Australian History: The Second Fleet
There were six ships of the Second Fleet that arrived in Sydney Cove, in 1789. These ships were
- Guardian
- Justinian
- Lady Juliana
- Surprize
- Neptune
- Scarborough
The Guardian was a Royal Navy escort ship which carried provisions. Unfortunately it never made it to Sydney Cove as it struck ice after leaving the Cape of Good Hope, and later became wrecked. The Lady Juliana was the first ship of the Second Fleet to arrive at Sydney Cove. It was also the first all-female transport ship. Later the other four tranpsort ships arrived including the Justinian which contained a large cargo of food to support the colony.
The conditions on the second fleet ships were very bad. Convicts were mistreated, there was little food, and a lot of people were sick. This led to 278 people dying from just the five transport ships that made it, while in comparison to the first fleet only 48 people died from the eleven ships that landed in Sydney Cove. The reason for such bad conditions was because the ships were contracted out to private contractors who did not care about spending money on the people or treating the people well.
Drawing of the convict transportation ship "Neptune" that operated between England and Australia