Charlotte (ship)

The Charlotte was a First Fleet transport ship, built on the River Thames in 1784, and weighing 345 tons. She was a heavy sailer, and had to be towed down the English Channel for the first few days of the voyage. Her master was Thomas Gilbert, and her surgeon was John White, principal surgeon to the colony. She left Portsmouth on 13 May 1787, carrying eighty-eight male and twenty female convicts, among them were James Squire, James Bloodsworth, James Underwood and the later-to-be-famous Mary Bryant^[1], and arrived at Port Jackson, Sydney, Australia, on 26 January 1788. She left Port Jackson on 6 May 1788 bound for China to take on a cargo of tea, under charter to the East India Company. On her return to England on 28 November 1789 she was sold to a firm for the London to Jamaica run, and was lost off Newfoundland in November 1818.

[edit] Movies

National Treasure - "The Secret Lies With Charlotte" — refers to this ship as having ended up in the Arctic Circle through the quick freezing and melting of the northern ice, resulting in a semi-solid landmass. The pipe, found in the ship, acts as a key and fits into an imprint in the fake treasure room, allowing access to the real treasure room. The secret of Charles Carrol lies within Charlotte.