Voyage

The First Fleet voyage took between 250 and 252 days to complete, with 68 of these days spent anchored in ports en route.

While the ships were being repaired and loaded with fresh water and supplies, the officers and marines went onshore to explore the exotic towns and purchase goods for their private use. Some of these men wrote of their experiences; their journals and letters giving us glimpses into this extraordinary voyage.

"Thus, under the blessing of God, was happily completed, in eight months and one week, a voyage which, before it was undertaken, the mind hardly dared venture to contemplate … we had sailed five thousand and twenty-one leagues; had touched at the American and African Continents … without meeting any accident in a fleet of eleven sail, nine of which were merchantmen that had never before sailed in that distant and imperfectly explored ocean …"
David Collins, 1798

The voyage of the First Fleet captured the imagination of the British public. In published accounts it was romanticised as an epic journey, culminating in the foundation of a new British colony. Paintings and sketches by naval artists portrayed the convict convoy as a majestic armada of ships and a potent symbol of British sea power. In reality, the fleet was rather a motley assemblage of chartered vessels, many of which sailed poorly, their holds packed to capacity with seasick convicts and bulging with stock and supplies.

Portsmouth, England 13 May 1787

From January 1787 prisoners from various jails were put on the convict transport ships. A series of delays fitting out the ships, organising supplies and crew meant convicts spent many months confined on board. Disease and the winter months took their toll with 16 male convicts dying on Alexander. Finally, at daybreak on 13 May 1787, Governor Phillip ‘hoisted his flag on board the Sirius’ and gave the signal for the 11 ships to weigh anchor. The fleet was escorted out of the English Channel by HMS Hyaena with the slow-sailing Charlotte having to be towed for part of the way.

Release from fetters 20 May 1787

On the morning of 20 May Governor Phillip gave the order to release the convicts from their ‘fetters’. Captain–Lieutenant Watkin Tench, whose journal was published in 1789, wrote of his happiness in releasing the convicts on board Charlotte:

That same evening HMS Hyaena left the fleet and returned to England, carrying Governor Phillip’s dispatches and numerous letters to friends and family.

Santa Cruz, Tenerife 3 June to 10 June 1787

It was not until the fleet reached Tenerife that Governor Phillip had the opportunity to see all the convicts in his charge. He described them as ‘quiet and contented’, with some ‘compleat villains’ among them.

On the night of 8 June, while the ships were busily being loaded with fresh water, a convict named John Powers made a brief escape from Alexander. First Fleet marine officer Watkin Tench wrote in 1789:

Powers was recaptured the next morning.

Missing Port Praya 21 June 1787

With insufficient quantities of fruit and vegetables obtained at Santa Cruz, Captain Phillip had planned to purchase more supplies at Port Praya on the island of St Jago (Santiago). However, as recorded by Captain John Hunter, the plan had to be abandoned:

Crossing the equator 14 July 1787

Crossing the equator, which marked the change from the northern hemisphere to the southern hemisphere, was celebrated at sea by ‘crossing the line’ ceremonies. This initiation rite required sailors who had never crossed the line to appear before ‘King Neptune’ and undergo physical tests to prove they could endure the hardships of life at sea.

While Surgeon General John White records that the seamen on board Charlotte didn’t show an ‘inclination … to observe the ceremony usually practised’ when crossing the equator, David Collins, who travelled on HMS Sirius, wrote:

Rio de Janiero, Brazil 6 August to 4 September 1787

At Rio de Janerio a variety of seeds and plants were obtained for the new settlement. These included coffee, cotton, cocoa, banana, orange, lemon, guava, tamarind, prickly pear, Pomme Rose [rose apple] and medicinal plants ipecacuana & jalap.

While in port, attention was given to the health of the convicts, who were supplied with daily rations of rice, fresh beef and vegetables served along with, as David Collins wrote, ‘great numbers oranges’ to ‘put them in a state of health and condition to resist the attacks of scurvy’.

Table Bay, Cape of Good Hope, South Africa 14 October to 12 November 1787

At the Cape of Good Hope Governor Phillip purchased more plants that he hoped would thrive in the new settlement, including fig, quince, apple and pear trees, bamboo, sugar cane, grape vines and strawberry plants. Various livestock as described in 1788 by Surgeon George Worgan was also purchased and loaded on board HMS Sirius and the three storeships (the female convicts on Friendship were transferred to other ships to make way for the sheep):

Phillip sails ahead 25 November 1787

Captain Arthur Phillip divided the fleet and sailed ahead with the four fastest ships – Supply, Alexander, Scarborough and Friendship. Captain John Hunter was put in charge of the remainder of the fleet. Phillip recorded in 1789:

Botany Bay, Australia 18 to 20 January 1788

HMS Supply reached Botany Bay on 18 January. Alexander, Scarborough and Friendship arrived the next day, followed by the rest of the Fleet on 20 January. Under instructions to quickly establish the settlement, Phillip wasted no time in judging Botany Bay an unsuitable location. Within days of the fleet’s arrival he had explored Port Jackson and determined that its deep harbour and supply of fresh water made a ‘fitter place’ for the new settlement.

On 25 January Phillip sailed to Port Jackson in Supply, the rest of the fleet unable to follow until the next day. According to some accounts, disaster was only narrowly avoided, with a number of the ships colliding as they made their way out of Botany Bay. Surgeon Arthur Bowes Smyth on board Lady Penrhyn described the chaotic scene:

By the evening of 26 January 1788 the entire fleet was safely anchored in the harbour of Port Jackson. The small cove chosen for the settlement, named Warrane by the local Aboriginal people, was renamed Sydney Cove by Governor Phillip.