The majority of the Africans on the First Fleet came to Britain via the American colonies. John Moseley came from Virginia before defecting to the British forces in the American Revolution. He worked in New York until 1783 when he was recorded as leaving New York as a seaman on a British ship (Pybus, 2006). He was arrested in Portsmouth in 1784 for impersonating another seaman who had been kidnapped into slavery, in order to get his wages. ${ }^{1}$ Daniel Gordon, formerly of Charleston, South Carolina, was arrested near Portsmouth in 1786 in possession of stolen clothing. ${ }^{2}$ John Randall, originally from New London, Connecticut, was almost certainly from a disbanded British regiment when he was sentenced for stealing a watch in Manchester in 1785. ${ }^{3}$ George Francisco was sentenced to seven years for stealing in 1784 after spending three years as  
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[^0]:    1 John Moseley, Old Bailey Session Papers, (OBSP) 1783-84, https://www.oldbaileyonline.org.
2 Winchester Quarter Session Records, 5 April 1875, Hampshire Record Office.
3 Manchester Quarter Sessions, 14 April 1875, Lancaster Record Office.  
a prisoner of war in France, having been captured on a British warship. ${ }^{4}$ Samuel Chinery had probably come from America when he was sentenced at Exeter, Devon in 1786 for the theft of a linen shirt. ${ }^{5}$ It is unclear whether John Coffin was from America but he was working as a servant in Exeter in 1784 when he was arrested for stealing. ${ }^{6}$