The Merchant ship BERWICK was built for the Baltic trade, but while still on the stocks, she was purchased by the Royal Navy for use as an armed transport. After five years in service between Britain and North America, she was renamed HMS SIRIUS and fitted out for service as flagship of the “First Fleet” sent out to Botany Bay to establish a European settlement in Australia. While the expedition has often been derided as nothing more than an expedient measure to rid England of criminals, in fact it was part of a well considered plan to establish a firm British presence in the Pacific as a counterweight to the Spanish in the Americas and the Philippines, and the Dutch in the East Indies. Nor was the idea of “transportation” of convicts new; the policy originated in 1717 and previous destinations included Africa and the American colonies.

HMS SIRIUS was considered a 6th rate with an armament of 10 cannon. She was 110.4 feet in length, 32.8 feet beam and had a depth of 12.9 feet with a tonnage of 512 bm. She was entirely of wooden construction with a compliment of 160 men and officers. Her armament consisted of 4 each 6-pounder cannon and 6 each 18-pound cannon. She was constructed by Christopher Watson of Rotherhithe, England in 1781. On May 13, 1787, sixth-rate SIRIUS sailed from Portsmouth at the head of a fleet of eleven ships and a total compliment of 1,350 people under Commander and Chief and Governor Arthur Phillip. These included the convict transports SCARBOROUGH (with 208 male convicts), ALESANDER (195 men), LADY PENRHYN (101 female convicts), CHARLOTTE (88 men, 22 women), FREINDSHIP (76 men, 21 females) and PRINCE OF WALES (1 man, 49 women). There were also the storeships FISHBURN, GOLDEN GROVE, and BORROWDALE, and the replenishment ship SUPPLY. The convicts were given a certain amount of freedom in the ships, which the majority of them seem not to have abused. However, there was trouble not only from some of the prisoners but from the crew and guards as well, some of whom were disciplined for mutiny, disobedience, or sleeping with the women prisoners. The ships sailed via Tenerife, Rio de Janeiro (where they remained a month), and Capt Town. Shortly before their arrival at the latter port, convicts and members of ALEXANDER’S crew conspired to seize the ship but were thwarted at the last minute, and the ships arrived without further incident on October 13. Departing on November 12, the fleet broke into three separate squadrons.

SUPPLY and the faster transports would arrive early and make preparations for the arrival of the others. Bad weather slowed SUPPLY’S progress, and she arrived at Botany Bay on January 18, 1788, only two days before the rest of the fleet, and eight months and one week since leaving Portsmouth. Dissatisfied with the situation at Botany Bay, Phillip reconnoitered Port Jackson ten miles to the north, which he found much more suitable for a colony, with a better anchorage and more fertile land. The first ships arrived on January 26 at Sydney Cove, named for Lord Sydney, Secretary of the Home Office, under whose auspices the First Fleet sailed. On the same day, SIRIUS and the nine remaining ships were attempting to leave Botany Bay when they encountered Jean-Francois de La Perouse’s ASTROLABE and BOUSSOLE. The French explorers remained at Port Jackson for several weeks before sailing to their doom.

The last convicts were finally landed on February 6, and after a night of
debauchery among the newly released convicts, Phillip established a colonial government
on the following day. Despite the rough material with which he had to work, he was
inordinately optimistic about the potential for success. He wrote:

“We have come today to take possession of this fifth great continental division of the earth, on behalf of the British people, and have founded here a State which we hope will not only occupy and rule this great country, but also will become a shining light among all the nations of the Southern Hemisphere. How grand is the prospect which lies before this youthful nation.

A short time later, SUPPLY sailed for Norfolk Island, about 1,500 miles northeast of Sydney, to establish another penal colony. In May, three ships sailed for China to load tea for London. By September, the colony was dangerously short of supplies, and under Captain John Hunter, SIRIUS sailed via Cape Horn for Cape Town, arriving back at Port Jackson on May 9, 1789. After four months of repairs, Phillip ordered SIRIUS and SUPPLY to carry additional convicts to Norfolk Island to relieve the strain on the Port Jackson settlement. Forced by the weather to stand off the island for four days, o March 19, SIRIUS approached the settlement on Sydney Bay. The strong current and a sudden wind shift pushed her onto a reef. As her Lieutenant related, “An anchor was let go on Her first striking//in less than 10 minutes the masts were all over the side, the Ship an entire wreck.”

Everything that could be salvaged was taken ashore, but the loss of the ship and her supplies, together with the addition of the survivors to the population, tested the island’s resources to the limit. It was not until August 1791 that the next relief ships arrived. The location of the wreck of the SIRIUS remained unknown. It was not until the 1980’s that the Sirius Project excavated the site in anticipation of Australia’s bicentennial. The ship has yielded hundreds of diverse artifacts, including iron and copper fastenings, navigational instruments, a pantograph (used for copying maps to scale), medical supplies, two carronades, personal effects, and an aboriginal stone axe, probably obtained as a souvenir at Port Jackson.

As far as I am aware, there is no kit of the SIRIUS on the market today. There is a kit model of the “SCHOONER FOR PORT JACKSON”. The following from the Modeller’s Shipyard catalog in Australia may be of interest: “In response to many requests we have produced our own model kit, suited to beginners and experts alike, of a ship of particular interest to Australians. In September, 1788, only 8 months after the founding of the new colony on the shores of Port Jackson – now better known as Sydney Harbour, Governor Arthur Phillip sent a message to his superiors in England: 

‘.....the settlement on Norfolk Island and the extent of this harbour will render two vessels of thirty or forty tons of infinite service to this settlement. I presume they might be sent out in frame, but it will be necessary to send a few shipwrights to put them together, and who, as well as mastmaker.........will be of great service’.

Fifteen years after Phillip’s original request the plans and fittings for our Schooner arrived at Sydney Cove. Our model can be your own piece of Australia’s history.” As far as I am aware, the kit model is still available, although the original owner of the Modeller’s Shipyard has retired, according to our honorary member, Richard Keyes. If any member of the SMA is interested in this kit, please contact Don Dressel (see letterhead) and he will furnish information on how this kit may be obtained and the current price of the kit. It is only available in Australia, as I do not think it is being imported.