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First Fleet

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The First Fleet is the name given to the group of people and ships who sailed from England in May 1787 to establish the first European colony in New South Wales. It was a convict settlement, marking the beginnings of transportation to Australia. The fleet was led by Captain (later Admiral) Arthur Phillip.

People of the First Fleet

The number of people directly associated with the First Fleet will probably never be exactly established, and all accounts of the event vary slightly. Gillen (see References below, p.445) gives the following statistics:

Embarked at Portsmouth

  • Officials and passengers: 15
  • Ships' crews: 323
  • Marines: 247
  • Marines wives and children: 46
  • Convicts (males): 582
  • Convicts (females): 193
  • Convicts' children: 14
  • Total embarked: 1420

Landed at Port Jackson

  • Officials and passengers: 14
  • Ships' crews: 306
  • Marines: 245
  • Marines wives and children: 54
  • Convicts (males): 543
  • Convicts (females): 189
  • Convicts' children: 22
  • Total landed: 1373

During the voyage there were 22 births (13 males, 9 females), while 69 people either died, were discharged, or deserted (61 males and 8 females). As no complete crew musters have survived for the six transports and three storeships, there may have been as many as 110 more seamen. See section below for list of notable Fleet members.

Preparation for the voyage

The decision to send convicts to Botany Bay was taken by the British Government on 18 August 1786. Preparations to obtain ships, convicts, guards and provisions began soon after. At the time the five hulks in service held about 1300 men, and selected convicts, including women from county gaols were transferred to the Dunkirk hulk at Plymouth and the New Gaol in Southwark. Optimistically, it was hoped to be able to sail in October, but a series of postponements were made. In mid April 1787 the St James's Chronicle commented that “strange as it may appear, we are credibly informed of the Fact that the Transports for Botany Bay have not as yet sailed".

By October 1786, more than 200 marines had volunteered for Botany Bay duty, and Major Robert Ross was chosen to command them. The man chosen to lead the expedition, command HMS Sirius, and take on the governorship of the colony, was Captain Arthur Phillip, of whom the first lord of the admiralty said “the little I know of would have led me to select him".

The convict ships (two were slaveships requisitioned by the Royal Navy) were fitted out with strong hatch bars between decks, bulkheads to divide convicts from crew, and guns and ammunition. Provisions included food such as flour, pease, rice, butter, salted beef and pork, bread, soup, cheese, water and beer. Coal and wood were provided for fuel. Beads, looking glasses and other gifts for native inhabitants were included. Vast amounts of hardware items were taken - tents (for the settlers to live in until huts had been built), wagons, wheelbarrows, gunpowder, collapsible furniture for the governor, scientific instruments, paper, ropes, crockery, glass panes for the governor's windows, ready-cut wood, cooking equipment (including some complete cast-iron stoves), and a miscellany of weapons. Other items included tools, agricultural implements, seeds, spirits, medical supplies, bandages, surgical instruments, handcuffs, leg irons and chains. A prefabricated house for the governor was constructed and packed flat. 5000 bricks for construction and thousands of nails were loaded. As the party was venturing into unknown territory, it had to carry all its provisions to survive until it could make use of local materials, assuming suitable supplies existed, and could grow its own food and raise livestock.

Convicts were delivered to the transports from the hulks and gaols with no reference to skills, or fitness to contribute to the creation of the new colony. The first arrivals embarked on the transports at Woolwich and Gravesend in early January, and continued throughout the next three months. Gradually the ships made their way to Portsmouth, where the last convicts were loaded on the day the fleet sailed. Eventually the fleet set sails and moved off down the English Channel on 13 May 1787.


Ships of the First Fleet

There were eleven ships in the fleet, namely:

Naval escorts:

Convict transports

Storeships

Notable First Fleet members

Some of the notable First Fleet members were:

Officials

Crew members who remained in the colony

Marines

Convicts

Many other convicts made significant contributions to the early years of the colony, but few are remembered today, except by their descendants.

References

  • Gillen, Mollie, The Founders of Australia: a biographical dictionary of the First Fleet, Sydney, Library of Australian History, 1989.
  • Bateson, Charles, The Convict Ships, 1787-1868, Sydney, 1974.
  • Hughes, Robert, The Fatal Shore, London, Pan, 1988

External links

Fiction

Synopsis An Australian penal colony in 1789. A young lieutenant directs rehearsals of the Restoration comedy, "The Recruiting Officer". With a cast of convicts, opposition from sadistic officers and a leading lady who is due to be hanged, Australia's first theatrical production is in trouble from the start.

See also

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