Experiences of men, women and children on the First Fleet voyage
CAPTAIN ARTHUR PHILLIP
According to Arthur Phillip’s letters and accounts of the voyage, the First Fleet’s eight-month journey to New South Wales was long and challenging. Phillip recorded that convicts were kept under strict supervision, although many were allowed on deck during the day to help maintain their health. Illness and scurvy were concerns, while attempted mutiny and escape also had to be managed.
Despite the difficult conditions, Phillip reported relatively few deaths during the voyage. His letters reveal his continuing concern for the health and welfare of those aboard as he led the First Fleet to establish the new British colony in New South Wales.​
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JOHN WHITE ESQ - CHIEF SURGEON
As Chief Surgeon of the First Fleet, John White experienced the voyage largely through the health and welfare of the people aboard. His journal records the illnesses, injuries and dangers faced by convicts, marines and sailors during the eight-month journey to New South Wales.
White worked to keep the crowded ships clean and healthy, treating outbreaks of illness, scurvy and dysentery and recommending measures to reduce dampness and disease. He also recorded dramatic events including a planned mutiny, an attempted escape, men falling overboard, the birth of a baby at sea and the unusual sights encountered during the voyage.
White’s journal provides a valuable first-hand account of everyday life, health and survival aboard the First Fleet.​
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ARTHUR BOWES-SMYTH - SURGEON
As surgeon aboard the Lady Penrhyn, Arthur Bowes Smyth experienced the First Fleet voyage while caring for its women convicts. His journal records births, illness, injuries and deaths at sea, as well as his daily routine of visiting patients and preparing medicines.
Bowes Smyth also recorded the everyday experiences of the voyage — discipline and punishment, encounters with whales and other sea life, visits to foreign ports, Christmas thousands of kilometres from home, and finally the excitement of sighting New Holland after the long journey.
His journal provides a valuable first-hand account of daily life aboard a First Fleet convict transport, particularly the experiences and health of the women aboard the Lady Penrhyn.​
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WATKIN TENCH - MARINE OFFICER
As a marine officer aboard the First Fleet, Watkin Tench observed the voyage from the perspective of someone responsible for guarding the convicts. His account records the emotions of departure, noting both the sadness of leaving England and the surprising cheerfulness of many convicts as the journey began.
Tench described the discipline and treatment of the convicts, including their initial confinement in irons and the later removal of fetters for good behaviour. He also recorded the heat, heavy rain and fears of sickness during the voyage, while noting that the fleet remained remarkably healthy despite the difficult conditions.
After 36 weeks at sea, Tench recorded the fleet's arrival at Botany Bay in January 1788 with a sense of relief and achievement. Only 24 of the 775 convicts and one of the 212 marines had died during the journey.
Tench’s narrative provides a valuable first-hand account of convict life, discipline, health and the emotions experienced by those making the long voyage to SW.​
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LIEUTENANT RALPH CLARK, ROYAL MARINES
Ralph Clark travelled aboard the Friendship as a lieutenant of marines. His journal gives a picture of everyday life during the First Fleet voyage, recording everything from seasickness, rough weather and shortages of fresh food to quarrels, discipline and relationships between sailors, marines and convicts.
Clark was frequently involved in supervising the convicts. He recorded prisoners being released from irons and punishments when rules were broken. His account is valuable for its detailed observations of the convict women aboard Friendship, although his descriptions often reveal the strong prejudices and attitudes of an eighteenth-century military officer.
The journal also captures the ordinary realities of such a long voyage. Clark worried about dwindling supplies, welcomed fresh fish and food obtained during stops, had convict women sew and wash his clothes, complained about bugs and sleepless nights, and recorded illness and the death and burial at sea of a convict child.
Alongside these hardships, Clark recorded excursions ashore, meals with other officers and his efforts to collect or make things for his wife, Betsy.​
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DAVID BLACKBURN, MASTER NAVIGATOR
As Master (Navigator) of HMS Supply, David Blackburn experienced the First Fleet voyage as one of the officers responsible for navigating the expedition to New South Wales. His letters to his sister Margaret provide a particularly personal account of the journey, including his preparations for departure, concerns about the voyage and regular reports about life at sea.
Blackburn recorded the generally good health of the fleet and the treatment of the convicts. He praised Governor Arthur Phillip’s humanity, noting that most convicts were allowed out of irons and onto the decks during the day and received fresh food, fruit and vegetables when available.
His letters also describe the fleet’s stops for supplies and the livestock taken aboard at the Cape of Good Hope — so much that Blackburn joked that Supply resembled “Noah’s Ark.” He then sailed ahead of the main fleet with Phillip, reaching Van Diemen’s Land in January 1788 before arriving at Botany Bay on 19 January.
Blackburn’s letters provide a valuable first-hand account of navigation, conditions aboard the First Fleet, the treatment of convicts and the extraordinary journey to New South Wales.​
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CONVICT EXPERIENCES
Very few accounts of the First Fleet voyage survive in the words of the convicts themselves. Many convicts could not write, their writings were not preserved, and they were not permitted to keep journals during the voyage. Much of what we know about their experiences therefore comes from officers, surgeons and marines.
One important exception is James Martin, a convict transported aboard the Charlotte. In his Memorandoms, Martin briefly recorded his journey from imprisonment in England to transportation, the fleet's stops at Tenerife, Rio de Janeiro and the Cape of Good Hope, and finally the arrival at Port Jackson, where the convicts were sent ashore and “began to work.” Most of his surviving account, however, concerns events after arrival and his remarkable escape from the colony with other convicts in 1791.
A later convict voice comes from Mary Broad (née Talbot), who was not part of the First Fleet but was transported in 1791. In a letter written during her voyage, she described terrifying storms, seasickness and the cries of women and children crowded between decks. Her account provides a rare female convict perspective on the dangers and emotional hardship of transportation.
Together, these accounts are particularly valuable because they allow us to hear something rarely preserved in the historical record — the experiences of transportation in the words of convicts themselves.​
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CHILDREN'S EXPERIENCES
Drawing on Robert Holden’s Orphans of History: The Forgotten Children of the First Fleet, this account reveals that children were an often-overlooked part of the First Fleet story. Holden estimates that around 37 children aged 14 or under began the voyage, with births during the journey increasing their number. By the time the Fleet reached New South Wales, there were about 50 children, with an average age of only two and a half years.
They came from very different circumstances. Some were children of marines or officers, while others accompanied convict mothers into exile. Three — Elizabeth Hayward, John Hudson and George Youngson — were themselves convicts. For some mothers, taking their children was a deliberate and determined choice rather than face separation.
Life at sea presented particular dangers for babies and young children. They lived in cramped, dark quarters aboard pitching ships, surrounded by slippery passageways, animals and the everyday hazards of an eighteenth-century voyage. Yet Holden points to their surprisingly high survival rate: there were 19 births during the voyage, six stillbirths, and only three children died at sea.
Their stories also reveal the human cost of transportation. Children experienced separation, uncertainty and hardship alongside their parents, while cases such as the Kable family demonstrate the extraordinary efforts sometimes made to keep families together.
Holden’s research brings these largely forgotten young voyagers back into the First Fleet story, showing that the Fleet was not simply carrying convicts, marines and officials — it was also carrying babies, children and families to an unknown new life.​
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