The fourth Fleet is an unofficial term for the flow of

convict ship A convict ship was any ship engaged on a voyage to carry convicted felons under sentence of penal transportation from their place of conviction to their place of exile. Description A convict ship, as used to convey convicts to the British colo ...

s from

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in 1792. The term was coined by C.J. Smee, a

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

, who has catalogued the

genealogies Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kins ...

of the

First First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

Second The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of U ...

and Third Fleet

convicts A convict is "a person found Guilt (law), guilty of a crime and Sentence (law), sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison". Convicts are often also known as "prisoners" or "inmates" or by the slang term "con", while a commo ...

and who used the term to group those ships that followed in the months immediately after the Third Fleet. The ships connected to the "fleet" are: *'' Pitt'' (arrived 14 February) *'' Kitty'' (arrived 6 April) *'' Royal Admiral'' (arrived 7 October) One could argue that ''Royal Admiral'' is in fact the last ship of the Third Fleet as it left only a month after the ships of that fleet.

Gallery

File:Pitt (1780).jpg, HMS ''Pitt'' File:John Scott - A British three-masted merchantman in two positions in Table Bay as she runs into Cape Town.jpg, Merchantman of similar age to ''Kitty'';

Table Mountain Table Mountain (; ) is a flat-topped mountain forming a prominent landmark overlooking the city of Cape Town in South Africa. It is a significant tourist attraction, with many visitors using the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway, cableway or hik ...

is in the background File:An East Indiaman 1788 30b.jpg, An EastIndiaman similar to ''Royal Admiral''

References

External links

Convict Transportation Registers Database (Online)
University of Queensland. Accessed 9 February 2015. Convictism in Australia History of New South Wales History of immigration to Australia Maritime history of Australia {{British-Empire-stub