HMS Sirius (1786)

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Contemporary depiction of the sinking of the HMS Sirius

The HMS Sirius was a Royal Navy ship . She became known as the flagship of the First Fleet , which left England in 1787 to establish the first European colony in New South Wales in Australia.

It was originally built in 1780 by Watsons in Rotherhithe for the East India trade as Berwick . After a fire it was bought by the Royal Navy, rebuilt in 1786 and then renamed Sirius . It had a displacement of 511 tons.

She drove under the command of Captain John Hunter . Also on board were Arthur Phillip , governor of the newly established colony, and Major Robert Ross , commander of the Royal Marines responsible for guarding the convicts among the colonists . The ship's doctors were George Bouchier Worgan and Thomas Jamison .

The ship left Portsmouth on May 13, 1787 and arrived in Port Jackson on January 26, 1788 . It remained in the colony until October 2, 1788, when it was sent to the Cape of Good Hope to procure flour and other supplies for the near-starving colony. This trip lasted several months.

The anchor of the HMS Sirius in Sydney

On March 19, 1790, the Sirius was shipwrecked on the reef off Norfolk Island while she was discharging her cargo. This was a disaster for the still starving colony as there was only a single ship left to supply. The crew was stuck there until February 21, 1791, when they were rescued and finally returned to England.

Hunter returned as Governor of New South Wales (1795-1799). One of the stranded sailors, Jacob Nagle , wrote an eyewitness account of the voyage.

The Sirius's anchor and a cannon were recovered and are now in a park on Macquarie Place in Sydney .

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