Editing First Fleet (section)

===Royal Naval escort===
On 25 October 1786 the 10-gun {{HMS|Sirius|1786|6}}, lying in the dock at Deptford, was commissioned, and the command given to Phillip. The armed tender HMAT {{HMS|Supply|1759|3}} was under command of Lieutenant [[Henry Lidgbird Ball]], who was also commissioned to join the expedition. [[David Blackburn (Royal Navy officer)|Lt. David Blackburn]] was the ship's [[Master (naval)|Master]].<ref name="ADB2">{{Australian Dictionary of Biography|last=Fletcher|first=B.H.|year=1967|volume=2|id2=http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/phillip-arthur-2549|title= Phillip, Arthur (1738–1814)|access-date=25 April 2019}}</ref><ref name="ADB Blackburn">{{Australian Dictionary of Biography|last= Hirst|first= Warwick|year=2005|volume=Supplementary Volume|id2=blackburn-david-12800|title= Blackburn, David (1753–1795)|accessdate= 26 July 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=1790 HMS Sirius Anchor and Cannon |url=http://www.migrationheritage.nsw.gov.au/exhibition/objectsthroughtime/sirius-anchor-cannon/index.html |website=Objects Through Time |publisher=Migration Heritage Centre NSW |access-date=25 April 2019}}</ref><ref name="On this day">{{Cite web |last=Leila Berney |date=2014-10-10 |title=On this day: Arthur Phillip born |url=http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/blogs/on-this-day/2014/10/on-this-day-arthur-phillip-born |access-date=5 March 2015 |publisher=[[Australian Geographic]]}}</ref><ref name=Hunter>{{Citation |last= Hunter|first= John|year= 1792|title= An Historical Journal of the Transactions at Port Jackson and Norfolk Island |publisher= University of Sydney Library|publication-place= Sydney|url=https://adc.library.usyd.edu.au/data-2/hunhist.pdf |access-date= 3 October 2021}}</ref> On 15 December, Captain [[John Hunter (Royal Navy officer)|John Hunter]] was assigned as second captain to ''Sirius'' to command in the absence of Phillip, whose presence, it was to be supposed, would be requisite at all times wherever the seat of government in that country might be fixed.<ref name=Hunter/>

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Naval escorts (departed England 13 May 1787)<ref name="auto">Mundle 2014, p. 83</ref>
! scope="col" | Ship
! scope="col" | Type
! scope="col" | Master
! scope="col" | Crew, officials, marines<ref name="King">{{cite web |last1=King |first1=Philip Gidley |title=official journal being a narrative of the preparation and equipment of the First Fleet and voyage to New South Wales |url=http://archival-classic.sl.nsw.gov.au/_transcript/2017/D00007/a1519.html |access-date=26 November 2019}}</ref>
! scope="col" | From
! scope="col" | Arrived<br/>Botany Bay
! scope="col" | Duration<br/>(days)
|-
! scope="row" | [[HMS Sirius (1786)|HMS ''Sirius'']]
| 10 gun
| [[John Hunter (Royal Navy officer)|John Hunter]]
| 200
| [[Portsmouth]]
| 20 January 1788
| 252
|-
! scope="row" | [[HMAT Supply (1759)|HMAT ''Supply'']]
| Armed tender
| [[Henry Lidgbird Ball]]
| 55 + 2 <small>(convicts transferred on route)</small>
| [[Spithead]]
| 18 January 1788
| 250
|}

====HMS ''Sirius''====
''Sirius'' was Phillip's [[flagship]] for the fleet. She had been converted from the merchantman ''Berwick'', built in 1780 for [[Baltic Sea|Baltic]] trade. She was a 520 ton, sixth-rate vessel, originally armed with ten guns, four six-pounders and six carronades, Phillip had ten more guns placed aboard.

====HMAT ''Supply''====
''Supply'' was designed in 1759 by shipwright Thomas Slade, as a yard craft for the ferrying of naval supplies. Measuring 170 tons, she had two masts, and was fitted with four small 3-pounder cannons and six {{small|{{frac|1|2}}}}-pounder swivel guns. Her armament was substantially increased in 1786 with the addition of four 12-pounder carronades.