Research Guides: Convicts: Bound for Australia: Second Fleet convicts

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Second Fleet convicts

Resources

The Second Fleet consisted of six ships - four transport ships and two storeships arrived in Sydney Cove in 1790.

Three of the transport ships carried mostly male convicts and the other transport ship, The Lady Juliana, only carried women. The Lady Juliana was the first all-female transport ship and the female population of Sydney more than doubled when it arrived.

The convicts on all the ships were mistreated, rations were poor and sickness rife. Of the approximate 1250 male convicts, over 25% died en route to NSW (in comparison to just 2.8% of those on the First Fleet) and many more died within a year of reaching Sydney (Flynn 2001).

Almost half of the convicts who arrived in Sydney required immediate hospitalisation and about 80 died within three weeks of arrival.

Reference
Flynn, M 2001, The Second Fleet: Britain's grim convict armada of 1790, Library of Australian History, Sydney.

The crimes of the Lady Juliana convicts, 1790 [catalogue record]The crimes of the Lady Juliana convicts, 1790 [catalogue record]
You can find out the names of the female convicts who were sent on The Lady Juliana and the crimes they were convicted of - many of them in great detail. The information has been taken from Old Bailey Records, Quarter Sessions or Assize Courts and the Colonial Office Records.
The floating brothel: the extraordinary true story of an 18th-century ship and its cargo of female convicts [catalogue record]
Find out about the women who were transported on The Lady Juliana and their voyage to Australia. The information has been taken from letters and journals written at the time.
The Second Fleet: Britain's grim convict armada of 1790 [catalogue record]
Find out about the voyages, the ships, the captains, the crews, the officers and men of the NSW Corps and the convicts. There is also a biography of convicts who were ordered on board the transport ships but never actually embarked due to petitions or pardons issued.
The Second fleet convicts: a comprehensive listing of convicts who sailed in HMS Guardian, Lady Juliana, Neptune, Scarborough and Surprise [catalogue record]
Search for convict's name and find where they came from, the date of their sentence and the ship they were transported on.
Second Fleet families of Australia: containing genealogical details of three hundred & forty nine second fleeters, their children & grandchildren [catalogue record]
You can find out who Second Fleeters married, how many children they had, where they lived and if known, where they were buried. Some have grandchildren listed.
Australia's Second Fleet [external website]
Search the list for convicts who were transported to Australia in the Second Fleet. You will also find where the convict was tried and the term of their sentence. Taken from a ‘souvenir lift-out newspaper' published in the Sydney Daily Mirror on 3 March 1969.
Jonathan Wathen - Letter received from William Hill, Sydney Cove, Port Jackson, 26 July 1790 (copy made in 1791) [digitised item]
William Hill was Second Captain of the New South Wales Corps and commander of the detachment on the transport Surprize which brought convicts to New South Wales with the Second Fleet. He was severely critical of conditions for convicts and troops on the transport ships and the situation in New South Wales.

Ships of the Second Fleet

The Guardian
Justinian
The Lady Juliana
Neptune
Scarborough
Surprize

Part of the Crew of his Majesty's Ship Guardian endeavouring to escape in the Boats. (1790)
Digital order number: a1528530

The Guardian

The HMS Guardian left England in September, 1789, bound for New South Wales.

The ship was laden with livestock, crops and other supplies. These were desperately needed by the infant colony at Port Jackson, which had been struggling to survive since the arrival of the First Fleet in January 1788.

The Guardian took on supplies at the Cape of Good Hope in December 1789, and continued south on its way to New South Wales.

Within two weeks, the voyage turned to disaster. The Guardian struck an iceberg, leading to the loss of most of the crew and cargo.

It finally managed to get back to the Cape of Good Hope on 21 February 1790.

Read more about HMS Guardian