Hausman, Gerald & Loretta. Escape from Botany Bay

Hausman, Gerald & Loretta. Escape from Botany Bay. Orchard Books, 2003 [0-439-40327-8]
It is 1786 and Mary is one of the many poor in England where she is arrested for stealing a hat. For that crime she is sentenced to death but gets her sentence commuted to being shipped to Botany Bay in Australia as an experience to settle the new colony with prisoners. The prison ship lays in the harbor for many month where Mary and her fellow prisoners live in horrid conditions. When they get to Australia conditions are no better so Mary, her husband and several other prisoners steal a small fishing boat and sail many miles across the sea. Where the are eventually captured and sent to England for a new trial. This 220 page book show the horrid conditions the prisoners of that time faced. It is based on a true story. The part of the trip across the water is a great survival story.