HMS Sirius (1786)

"See HMS "Sirius" for other ships of this name."

"Berwick" was built by Watsons of Rotherhithe in 1780 for the Baltic trade. She is best known under the name HMS "Sirius", as the flagship of the First Fleet, which set out from England in 1787 to establish the first European colony in New South Wales. She was wrecked off the coast of Norfolk Island in 1790.

Construction

There has been confusion over early history of the Berwick; a note by Philip Gidley King, of 'East country man' was interpreted for many years as East Indies trade, yet analysis of terms of the time suggest it referred to the Baltic countries instead. [cite book |title=The Sirius:Past and Present|author=Henderson G, Stanbury M|year=1988 |publisher=Collins|location=Sydney|isbn=0-7322-2447-0|pages=p. 39] It was likely built Christopher Watson and co., who also built the Prince Of Wales, another ship of the first fleet. [Henderson p. 40] She had a displacement of 511 tons and after being burnt in a fire was bought and rebuilt by the Royal Navy in 1786 and renamed Sirius, after the southern star Sirius. [Henderson, p. 38] It carried 16 guns. [ "Australian Shipwrecks - vol1 1622-1850", Charles Bateson, AH and AW Reed, Sydney, 1972, ISBN 0 589 07112 2 p26 ] She sailed under the command of Captain John Hunter and carried Arthur Phillip, the Governor of the colony which was to be established. She also carried Major Robert Ross commander of the marines responsible for guarding the convicts in the colony. The surgeons on this ship were George Bouchier Worgan and Thomas Jamison. (Jamison later became the principal surgeon on Norfolk Island and eventually Surgeon-General of New South Wales.) Sirius left Portsmouth on 13 May 1787, and arrived at Port Jackson on 26 January 1788. She remained in the colony until 2 October 1788 when she was sent from Port Jackson to the Cape of Good Hope to get flour and other supplies for the almost starving colony, a voyage that took over seven months.

On 19 March 1790 "Sirius" was wrecked on the reef at Norfolk Island while landing stores. With the settlement still on the brink of starvation this was a major catastrophe as it left the colonists with only one ship. Her crew was stranded there until 21 February 1791 when they were rescued and eventually returned to England. Hunter returned to New South Wales as Governor from 1795 to 1799. One of the sailors, Jacob Nagle, wrote a first hand account of the voyage and was one of the stranded crewmen.

"Sirius"' anchor was retrieved from the wreck site and is now mounted in Pier Museum, Kingston, Norfolk Island.

References

Further reading

*Gillen, Mollie, "The Founders of Australia: a biographical dictionary of the First Fleet", Sydney, Library of Australian History, 1989.

ee also

* HMAS Sirius (O 266)