THE FIRST FLEET

...The prisoners were confined between decks.

Along each side of the ship there was a row

of "bunks" or sleeping places, three deep.

Lanterns hung at intervals in the centre of

the hold. A sentry was posted at each en-

trance, and every hour inspection was made

by a corporal of the guard. A commissioned

officer visited this den every four hours.

A few of those who were sent out in the

first fleet were kept in cages the whole of the

voyage. These were convicts with a specially

bad record, and it is curious to note that

with the exception of one of these men—who

was hanged immediately upon arrival in

Port Jackson—these marked criminals all

turned out well. Which fact is a commentary

of itself of more value than an essay.

The women who were sent out in the first

fleet were carried on a special transport. It

was charcteristic of the coarse spirit of the

times that they, too, were subjected to the

control and rigorous supervision of male

officers, and that no provision had been made

for the appointment of officers of their own

sex. The moral result may be imagined.

The provisions served to the convicts were

of the coarsest kind. Meal, salt beef and

pork, and biscuit, generally well populated

by insects, constituted the fare, for the most

part. Of vegetables there were none. Per-

haps, while the ships lay in Table Bay the

wretched people were treated to fresh meat

and vegetable diet. But at sea "salt horse"

and biscuit were all they got—washed down

by water with which a small supply of rum

was mixed. On Sundays they were served

with beer. It is probable that very few had

ever drunk tea—afterwards to become the

popular Australian beverage. Yet, in spite

of the meagre and unwholesome fare, and

the crowded, and instanitary conditions of

their living place, the prisoners maintained

a fair average of health. The deaths were

not many ; and the hospital was not over-

taxed. A few cases of scurvy, fought with

limejuice, and some of fever were all that

the medical log recorded. Yet the voyage

out occupied 142 days.

Ont board the "Sirius" were the Governor

and his staff. There was little in common

between Phillip and his officers. The former

was a man of studious inclination and tem-

perate habits ; the latter represented the

coarse tastes of army and navy men of those

days, when debauchery in every form was

held to be an attribute of manliness, and de-

cent living the sign of a milksop. Phillip

neither drank nor gambled ; nor was his

morality, practical or theoretical, tainted by

the coarse and even brutal fashions of his

time. What wonder, therefore, that he held

aloof from the amusements and even the con-

versation, of those who travelled with him,

and who, on their part, regarded him with

contempt, if not aversion. It was an

augury of the experiences he was to go

through during his short reign, as first

Governor of New South Wales.

In letters from the Cape to friends in

England Phillip revealed that he anticipated

trouble. In one of these epistles he says :—

"I know not whether some of those who

have been appointed to assist me will not

prove more difficult to deal with than the

wretches who have been committed to my

charge—nay, I know not whether these are

the better : for sure they can scarce be

worse than some of those, who, officers and

gentlemen as they are called, are the greatest

blackguards in speech and conduct. But I

shall do my duty, in any case, without fear

or favor, and so look forward with resigna-

tion, if not hope."

It will be seen from this extract that

Phillip's enthusiasm, so pronounced at the

beginning of the adventure, had waned. In

truth, his sensitive spirit, which had in-

spired him to an ideal it was impossible to

realise, was not proof against the coarse

actualities which now confronted him. He

perceived that any benevolent scheme he

might have contemplated would have to be

abandoned ; and that in his government of

the colony he would have to adopt a policy

which would be in accord with the ideas of

those who were sent to assist him...

(Unsuccessful at Botany Bay) ... he directed that a pinnace should be sent north to explore the coast. This wa done,

the party being under command of a master's mate named Jackson. It was after this person that the harbor on the shores of which Sydney now stands was named.

The boat party speedily returned with a report of an ideal harbor, and a splendid site for the settlement. On the morning of the 24th the fleet weighed anchor and presently sailed into the inlet-casting anchor in the cove at the head of which the Botanic Gardens are now situated...