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Ships of the Second Fleet

Some of these ships carried members of the New South Wales Corps to Australia.
We are attempting to place each soldier of the New South Wales Corps, who arrived as part of the Second Fleet on board their respective Ship. It does not represent all soldiers only those who may have settled.
We have omitted convicts from these pages as the site is dedicated to the Soldiers.
It is not intended to justify or condone the actions or behaviour of some of the military or the civilian contractors in any form, and should not be taken that way.
Information regarding convicts can be found on the following sites:
Claim a Convict and  Convicts of the First, Second, Third  Fleet

 

The Second Fleet has been regarded as being the three convict ships which arrived together at Sydney Cove  June 1790. These ships were Surprize , Neptune, and Scarborough. However, it is viewed that the intention to send all six ships as a complete group constituted the Second Fleet. It was the intention of the British Government to send the 6 ships to Australia together in 1789. With this in mind, these three ships have been included as part of the Second fleet to arrive in Australia H.M.S. Guardian , Lady Julian and the Justinian.
  Of the 1,026 convicts embarked, 267 (256 men and 11 women) died

Surprize

weighed 400 tons, she was the smallest ship of the fleet, she proved an unsuitable vessel as for her size and she was a wet vessel even in clam waters. Sailing from England on January 19th 1790 .with 254 male convicts  Her master was Nicholas Antis, formerly chief mate on the  lady Penrhyn in the First Fleet the surgeon was William Waters 1st Date Arrived : Sydney 26 June 1790. 36 convicts died on the voyage

Soldiers of the New South Wales Corps on board who may have stayed. Some where convicts who later enlisted.

 

Neptune

Built on the River Thames  in 1779,weighed 809 tons  the largest ship of the fleet.  She sailed from England on January 19th 1790 with 421 male and 78 female convicts. Her master was Donald Trail and surgeon was William Gray. Following the wreck of the H.M.S. Guardian she took on a further twelve male convicts.  Date Arrived : Sydney 27 June 1790 158 convicts died on the voyage

Soldiers of the New South Wales Corps on board who may have stayed. Some where convicts who later enlisted.

Scarborough  

Transport ship of 418 tons, she was part of the First Fleet. She sailed from England  with 253 male convicts on January19th  1790. Her master was again John Marshall and the surgeon was Augustus Beyer.  Following the wreck of the H.M.S. Guardian she took on a further 8 male convicts. Date Arrived : Sydney 28 June 1790. 73 convicts died on the voyage

Soldiers of the New South Wales Corps on board who may have stayed. Some where convicts who later enlisted.

 

HMS Guardian 

Ship of the Royal Navy. Built in 1784 as a 44-gun frigate but, with her lower tier of guns removed, she was converted to a store ship. Sailed from Spithead  September 12th 1789  commanded by Lieutenant Edward Riou. She was carrying  provisions for the settlement at Port Jackson as well as 25 specially selected convicts and several officials for the settlement. On the 24th December 1789 she struck an iceberg .On Christmas Day five boats were launched weighed down with men but with no food or drink. Sixty-two people remained with Riou on the ship. The Guardian remained afloat, and arrived at  Table Bay Africa on the 21st February 1790.  On  12th of April 1790 strong winds drove her onto the beach, where she was wrecked. Only one of the boats was rescued, with ten survivors. The other boats were never heard of again.

Soldiers of the New South Wales Corps on board who may have stayed

 The Lady Juliana

  Her first voyage here was written in 1822 by John Nicol Mariner Steward on Board the Lady Julian. And that's how she was called  through his writings. ( This is wrong   )

Watkin Tench recorded her as the Lady Juliana in 1790 whilst writing in his dairy

"A few minutes completed our wishes, and we found ourselves on board
the 'Lady Juliana' transport, with two hundred and twenty-five of our
countrywomen whom crime or misfortune had condemned to exile.  We learned
that they had been almost eleven months on their passage, having left Plymouth,
into which port they had put in July, 1789.  ( Watkin Tench 1790)
 
Tench Watkin,  Transactions of the Colony in June, July, and August, 1790 CHAPTER VII
 
 

A convict transport  of 401 tons. She was the first convict ship to arrive in Port Jackson after the  First Fleet. Chartered to transport Female convicts.  Her master was Thomas Edger who had sailed with James Cook on his last voyage. The surgeon was Richard Alley  .Following a six month delay   the Lady Julian left  Plymouth 29th July 1789 with 226 female convicts, arrived at Port Jackson on 6th June 1790  During the voyage  five convicts died

Soldiers of the New South Wales Corps on board who may have stayed. Some where convicts who later enlisted.

Justinian

was a Stores ship carried provisions to  Port Jackson. She Sailed from Falmouth England  20th January 1790 she arrived at Sydney Cove 20th June 1790

Soldiers of the New South Wales Corps on board who may have stayed. Some where convicts who later enlisted.

 

Some soldiers may still be missing as they are still unknown

References
Family Members, Military records  ,Pay rolls, Pay Musters, Cemetery Records, Church Records & General Muster Records, Mitchell Library ,Sydney Australia
The information is intended for short Historical value only,
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© Copyright B & M Chapman (QLD) Australia
Last revised: August 22, 2009.