In May 1787, eleven ships left England with more than seven hundred convicts on board, along with orders to establish a penal colony at Botany Bay, New South Wales. Watkin Tench (c.1758 1833) was a crew member on one of the ships of this First Fleet, the Charlotte, and he recalls the voyage and early days of the settlement in this vivid and engaging account, first published in 1789. The first half of the work retraces the route of the six-month journey, which took the fleet to Brazil and the Cape of Good Hope. The later chapters recount the landing at Botany Bay in January 1788, the...
In May 1787, eleven ships left England with more than seven hundred convicts on board, along with orders to establish a penal colony at Botany Bay, Ne...
Watkin Tench served as a Marine officer on one of the vessels of the First Fleet and recorded his observations of the voyage in A Narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay. Tench also wrote of the subsequent settlement in New South Wales in A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson. These accounts are among the most important documents of early settlement in Australia, giving an insight into the early colonial settlement, as told through the keen eyes of a curious young man.
Watkin Tench served as a Marine officer on one of the vessels of the First Fleet and recorded his observations of the voyage in A Narrative of the Exp...
