In O’Hagan’s Death Pact, the final part of the trilogy, we continue the voyage of the little group comprising Matthew and Peter O’Hagan, Sam Jarvis, Cadmus Ogilvy and Eamonn Cormac, who had been sentenced to terms ranging from seven to fourteen years, to Botany Bay in New Holland or Australia. Meeting up in prison, they had banded themselves together for mutual support.
Joining their ship at Gibraltar are two soldiers, deserters from Wellington’s army in the Peninsular War. One is a boyhood friend of Matthew’s Daniel Corcoran and the other is an unscrupulous officer Lt. Beaulieu-Wintour, who goes under the alias of Lt. Summers.
Summers had been instantly attracted to young Peter O’Hagan and had begun grooming him, pretending to be sympathetic to his plight. He is bound for the penal colony of Norfolk Island as part of the relief company for the garrison. Norfolk Island became known as “Hell on Earth”. It was the ultimate destination for any criminal who was too hardened in crime to be controlled, even by the severe forms of punishment prevalent in the 18th Century. Summers’ aim is to get Peter diverted to Norfolk Island to keep him within his clutches.
In “O’Hagan’s Death Pact” we learn of the hazards and horrors of their perilous voyage to the Antipodes. A despairing escape attempt in Capetown is foiled and finally, devoid of all hope, except perhaps the assistance of Sergeant Daniel Corcoran, they reach Norfolk Island where they quickly learn the stark truth behind its notoriety.
Numerous escape attempts in the past have all ended in disaster. Death seems the only way out, yet suicide is regarded to be the one unforgivable sin.
Matthew O’Hagan, desperate to free his son from the horrors they are undergoing, devises a plan which could free all but one of the group and send them to the relative safety of the mainland. It is called the death pact.
Joining their ship at Gibraltar are two soldiers, deserters from Wellington’s army in the Peninsular War. One is a boyhood friend of Matthew’s Daniel Corcoran and the other is an unscrupulous officer Lt. Beaulieu-Wintour, who goes under the alias of Lt. Summers.
Summers had been instantly attracted to young Peter O’Hagan and had begun grooming him, pretending to be sympathetic to his plight. He is bound for the penal colony of Norfolk Island as part of the relief company for the garrison. Norfolk Island became known as “Hell on Earth”. It was the ultimate destination for any criminal who was too hardened in crime to be controlled, even by the severe forms of punishment prevalent in the 18th Century. Summers’ aim is to get Peter diverted to Norfolk Island to keep him within his clutches.
In “O’Hagan’s Death Pact” we learn of the hazards and horrors of their perilous voyage to the Antipodes. A despairing escape attempt in Capetown is foiled and finally, devoid of all hope, except perhaps the assistance of Sergeant Daniel Corcoran, they reach Norfolk Island where they quickly learn the stark truth behind its notoriety.
Numerous escape attempts in the past have all ended in disaster. Death seems the only way out, yet suicide is regarded to be the one unforgivable sin.
Matthew O’Hagan, desperate to free his son from the horrors they are undergoing, devises a plan which could free all but one of the group and send them to the relative safety of the mainland. It is called the death pact.
