some she’d grown to like more than others. Yet they’d become a family, they had pulled together and made it to Kupang. But now there were only four left: cherubic Nat, funny James, stalwart Sam and pugnacious Bill. Half their number gone. And one of the children. Now Charlotte was mortally ill too, and the remainder would be hanged.

She had prided herself on being the mastermind behind the escape. In fact she’d led them all to their deaths.

The Gorgon sailed out of Cape Town on 5 April. Mary had her porthole open, and heard the shouted farewells from the wharf, but she was once again bathing Charlotte with cool water and didn’t even look out. Her only interest was in making her daughter well again.

As the ship got underway, Mary found herself treated with the utmost kindness. Food and water were brought to her, the ship’s surgeon visited her each day, and she was allowed up on deck at any time.

There were many familiar faces aboard other than Tench’s, for they were all people who had been in the penal