HMS Sirius (1786)
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Built as HMS Berwick armed storeship about 1780, she was converted for the voyage of the First Fleet to New South Wales. Under the command of Captain John Hunter, she was the flagship of the fleet and carried the Governor of the colony, Arthur Phillip. She also carried Major Robert Ross commander of the marines responsible for guarding the convicts in the colony. The surgeons on this ship were George Bouchier Worgan and Thomas Jamison. She left Portsmouth on 13 May 1787, and arrived at Port Jackson on 26 January 1788. She remained in the colony and on 2 October 1788 was sent from Port Jackson to the Cape of Good Hope to get flour and other supplies for the almost starving colony, a voyage that took over seven months.
On 19 March 1790 Sirius was wrecked on the reef at Norfolk Island while landing stores. With the settlement still on the brink of starvation this was a major catastrophe as it left the colonists with only one ship. Her crew was stranded there until 21 February 1791 when they were rescued and eventually returned to England. Hunter returned to New South Wales as Governor from 1795 to 1799.
See HMS Sirius for other ships of this name.
Further reading
- Gillen, Mollie, The Founders of Australia: a biographical dictionary of the First Fleet, Sydney, Library of Australian History, 1989.