First Fleet

First Fleet
An engraving of the First Fleet in Botany Bay at voyage's end in 1788
Date13 May 1787 to 20 January 1788
Duration250 days
LocationPortsmouth, England and Botany Bay, Colony of New South Wales
CauseCounter French imperialism in the Pacific and Penal transportation
MotiveEstablishment of a penal colony
Patron(s)Lord Sandwich and Sir Joseph Banks
Organised byThe Viscount Sydney as Secretary of State for the Home Office
ParticipantsCaptain Arthur Phillip, Governor of New South Wales and Major Robert Ross, Lieutenant-Governor of New South Wales
OutcomeBeginning of european settlement in Australia
Deaths48 died at sea

The First Fleet was a fleet of 11 British ships that took the first British colonists and convicts to Australia. It comprised two Royal Navy vessels, three store ships and six convict transports. On 13 May 1787 the fleet under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip, with over 1400 people (convicts, marines, sailors, civil officers and free settlers), left from Portsmouth, England and took a journey of over 24,000 kilometres (15,000 mi) and over 250 days to eventually arrive in Botany Bay, New South Wales, where a penal colony would become the first British settlement in Australia from 20 January 1788.


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