People Australia

William Mariner (c.1762- ), a labourer, and Thomas Gearing were found guilty on 8 March 1786 at Oxford, Oxfordshire, of being accessories to sacrilege and burglary from the chapel at St Magdalen College. They were also found guilty of stealing seven live geese. Mariner's death sentence was commuted to 7 years transportation (Gearing was sentenced to life). Sent to the Ceres hulk on 12 April 1786 he was dispatched to the Alexander in January 1787 and arrived at Sydney in January 1788 as part of the First Fleet.

Mariner was sentenced to 100 lashes on 17 March 1789 for stealing turnips from Major Robert Ross's farm. In December 1791, Governor Phillip included his name in the list of those who had absconded before the expiration of their sentence.

* information from Mollie Gillen, The Founders of Australia: A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet (1989), p 235