3. The convicts of the First Fleet faced hunger and want
The First Fleet arrived with insufficient food and supplies to support the new colony, which was forced to rely on resources ashore, local livestock and crops. Unfortunately, most of the convicts which populated the settlement lacked agricultural skills. They were mostly former dwellers of the worst of London’s expansive slums. Many were skilled at theft, but there was little to steal. The arrival of the Second Fleet was to have improved the situation. Instead, it made things worse. Many of the convicts arriving with the Second Fleet were sick, and the added mouths to feed brought little food with them.
Even before the First Fleet arrived at Botany Bay, attempts to escape were conducted by the convicts. Aboard the ship Swift, convicts released from their shackles as a humanitarian gesture by the ship’s captain overpowered the crew, seized the ship, and ran it aground in Sussex. The convicts escaped into the British countryside, though most were recaptured. In New South Wales prisoners plotted escapes, though the prospect of a long voyage on the open sea was daunting. In 1791, a party of convicts led by James Martin, which included a woman and child, escaped from the colony by stealing a fishing boat and sailing to the Dutch settlement of Coupang on Timor. There they were taken into custody by Captain Edward Edwards, who was also holding some of the mutineers from HMAV Bounty, headed to England for trial.