INTRODUCTORY 3 



appointed to the command of the expedition and the government 

 of the proposed settlement. As the grave responsibilities of the 

 latter position would necessarily withdraw him for a time at least 

 from his professional duties, it was deemed advisable to appoint a 

 second captain of the Sirius, and the choice fell upon John Hunter. 

 To him we are indebted for the fullest account of the expedition in 

 which he took so prominent a part, published immediately on his 

 return to England ; and subsequently, on revisiting Australia, he 

 became the second Governor of the infant colony, in succession to 

 Captain Phillip. 



The strength of the squadron was increased before sailing by 

 the addition of the armed tender brig Supply, under the command 

 of Lieutenant Ball, R.N., and the two representatives of England's 

 naval power, having completed their equipment at Deptford, 

 dropped down the river to Long Reach on the 10th of December, 

 ready for departure. 



But nobody was in a hurry in those days, and the shipmasters 

 continued placidly waiting until the 30th of January, 1787, when, 

 having been joined by some of the transports, they sailed in com- 

 pany for Spithead. Meeting with bad weather and head winds in 

 the Channel, they lay to in the Downs, and in a general way killed 

 time so effectually that it was the end of February before they 

 dropped anchor off Portsmouth, accomplishing in a month a dis- 

 tance now performed by ordinary steamers in a day. 



Two of the transports, the Charlotte and the Friendship, had 

 been ordered on to Plymouth to embark their contingent of convicts 

 from the prison ship Dunkirk lying there, but it was not until the 

 3rd of March that the Secretary of State despatched Mr. John 

 White, the surgeon -superintendent, from London, with orders for 

 the embarkation. He arrived in Plymouth on the 7th, and two 

 days afterwards the marines were put on board, followed next day 

 by the convicts, and on the 12th the two transports sailed for 

 Spithead, where five days later they anchored in company with 

 the rest of the fleet. 



Here another period of tedious delay was experienced, and the 

 end of April found the squadron idly floating in the placid waters 

 of the Solent, and their crews vaguely speculating upon the pro- 



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