The Voyages 1791-1792

In 1792, four years after the first settlement at Port Jackson, three convict ships arrived in NSW from England, the Pitt, the Royal Admiral and the Kitty. Unlike earlier years, they did not arrive together as a fleet, but separately.  

Of the 408 convicts on the Pitt and the 28 convicts on the Kitty, only 390 were landed, as well as Major Francis Grose and soldiers of the New South Wales Corps and their families. Over 100 convicts died in the first year after arrival.

 

This book documents the voyages from the official letters sent and includes a contemporary account from Dr. Edward Laing, Assistant Surgeon of the Pitt, giving a detailed description of conditions on board, the diseases incurred and treatments proscribed. Life on the streets of London in 1790 is recorded for many of the convict women from their trials at the Old Bailey, and later chapters describe what became of some of them in the colony. Some remained at Sydney Cove, others moved to the settlements at Norfolk Island, Parramatta, the Hawkesbury and Tasmania. 

A calendar of events in NSW in 1792 has been compiled from the reports of Atkins and Collins, detailing the struggle of coping with meagre rations and the harsh climate. Biographies are included for all the known convicts and soldiers and a list records those who arrived as free passengers.