Josephus Henry Barsden was born on the convict ship, The Speedy on its passage to New South Wales in 1799. His father was a fugitive in France, wanted for smuggling, his mother on a seven-year sentence to New South Wales. His mother died soon after Josephus' birth. Reared in the shadows of Government House by Mrs King, wife of Governor Philip Gidley King, Josephus' autobiography tells of the tumultuous early days in the colony and his later adventures on Pacific voyages.