First Fleet

First Fleet

An engraving of the First Fleet in Botany Bay at voyage's end in 1788
Date	13 May 1787 to 20 January 1788
Duration	250 days
Location	Portsmouth, England and Botany Bay, Colony of New South Wales
Cause	Counter French imperialism in the Pacific and penal transportation
Motive	Establishment of a penal colony
Patron(s)	Lord Sandwich and Sir Joseph Banks
Organised by	The Viscount Sydney as Secretary of State for the Home Office
Participants	Captain Arthur Phillip, Governor of New South Wales and Major Robert Ross, Lieutenant-Governor of New South Wales
Outcome	Beginning of European settlement in Australia
Deaths	48 died at sea

The First Fleet were 11 British ships which transported a group of settlers to mainland Australia, marking the beginning of the European colonisation of Australia. It consisted of two Royal Navy vessels, three storeships and six convict transports under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip. On 13 May 1787, the ships, with over 1,400 convicts, marines, sailors, colonial officials and free settlers onboard, left Portsmouth and travelled over 24,000 kilometres (15,000 mi) and over 250 days before arriving in Botany Bay on 18 January 1788. Governor Arthur Phillip rejected Botany Bay choosing instead Port Jackson, to the north, as the site for the new colony; they arrived there on 26 January 1788,^[1] establishing the colony of New South Wales, as a penal colony which would become the first British settlement in Australia.