Articles and Facts

Background information

On Sunday 13th May, 1787 eleven small ships carrying about 1,500 people set sail from Portsmouth, England on an epic voyage of over 13,000 miles (20,900 k kilometres) and founded the nation of "Australia".
    On the afternoon of Friday, 18th January 1788, 252 days after leaving Portsmouth, the 70 feet long brig, H.M.S. Supply led the eleven ships of the First Fleet into Botany Bay, Australia. On Friday, 25th January, the H.M.S. Supply made history by being the first ship to sail into Port Jackson where she dropped anchor at Sydney Cove, (now Circular Quay) at 7 p.m.
The following morning at day-break, Commander in Chief Arthur Phillip and his party went ashore and raised the Union Flag which marked the first settlement of Europeans in Australia.
The other ten ships arrived in Sydney Cove late that afternoon, after experiencing difficulties in getting out of Botany Bay.
When the First Fleet sailed into the English Channel on the 13th May 1787, it was made up of the following 11 ships:-

Alexander (Barque) – Convict Transport – 452 Tons, 114 ft. (34.75m.) long and 31 ft.(9.5m) beam.
Deptford survey in October 1786 recorded her measurements of 7'3" between decks afore, 6'11" midships and abaft. 
Carried 30 Crew plus 41 Marines. Arrived with 177 male Convicts (14dv).
Skippered by: Master Duncan Sinclair. Owner: William Walton & Co.
Built as a 3 master-square rig, 1 quarter deck ± 114 x 31ft and 2 decks without galleries or figurehead, and was registered at Hull in 1783. 
The largest ship of the fleet, and little is known after her return to England and disappeared from records in 1808.

Borrowdale Store Ship – 272 Tons
75-ft. (22.7m.) long and 22-ft. (6.7m.) beam.
Deptford survey in 1785 recorded her 272k. Height between decks after 5'8", midships 5'9", abaft 6'9" 
Carried 22 crew. 
Skippered by: Master Readthorn Hobson Reed.
Built at Sunderland in 1785.
Very little is known of this ship's history and she disappeared from records after returning to England.

Charlotte Convict Transport – 335 Tons, 105-ft. (32m.) long and 28-ft. (8.5m.) beam.
When surveyed at Deptford Yard on 3 November 1786 measured 6'6' afore, amid and abaft and weighed 345 tons.
Carried 30 Crew plus 42 Marines. Arrived with 84 male Convicts (4dv) and 24 female Convicts.
Skippered by: Master Thomas Gilbert.
Built in 1784, a three-masted fully square rigged with neither galleries or figurehead, whereabouts not known. 
After her return to England she was sold to a Quebec merchant in 1818 and was lost off the coast of Newfoundland in November 1818.

Fishburn Store Ship – 378 Tons, 103 ft. (31.4m) long, 29 ft. (8.8m) beam.
According to her 1786 Deptford survey, was 6'1' between decks afore, 5'9' midships and 7'1' abaft. 
Carried 22 crew.
Skippered by: Master Robert Brown. Owner: Leighton Co.
Built at Whitby in 1780. 
Like the other store ships, after her epic voyage, she returned to England and disappeared from records.

Friendship Convict Transport – 278 Tons, 75 ft. (22.9m.) long, 23 ft. (7.0m.) beam.

Carried 25 Crew plus 40 Marines. Arrived with 72 male Convicts (1dv). 
Skippered by: Master Francis Walton.
Little is known about where and when the Friendship was built c.1784. 
During her return voyage to England her crew came down with scurvy, and with insufficient crew to man her she was scuttled and sunk in the Straits of Macassar 28 October 1788.

Golden Grove Store Ship – 331 Tons, 103-ft. (31.4m.) long, 29-ft. (8.8m.) beam.

Carried 22 Crew plus 4 Civilians.
Skippered by: Master William Sharpe, Owner: Leighton Co. 
Built at Whitby in 1780. 
The Golden Grove had the distinction of carrying the Reverend Richard Johnson and his wife to the Colony.
Returned to England to work the London - Jamaica run and disappeared from records after 1804.

Lady Penrhyn Convict Transport – 338 Tons, 103 ft. (31.4m.) long and 27 ft. (8.23m.) beam.

Carried 32 Crew plus 18 Marines. Arrived with 102 female Convicts, 12 Children plus 2 male Convicts.
Skippered by: Master William Cropton Sever
Built at the Thames in 1786. 
Returned to England and put on the London - Jamaica run and was captured in 1811 in the West Indies.

Prince of Wales Convict Transport – 350 Tons, 103 ft. (31.4m.) long, 29 ft. (8.8m.) beam. 

Carried 25 Crew plus 29 Marines. Arrived with 3 male Convicts, 63 female Convicts (dv1) plus 3 Convict's children.  
Skippered by: Master John Mason 
Built at the Thames in 1786.
After her return to England she operated there until 1797 when her registration was transferred to Fort Royal, Martinique, after which little is known.

Scarborough Convict Transport – 430 Tons, 111 ft. (33.8m.) long, 30 ft. (9.1m.) beam. 

Carried 30 Crew plus 50 Marines. Arrived with 201 male Convicts (1dv).
Skippered by: Master John Marshall - Owners: Thomas George & John Hopper
Built at Scarborough in 1782. 
The "Scarborough" sailed back to England and returned to Port Jackson with the Second Fleet in June 1800. 
She was the only ship of the First Fleet to return to Australia apart from the "Sirius" and the "Supply" which sailed to Cape Town and back.
The "Scarborough" was eventually broken up in 1798.

H.M.S Sirius: (Armed Flag Ship) – 540 Tons, 110 ft. (33.5m.), 32 ft. (9.8m.) beam, 20 guns. 
Built with 3 Masts – Mainmast 77'7", Foremast 70'7", Mizenmast 66'8" having 8 main Yards sizes ranging from 56'3" to 26'3", Bowsprit (front pointing boom) 47'10", Flying Jib Boom (rear boom) 35'10".
NOTE: Any picture with any more or less than 8 main sails with cross yards, is not a true representation of the Sirius. 
Arrived with 198 Officers, Crew, Marines and Families. 
Skippered by: Captain John Hunter. 
Built in 1780 as the "Berwick" for the East India trade.
She was badly burnt in a fire and was bought and rebuilt by the Navy in 1786 and renamed "Sirius".
Sirius's hull was well built of teakwood and her bottom was covered in copper. She was painted bright yellow with a broad black band near the waterline. 
After her arrival in Port Jackson she remained as a supply ship and sailed to the Cape of Good Hope in October 1788 to obtain food supplies for the starving colony.
After returning, she was eventually wrecked off Norfolk Island during a gale on 14 April 1790.

H.M.S. Supply (Armed Tender) – Brig – 170 Tons, 70 ft. (21.3m.) long and 26 ft. (7.92m) beam, 8 Guns.

Arrived with 55 Officers, Crew and Marines plus 2 Convicts. 
Skippered by: Henry Lidgbird Ball.
Little is known about this brig's early history. It appears she was built in America about 1759 and was commissioned by the Admiralty in October 1786. 
The smallest ship of the fleet, but the fastest, she led the fleet during most of the voyage.

Footnotes:
1 
Many books, charts and pictures have shown the Borrowdale as 372 tons when fact she was only 272 tons (a). As such, many pictures have shown her as 3 Masted, when in fact she was about the same length as Friendship. H.M.S. Supply, Friendship have been drawn with 2 main masts.

2 
One of Australia's Great Artist – Mr Frank Allen was a self-taught artist, who was brought up on an island off the Queensland coast and spent most of his younger years at sea where he developed a fascination for old sailing ships. Whilst later working life has been spent as a commercial artist, his spare time has been devoted to the study of Maritime history. 
The project of painting the ships of the First Fleet involved many long hours of research and hundreds of sketches, before pencil medium was transformed to water colour. 
No plans or draughts, apart from H.M.S. Sirius and H.M.S. Supply, these having been bought by the Navy. The other 9 merchant ships had no central body to keep details at that time. 
Throughout 2 years of study history books and sketching details, it was possible to build a fairly accurate picture of shipbuilding of that period. In some instances, as in the case of the "Borrowdale" it was not possible to determine, even though this research, as to whether it had a figurehead, scroll-head or neither. As a consequence, it was painted in stern view, so as not be historically misleading.
With this information at hand it was possible to depict accurately the people on board in correct perspective to the ship's size and makes one realise how unbelievably courageous the forefathers of Australia were.

3 
Scurvy: A vitamin C Deficiency. 
All fresh fruits and vegetables contain vitamin C or ascorbic acid. 
Symptoms: A person with scurvy tends to become very weak and anaemic, to have spongy gums and subject to haemorrhages, especially about the joints and beneath the skin, The joint haemorrhages cause severe pain, and sometimes lead to the diagnosis of rheumatism or arthritis. 
In early times it was the greatest killer of seaman and was not uncommon to take more than half the crew.

4. 

Conclusion:

How many people left England and how many arrived at Botany Bay? 

A total of 732 convicts landed (543 men and 189 women) plus 22 convicts’ children (11 boys, 11 girls).

There were 619 officials/marines/ships crew and their families.  

IN TOTAL 1373.

During the voyage there were 22 births (13 boys, 9 girls) while 69 people either died, were discharged or deserted (61 males, 8 females).

NOTE: There are no surviving crew musters for the six transports and three stores ships. Thus there could have been as many as 110 more seamen. 

So approximately 1530 people left England and 1483 reached Sydney Cove.