Storeship

Golden Grove carried the colony’s first chaplain, Reverend Richard Johnson, his wife, Mary, their servant, Samuel Barnes and their two cats, Mr Tom Puss and Miss Puss. Johnson began his ministerial work on board Golden Grove; with permission obtained from the ship’s master, he regularly preached to the ship’s crew on Sundays. Johnson wrote numerous letters to friends in England, in one letter he described the turbulent weather he and his wife experienced on New Year’s Day 1788:

On the 1st of Jany, we met with a severe gale which lasted for about 24 hours … The different elements seemed to be in the greatest tumult, threatening our dissolution every moment. But through mercy we suffered little … and I do assure you we ate our roast Pig and Plumb pudding with great relish, though with no less difficulty, our plates, &c., tumbling down, and we scarcely able to keep upon our seats.

Ship size
Length: 31.4 metres (103 feet); width: 8.8 metres (29 feet);

Weight
336 tonnes (331 tons)

First Fleet Ships

First Fleet Ships

At the time of the First Fleet’s voyage there were some 12,000 British commercial and naval ships plying the world’s oceans

First Fleet Ships

Richard Johnson

Reverend Richard Johnson accompanied the First Fleet to provide moral guidance to the inhabitants of the fledgling colony

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The ships

Photograph of a wooden model depicting a First Fleet ship
First Fleet Ships

Alexander

Length: 34.75 metres (114 feet); width: 9.5 metres (31 feet); weight: 460 tonnes (452 tons)

Photograph of a wooden model depicting a First Fleet ship.
First Fleet Ships

Borrowdale

Length: 22.7 metres (75 feet); width 6.7 metres (22 feet); weight: 276 tonnes (272 tons)

Photograph of a wooden model depicting a First Fleet ship.
First Fleet Ships

Charlotte

Ship size length: 32 metres (105 feet); width: 8.5 metres (28 feet); weight: 343 tonnes (338 tons)

Photograph of a wooden model depicting a First Fleet Ship
First Fleet Ships

Fishburn

Length: 31.4 metres (103 feet); width: 8.8 metres (29 feet wide); weight: 384 tonnes (378 tons)

Photograph of a wooden model depicting a First Fleet ship.
First Fleet Ships

Friendship

Length: 22.9 metres (75 feet); width: 7 metres (23 feet); weight: 282 tonnes (278 tons)

Photograph of a wooden model depicting a First Fleet ship.
First Fleet Ships

HMS Sirius

Length 35.5 metres (110 feet); width: 9.8 metres (32 feet) weight: 549 tonnes (540 tons)

Photograph of a wooden model depicting a First Fleet ship.
First Fleet Ships

HMS Supply

Length: 21.3 metres (70 feet); width: 7.9 metres (26 feet); weight: 173 tonnes (170 tons)

Photograph of a wooden model depicting a First Fleet ship.
First Fleet Ships

Lady Penrhyn

Length: 31.3 metres (103 feet); width: 8.2 metres (27 feet); weight: 337 tonnes (333 tons)

Photograph of a wooden model depicting a First Fleet ship.
First Fleet Ships

Prince of Wales

Length: 31.3 metres (103 feet); width: 8.8 metres (29 feet); weight: 356 tonnes (350 tons)

Photograph of a wooden model depicting a First Fleet ship.
First Fleet Ships

Scarborough

33.9 metres (111 feet, 6 inches); width: 9.1 metres (30 feet, 2 inches); weight: 417.5 tonnes (411 tons)

First Fleet people

Portrait of man in uniform with black hat, standing on beach with ship and small boat in background.
First Fleet Ships

Ambition and adventure: the early life of Arthur Phillip

We looked back at the early life of Phillip, who had enjoyed an extraordinary career before he even set foot on a boat bound for Botany Bay

Colour illustration of group of boys.
First Fleet Ships

John Hudson

Described as ‘sometimes a chimney sweeper’, John Hudson was the youngest known convict to sail with the First Fleet

First Fleet Ships

John ‘Black Caesar’

Convict John ‘Black’ Caesar became Australia’s first bushranger when he fled the settlement in December 1795 and led a gang of fellow escapees in the bush surrounding Port Jackson

Adult convict, cropped from larger painted artwork.
First Fleet Ships

James Ruse

Ex-convict James Ruse became the first person in NSW to receive a land grant when Governor Phillip gave him 30 acres at Parramatta in April 1791