Second Fleet (Australia)
The Second Fleet is often seen only as a group of three convict ships that arrived late in June 1790 together at Sydney Cove in Port Jackson in New South Wales / Australia. These ships were the Surprize, Neptune and Scarborough. Today the tendency is rather to anticipate all the ships to which expired in 1789 jointly to Australia. After all ships listed below belong to the fleet:
Ships of the fleet
History
The Surprize, Neptune and Scarborough were chartered by the company " Camden, Calvert & King ", which should receive a fixed price of £ 17, 7 shillings and 6 dime per capita for transportation, clothing and diet of prisoners, whether they live or dead were arriving. This company had previously been involved in the transportation of slaves to North America. The only representative of the Crown were the Naval agent and the captain of the guard, the rest of the crew was provided by the company.
The fleet left on January 19, 1790 1,006 convicts (928 male and 78 female) on board England to Sydney. The Guardian ran early on the journey on an iceberg and could not continue the journey. They reached with difficulty the Cape of Good Hope, where it ran aground. 20 male convicts were distributed to the Neptune (12 ) and Scarborough ( 8). These two ships and the Surprize made from here faster travel than the First Fleet. They arrived in the last week of June of the year, three weeks after the Lady Juliana and one week after, Justinian, who continued the journey, in Port Jackson.
Despite the relatively fast crossing the death rate was among the convicts, the highest in the history of deportation to Australia. Of the 1,006 convicts embarked 267 (256 men and 11 women ) died on the journey, more than one in four.
On the Neptune allowed to intentionally starve, she kept in chains and denied them regular access to the deck. It came to the occurrence of scurvy. On the Scarborough food was neglected although not intentionally, but a report on a planned mutiny led to the convicts were imprisoned below deck.
Captain William Hill, the guard commander, wrote a report that criticized the shipowner sharply after the trip. He stated: "The more they save in the unfortunate guys, the more provisions they have for sale in a foreign market available and the sooner they die on the journey, the longer they can given for the deceased sums into his own pocket stuck. " ( " the more They can withhold from the unhappy wretches the more of commission theyhave to dispose of at a foreign market, and the Earlier in the voyage They Die, the longer They can draw the deceased 's allowance to Themselves ").
Arrival in Port Jackson
On arrival at Port Jackson, the half-naked prisoners were lying on the bare floor, too sick to move around. Who was unable to walk, was hoisted on a rope overboard. All were full of lice. At least 486 patients (47% of the embarked ) were counted during the landing. The rest was described as " thin and emaciated ," she had " a terrible sight on offer than you 've ever seen in this country."
Among the newcomers were D' Arcy Wentworth and his lover Catherine Crowley on the Neptune and John Macarthur, then a young lieutenant of the New South Wales Corps and his wife Elizabeth on the Scarborough. Macarthur's eldest son, Edward Macarthur, accompanied his parents on the Neptune and Scarborough. It is believed that he is the only person of the Second Fleet, from a photo exists and that he was the last survivor of the trip (see source below).
When news of the horrors of the Second Fleet reached England, the public and official bodies were shocked. An investigation was carried out, but they made no attempt to arrest the commander of the Neptune, Donald Traill, or initiate a formal criminal charge against him, the other responsible party or the company. The company had already closed with the Government a contract for the Third Fleet to Port Jackson in 1791.