Editing First Fleet (section)

===Leaving Portsmouth===
Phillip first tried to get the fleet to sail on 10 May, but a dispute by sailors of the ''Fishburn'' about pay, they refused to leave until resolved.{{Citation needed|date=March 2023}} The fleet finally left Portsmouth, England on 13 May 1787.<ref name="Gutenberg FF">{{cite web| title= The First Fleet|url=http://gutenberg.net.au/first-fleet.html| publisher = Project Gutenberg| access-date = 24 November 2013}}</ref> The journey began with fine weather, and thus the convicts were allowed on deck.<ref name="Frost165167">Frost 2012, pp. 165–167</ref> The Fleet was accompanied by the armed frigate {{HMS|Hyaena|1778|6}} until it left English waters.<ref name="Parker7778">Parker 2009, pp. 77–78</ref> On 20 May 1787, one convict on ''Scarborough'' reported a planned mutiny; those allegedly involved were flogged and two were transferred to ''Prince of Wales''.<ref name="Parker7778" /> In general, however, most accounts of the voyage agree that the convicts were well behaved.<ref name="Parker7778" /> On 3 June 1787, the fleet anchored at [[Santa Cruz de Tenerife|Santa Cruz]] at [[Tenerife]].<ref name="Gutenberg FF" /> Here, fresh water, vegetables and meat were brought on board. Phillip and the chief officers were entertained by the local governor, while one convict tried unsuccessfully to escape.<ref>Parker 2009, p. 84</ref> On 10 June they set sail to cross the Atlantic to [[Rio de Janeiro]],<ref name="Gutenberg FF" /> taking advantage of favourable [[trade wind]]s and ocean currents.

The weather became increasingly hot and humid as the Fleet sailed through the tropics. Vermin, such as rats, and parasites such as bedbugs, [[lice]], cockroaches and fleas, tormented the convicts, officers and marines. [[Bilge]]s became foul and the smell, especially below the closed hatches, was over-powering.<ref name="Parker8789">Parker 2009, pp. 87–89</ref> While Phillip gave orders that the bilge-water was to be pumped out daily and the bilges cleaned, these orders were not followed on ''Alexander'' and a number of convicts fell sick and died.<ref name="Parker8789" /> Tropical rainstorms meant that the convicts could not exercise on deck as they had no change of clothes and no method of drying wet clothing.<ref name="Parker8789" /> Consequently, they were kept below in the foul, cramped holds. On the female transports, promiscuity between the convicts, the crew and marines was rampant, despite punishments for some of the men involved.<ref name="Parker8789" /> In the [[doldrums]], Phillip was forced to ration the water to three pints a day.<ref name="Parker8789" />

The Fleet reached Rio de Janeiro on 5 August and stayed for a month.<ref name="Gutenberg FF" /> The ships were cleaned and water taken on board, repairs were made, and Phillip ordered large quantities of food.<ref name="Frost165167" /> The women convicts' clothing had become infested with lice and was burnt. As additional clothing for the female convicts had not arrived before the Fleet left England,<ref name="Frost165167" /> the women were issued with new clothes made from rice sacks. While the convicts remained below deck, the officers explored the city and were entertained by its inhabitants.<ref>Frost 2012, p. 170</ref> A convict and a marine were punished for passing forged quarter-dollars made from old buckles and pewter spoons. [[Ellen Fraser (convict)|Ellen Fraser]], mother of the second child of English parents born in the colony (John Fraser born 7 June 1789), is thought to be the female convict transferred from the "Prince of Wales" to the " Charlotte" during the stop over in Rio on 13 August 1787. Her husband, William Fraser was a convict on "Charlotte".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://familyhistorybyclaytontalbot.weebly.com/eleanor-redchester.html | title=Eleanor Redchester }}</ref>

[[File:Robert Dodd-English ships in Table Bay-0673.jpg|thumb|upright=1.6|''An English Fleet in [[Table Bay]] in 1787'', by [[Robert Dodd (artist)|Robert Dodd]]]]
The Fleet left Rio de Janeiro on 4 September to run before the [[westerlies]] to the [[Table Bay]] in southern Africa,<!-- The Fleet left Rio in South America for the Cape of Good Hope in southern Africa. Please don't change this to Cape Horn--> which it reached on 13 October.<ref>Hill 2008, pp. 120–123</ref> This was the last port of call, so the main task was to stock up on plants, seeds and livestock for their arrival in Australia.<ref name="Parker100">Parker 2009, p. 100</ref> The livestock taken on board from [[Cape Town]] destined for the new colony included two bulls, seven cows, one stallion, three mares, 44 sheep, 32 pigs, four goats and "a very large quantity of poultry of every kind".<ref name="AE">Chisholm, Alec H. (ed.), ''The Australian Encyclopaedia'', Vol. 4, p. 72, "First Fleet", Halstead Press, Sydney, 1963</ref> Women convicts on ''Friendship'' were moved to other transports to make room for livestock purchased there. The convicts were provided with fresh beef and mutton, bread and vegetables, to build up their strength for the journey and maintain their health.<ref name="Parker100" /> The Dutch colony of Cape Town was the last outpost of European settlement which the fleet members would see for years, perhaps for the rest of their lives. "Before them stretched the awesome, lonely void of the Indian and Southern Oceans, and beyond that lay nothing they could imagine."<ref>{{cite book| author= [[Robert Hughes (critic)|Robert Hughes]]| title= The Fatal Shore: A History of the Transportation of Convicts to Australia 1787–1868| location= London| publisher= Pan Books| year= 1988| isbn= 978-0-330-29892-6| page= [https://archive.org/details/fatalshorehistor00hugh/page/82 82]|url=https://archive.org/details/fatalshorehistor00hugh/page/82}}</ref>

Assisted by the gales in the "[[Roaring Forties]]" latitudes below the 40th parallel, the heavily laden transports surged through the violent seas. In the last two months of the voyage, the Fleet faced challenging conditions, spending some days becalmed and on others covering significant distances; ''Friendship'' travelled 166 miles one day, while a seaman was blown from ''Prince of Wales'' at night and drowned.<ref name="Parker106108">Parker 2009, pp. 106–108</ref> Water was rationed as supplies ran low, and the supply of other goods including wine ran out altogether on some vessels.<ref name="Parker106108" /> [[Van Diemen's Land]] was sighted from ''Friendship'' on 4 January 1788.<ref name="Parker106108" /> A freak storm struck as they began to head north around the island, damaging the sails and masts of some of the ships.

On 25 November, Phillip had transferred to ''Supply''. With ''Alexander'', ''Friendship'' and ''Scarborough'', the fastest ships in the Fleet, which were carrying most of the male convicts, ''Supply'' hastened ahead to prepare for the arrival of the rest. Phillip intended to select a suitable location, find good water, clear the ground, and perhaps even have some huts and other structures built before the others arrived. This was a planned move, discussed by the Home Office and the Admiralty prior to the Fleet's departure.<ref>Frost 2012, p. 174</ref> However, this "flying squadron" reached [[Botany Bay]] only hours before the rest of the Fleet, so no preparatory work was possible.<ref>Frost 2012, p.175</ref> ''Supply'' reached Botany Bay on 18 January 1788; the three fastest transports in the advance group arrived on 19 January; slower ships, including ''Sirius'', arrived on 20 January.<ref name="NLAFFTL">{{cite web| year= 2000|url=http://www.nla.gov.au/exhibitions/georgeraper/timeline/timeline-doc-1788.html#| title= Timeline – 1788
| work= The World Upside Down: Australia 1788–1830| publisher=[[National Library of Australia]]| access-date=27 May 2006}}</ref>

This was one of the world's greatest sea voyages – eleven vessels carrying about 1,487 people and stores<ref name="AE" /> had travelled for 252 days for more than 15,000 miles (24,000&nbsp;km) without losing a ship. Forty-eight people died on the journey, a death rate of just over three percent.