Inside The 18th Century Brothel Ship
Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society
History Hit
4.8 • 2.1K Ratings
🗓️ 30 September 2025
⏱️ 39 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Why did a British ship carry over 200 women to Australia in the late 18th century? In this episode, we are going inside the Lady Juliana, a convict transportation ship.
What crimes were these women being punished for? What was life like on the ship? And why was it called a 'floating brothel'?
Our guest, Siân Rees, is the author of ‘The Floating Brothel: The extraordinary true story of an 18th-century ship and its cargo of female convicts’.
This episode was edited by Tom Delargy and produced by Sophie Gee. The senior producer was Charlotte Long.
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Betwixt the Sheets: History of Sex, Scandal & Society is a History Hit podcast.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Thanks for listening to Betwix the Sheets. To get all History Hit podcasts, add free, early access and bonus episodes, head over to historyhit.com forward slash subscribe. |
| 0:11.4 | Or you can sign up on Apple Podcasts with just one click. Hello, my lovely betwixters. It's me, Kate Lister, you are listening to Betwicks the Sheets. |
| 0:20.6 | Welcome back. |
| 0:39.1 | Gather round. We have an episode for you. But before we can go any further, I have to tell you, this is an adult podcast spoken by adults to other adults about adulty things and an adult you wake up and range of all subjects and you should be an adult too. We have to tell you that because if you keep listening and start clutching your pearls, well, I mean, fair do's. We did let you know it would be naughty, didn't we? |
| 0:40.0 | Yeah, we did. |
| 0:41.0 | So that one's on you. |
| 0:41.8 | Right, on with the show. |
| 0:51.6 | You are joining me on board a ship in 1789. And this is a pleasure cruise from Britain to Australia, although I have to be honest, |
| 0:56.7 | it's not quite what was promised to us in the brochure, no. |
| 1:00.2 | I mean, the bed situation is frankly appalling. |
| 1:03.0 | We're all sleeping on planks of wood. |
| 1:05.7 | Four of us are more to one. |
| 1:07.7 | Then there's the manacles that they've got us in. |
| 1:09.9 | I mean, no one at the travel agents |
| 1:11.3 | mentioned anything about that. I'm not sure I'm on the right ship. In order to ensure better |
| 1:16.2 | sleeping arrangements, some of my fellow female travellers are actually bunking up with male |
| 1:20.7 | members of the crew. Yes, I am aboard the Lady Julian, an all-female convict ship that was |
| 1:27.3 | sent out to the colonies to help repopulated. |
| 1:31.8 | Oh dear. |
| 1:33.6 | And the legacy that they would go on to have is truly fascinating. |
| 1:37.8 | And it's thanks to one remarkable historian that we know all about it. |
| 1:41.7 | So, join me on board the Lady Julian, and let's find out more. |
... |
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