''Friendship'' was a merchant

brig A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square rig, square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the l ...

built in

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, England, and launched in 1784. As part of the Australian

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, she transported

convict A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and 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 common label for former convicts ...

s from England to

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. Due to problems manning her, she was scuttled in the Makassar Strait in October 1788.

Origins

After being launched, almost certainly in late 1784, she was sent to Antigua under Captain William Young in March 1785, returning late in the year, probably with a cargo of sugar and rum. She was then employed in the East Country coal trade, before being sent to

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in July 1786, for iron, hemp and planks. She returned to the Thames on 10 October 1786, and four days later, she was tendered to the Navy Board by William Richards, the First Fleet contractor. The charter party between Richards and Thomas Hopper was signed on 23 November.

Voyage to Australia

''Friendship'' left

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with the rest of the fleet on 13 May 1787; the smallest of the convict transports. Her master was Francis Walton and the surgeon assigned to her was

Thomas Arndell Thomas Arndell (4 March 1753 – 2 May 1821) was a surgeon, magistrate, and farmer. He was born in England, but moved to Australia with the First Fleet when he was 35. He farmed many acres of land there, and he later became a magistrate. He or ...

. She was carrying 76 male and 21 female convicts, but there are small differences in various accounts of the number of people on board when she sailed. David Collins gave the following details in his book ''An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales'': "The Friendship, ... of 228 tons, had on board 76 male and 21 female convicts; 1 captain, 2 lieutenants, 2 sergeants, 3 corporals, 1 drummer, and 36 privates, with 1 assistant surgeon to the colony." The Marines served as guards. Some ten or twelve of the female convicts were particularly unruly, and promiscuous. At the

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, Walton was instructed to transfer all the women to other transports to make room for livestock purchased there for the colony. ''Friendship'' pulled up in 7 fathoms of water at the mouth of Sydney Cove, at around 8pm on 26 January 1788, the last of the fleet to come to anchor. Two of her female convicts had died on the voyage, one before the brig's arrival in Rio, and one after transfer to . The collection of the

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at Greenwich includes a silver medallion featuring an image of ''Friendship'' and the inscription "Success to the Friendship. 1787." and on the reverse, the inscription "F.W.", the initials of Francis Walton master of ''Friendship''. Walton would have purchased this and had it engraved before the fleet sailed.

Fate

''Friendship'' sailed from Port Jackson on 14 July 1788 in company with , , and , although a storm separated the latter two soon after all three had set sail. ''Alexander'' and ''Friendship'' were to make their way through the East Indies and return home direct. Not having had fresh provisions since October 1787, when they were at the Cape, both crews were suffering badly from scurvy, and over the following months, ''Alexander'' lost 10 men (out of 30), and ''Friendship'', one (out of 17), with many of those remaining being too sick to work. In late October, off the south-east coast of

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, having exhausted themselves in negotiating the sandbanks of the Balabalagan Islands, and concerned about an attack by pirates, the decision was made to scuttle ''Friendship'', the smaller of the two ships, and concentrate the remaining men on ''Alexander''. On the evening of the 27 October (28 October by sea time), four holes were bored in both bows below the water mark, and she was cut adrift. The coordinates provided for her whereabouts were 2°36’ South, 117° East.

Formal Protest

On their return, the owners lodged a formal protest with the Navy Board, seeking to recover the cost of the ship and its furnishings. The government resisted making compensation and the outcome of the matter is unknown.

Commemoration

Sydney-ferry-Friendship-at-Circular-Quay

An Urban Transit Authority First Fleet ferry was named after ''Friendship'' in 1986.Sydney Ferries Fleet Facts
Transport for NSW

Citations

References

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External links

* {{cite web , url = http://dictionaryofsydney.org/artefact/friendship , title = Friendship , accessdate = 2 October 2015 , author = David Morgan , date = 2015 , work= Dictionary of Sydney CC-By-SA">Creative_Commons_license.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Creative Commons license">CC-By-SA/nowiki> 1784 ships Ships built in England Ships of the First Fleet Shipwrecks in the Celebes Sea Maritime incidents in 1788