The First Fleet were eleven British ships which transported a group of settlers to mainland Australia, marking the beginning of the British (and European) colonisation of Australia. It consisted of two Royal Navy vessels, three storeships and six convict transports under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip. On 13 May 1787, the ships, with over 1,400 convicts, marines, sailors, colonial officials, and free settlers onboard, left Portsmouth and travelled over and over 250 days before arriving in Botany Bay, New South Wales, on 18 January 1788. Governor Arthur Phillip rejected Botany Bay, choosing instead Port Jackson to the north as the site for the new colony; the Fleet arrived there on 26 January 1788."Convicts: Bound for Australia" State Libraryof New South Wales The Fleet established the Colony of New South Wales as a penal colony; the first British settlement in Australia.
History Lord Sandwich, together with the President of the Royal Society, Sir Joseph Banks, the eminent scientist who had accompanied Lieutenant James Cook on his 1770 voyage, advocated establishment of a British colony in Australia at Botany Bay. Banks accepted an offer of assistance from the American Loyalist James Matra in July 1783. Under Banks's guidance, Matra rapidly produced "A Proposal for Establishing a Settlement in New South Wales" (24 August 1783), with a fully developed set of reasons for a colony composed of American Loyalists, Chinese, and South Sea Islanders (but not convicts). The decision to establish a colony in Australia was made by Thomas Townshend, Lord Sydney, Secretary of State for the British Home Office. This was taken for two reasons: the ending of transportation of criminals to North America following the American Revolution, as well as the need for a base in the Pacific to counter French expansion.
In September 1786, Captain Arthur Phillip was appointed Commodore of the fleet, which came to be known as the First Fleet, which was to transport the convicts and soldiers to establish a colony at Botany Bay. Upon arrival there, Phillip was to assume the powers of Captain General and Governor in Chief of the new colony. A subsidiary colony was to be founded on Norfolk Island, as recommended by Sir John Call and Sir George Young, to take advantage for naval purposes of that island's native flax (harakeke) and timber.‘Memo. of matters to be brought before Cabinet’, State Library of New South Wales, Dixon 12Library Add. MS Q522
The cost to Britain of outfitting and dispatching the Fleet was £84,000 (about £ million or US$ million in ).
Ships
Royal Naval escort On 25 October 1786 the 10-gun , lying in the dock at Deptford, was commissioned, and the command given to Phillip. The armed tender HMAT was under command of Lieutenant Henry Lidgbird Ball, who was also commissioned to join the expedition. Lt. David Blackburn was the ship's Master. On 15 December, Captain John Hunter was assigned as second captain to Sirius to command in the absence of Phillip, whose presence, it was to be supposed, would be requisite at all times wherever the seat of government in that country might be fixed.
+ Naval escorts (departed England 13 May 1787)Mundle 2014, p. 83 Ship Type Master Crew, officials, marines From ArrivedBotany Bay Duration(days) HMS Sirius 10 gun John Hunter 200 Portsmouth 20 January 1788 252 HMAT Supply Armed tender Henry Lidgbird Ball 55 + 2 (convicts transferred on route) Spithead 18 January 1788 250
HMS Sirius Sirius was Phillip's flagship for the fleet. She had been converted from the merchantman Berwick, built in 1780 for Baltic trade. She was a 520-ton, sixth-rate vessel, originally armed with ten guns, four six-pounders and six carronades, Phillip had ten more guns placed aboard.
HMAT Supply Supply was designed in 1759 by shipwright Thomas Slade, as a yard craft for the ferrying of naval supplies. Measuring 170 tons, she had two masts, and was fitted with four small 3-pounder cannons and six -pounder swivel guns. Her armament was substantially increased in 1786 with the addition of four 12-pounder carronades.
Convict transports +Convict transports (departed England 13 May 1787)Ship TypeMasterCrewMarinesArrivedBotany BayDuration(days)Convicts arrived (boarded) Males Females Alexander Barque Duncan Sinclair 30 41 19 January 1788 251 210Two were pardoned 0 Charlotte Transport Thomas Gilbert 30 32 20 January 1788 252 100 24 Friendship Brig Francis Walton 25 42 19 January 1788 251 80 24To Cape of Good Hope only, transferred to Lady Penrhyn Lady Penrhyn Transport William Cropton Server 30 18 20 January 1788 252 0 101 Prince of Wales Barque John Mason 29 45 20 January 1788 252 2 47 Scarborough Transport John Marshall 30 50 19 January 1788 251 208 0
Food and supply transports Ropes, crockery, agricultural equipment and a miscellany of other stores were needed. Items transported included tools, agricultural implements, seeds, spirits, medical supplies, bandages, surgical instruments, handcuffs, leg irons and a prefabricated wooden frame for the colony's first Government House.Correspondence, Daniel Southwell, Midshipman HMS Sirius, 5 May 1788. Cited in Bladen (ed.) 1978, p. 683 The party had to rely on its own provisions to survive until it could make use of local materials, assuming suitable supplies existed, and grow its own food and raise livestock.
+Food and supply transports (depart England 13 May 1787) Ship Type Master Crew Arr. Botany Bay Duration (days) storeship William Sharp 22 20 January 1788 252 storeship Robert Brown 22 20 January 1788 252 Borrowdale storeship Hobson Reed 22 20 January 1788 252
Golden Grove The reverend Richard Johnson, chaplain for the colony, travelled on the Golden Grove with his wife and servants.
Legacy Scale models of all the ships are on display at the Museum of Sydney. The models were built by ship makers Lynne and Laurie Hadley, after researching the original plans, drawings and British archives. The replicas of Supply, Charlotte, Scarborough, Friendship, Prince of Wales, Lady Penrhyn, Borrowdale, Alexander, Sirius, Fishburn and Golden Grove are made from Western Red or Syrian Cedar.
Nine Sydney harbour ferries built in the mid-1980s are named after First Fleet vessels. The unused names are Lady Penrhyn and Prince of Wales.
People
The majority of the people travelling with the fleet were convicts, all having been tried and convicted in Great Britain, almost all of them in England. Many are known to have come to England from other parts of Great Britain and, especially, from Ireland; at least 14 are known to have come from the British colonies in North America; at least 15 are identified as black (born in Britain, Africa, the West Indies, North America, India or a European country or its colony).Santilla Chingaipe. Black Convicts:How slavery shaped Australia. Simon and Schuster (2024). The convicts had committed a variety of crimes, including theft, perjury, fraud, assault, robbery, for which they had variously been sentenced to death, which was then commuted to penal transportation for 7 years, 14 years, or the term of their natural life.
Four companies of marines volunteered for service in the colony, these marines made up the New South Wales Marine Corps, under the command of Major Robert Ross, a detachment on board every convict transport. The families of marines also made the voyage.
A number of people on the First Fleet kept diaries and journals of their experiences, including the surgeons, sailors, officers, soldiers, and ordinary seamen. There are at least eleven known manuscript journals of the First Fleet in existence as well as some letters.
The exact number of people directly associated with the First Fleet will likely never be established, as accounts of the event vary slightly. A total of 1,420 people have been identified as embarking on the First Fleet in 1787, and 1,373 are believed to have landed at Sydney Cove in January 1788. In her biographical dictionary of the First Fleet, Mollie Gillen gives the following statistics:
Embarked at PortsmouthLanded at Sydney CoveOfficials and passengers 15 14Ships' crews 323 306Marines 247 245Marines' wives and children 46 45 + 9 bornConvicts (men) 582 543Convicts (women) 193 189Convicts' children 14 11 + 11 bornTotal 1,420 1,373
While the names of all crew members of Sirius and Supply are known, the six transports and three store ships may have carried as many as 110 more seamen than have been identified – no complete musters have survived for these ships. The total number of persons embarking on the First Fleet would, therefore, be approximately 1,530 with about 1,483 reaching Sydney Cove.
According to the first census of 1788 as reported by Governor Phillip to Lord Sydney, the non-indigenous population of the colony was 1,030 and the colony also consisted of 7 horses, 29 sheep, 74 swine, 6 rabbits, and 7 cattle.
The following statistics were provided by Governor Phillip: MaleFemaleChildrenTotalConvicts & their children 548 188 17 753Others 219 34 24 277Total 767 222 41 1,030
The chief surgeon for the First Fleet, John White, reported a total of 48 deaths and 28 births during the voyage. The deaths during the voyage included one marine, one marine's wife, one marine's child, 36 male convicts, four female convicts, and five children of convicts. Project Gutenberg.
Notable members of First Fleet Officials Captain Arthur Phillip, R.N, Governor of New South Wales Major Robert Ross, Lieutenant Governor and commander of the marines Captain David Collins, Judge Advocate Augustus Alt, Surveyor John White, Principal Surgeon William Balmain, assistant Surgeon Richard Johnson, chaplain
Soldiers Lieutenant George Johnston Captain Watkin Tench Lieutenant William Dawes Lieutenant Ralph Clark
Sailors Captain John Hunter, commander of HMS Sirius Lieutenant Henry Lidgbird Ball, commander of HMAT Supply Lieutenant William Bradley, 1st lieutenant of HMS Sirius Lieutenant Philip Gidley King, commandant of Norfolk Island Arthur Bowes Smyth, ship's surgeon on Lady Penrhyn Lieutenant John Shortland, Agent for Transports John Shortland, son of above, 2nd mate of HMS Sirius
Convicts Thomas Barrett, first person executed in the colony Mary Bryant, with her husband, children and six other convicts escaped the colony and eventually returned to England John Caesar, bushranger Matthew Everingham, farmer, explorer and district constable Henry Kable, businessman James Martin, was part of the escape with Mary Bryant, wrote an autobiography James Ruse, farmer, one of the only ones in the colony at its establishment Robert Sidaway, baker, opened the first theatre in Sydney James Squire, brewer Frances Williams, first Welsh woman to settle in Australia
Voyage
Preparing the fleet In September 1786 Captain Arthur Phillip was chosen to lead the expedition to establish a colony in New South Wales. On 15 December, Captain John Hunter, was appointed Phillip's second. By now had been nominated as flagship, with Hunter holding command. The armed tender HMAT under command of Lieutenant Henry Lidgbird Ball had also joined the fleet.
With Phillip in London awaiting Royal Assent for the bill of management of the colony, the loading and provisioning of the transports was carried out by Lieutenant John Shortland, the agent for transports.
On 16 March 1787, the fleet began to assemble at its appointed rendezvous, the Mother Bank, Isle of Wight. His Majesty's frigate Sirius and armed tender Supply, three store-ships, Golden Grove, Fishburn and Borrowdale, for carrying provisions and stores for two years; and lastly, six transports; Scarborough and Lady Penrhyn, from Portsmouth; Friendship and Charlotte, from Plymouth; Prince of Wales, and Alexander, from Woolwich. On 9 May Captain Phillip arrived in Portsmouth, the next day coming aboard the ships and giving orders to prepare the fleet for departure.
Leaving Portsmouth