The Third Fleet comprised 11 ships that set sail from United Kingdom in February, March and April 1791, bound for the Sydney penal settlement, with more than 2,000 convicts aboard. The passengers comprised convicts, military personnel and notable people sent to fill high positions in the colony. More important for the fledgling colony was that the ships also carried provisions.
The first ship to arrive in Sydney was the Mary Ann with its cargo of female convicts and provisions on 9 July 1791. The Mary Ann could only state that more ships were expected to be sent. The Mary Ann had sailed on her own to Sydney Cove, and there is some argument about whether she was the last ship of the Second Fleet, or the first ship of the Third Fleet. The ships that make up each fleet, however, are decided from the viewpoint of the settlers in Sydney Cove. For them, the second set of ships arrived in 1790 (June), and the third set of ships arrived in 1791 (July–October). The Mary Ann was a 1791 arrival.
The next ship to arrive just over three weeks later, on 1 August 1791, was the Matilda. With the Matilda came news that there were another nine ships making their way for Sydney, and which were expected to arrive shortly. The final vessel, the Admiral Barrington, did not arrive until 16 October, nearly 11 weeks after the Matilda, and 14 weeks after the Mary Ann.
Contents |
The ships all departed from Plymouth, except for the Queen that departed from Cork, Ireland.
| Ship | Master | Dep. England | Arr. Sydney | Duration | Male convicts: arrived [deaths] (boarded) | Female convicts: arrived [deaths] (boarded) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mary Ann | Mark Munro | 16 Feb 1791 | 9 Jul 1791 | 143 days | 141 [9] (150) | |
| Matilda | Matthew Weatherhead | 27 Mar 1791 | 01 Aug 1791 | 127 days | 215 [25] (230) | |
| Atlantic | Archibald Armstrong | 27 Mar 1791 | 20 Aug 1791 | 147 days | 202 [18] (220) | |
| Salamander | John Nichol | 27 Mar 1791 | 21 Aug 1791 | 148 days | 155 [5] (160) | |
| William and Ann | Eber Bunker | 27 Mar 1791 | 28 Aug 1791 | 154 days | 181 [7] (188) | |
| HMS Gorgon | Commander John Parker, RN | 15 Mar 1791 | 21 Sep 1791 | 190 days | 30 [1] (31) | |
| Active | John Mitchinson | 27 Mar 1791 | 26 Sep 1791 | 183 days | 154 [21] (175) | |
| Queen (came from Cork, Ireland) | Richard Bowen | Apr 1791 | 26 Sep 1791 | unknown | 250 [32] (282) | 6 [-] (6) (arrival of females is a mystery) |
| Albemarle | George Bowen | 27 Mar 1791 | 13 Oct 1791 | 200 days | 126 [7] (133) | 22 [-] (22) |
| Britannia | Thomas Melvill | 27 Mar 1791 | 14 Oct 1791 | 201 days | 129 [21] (150) | |
| Admiral Barrington | Robert Abbon Marsh | 27 Mar 1791 | 16 Oct 1791 | 203 days | 264 [36] (300) | |
| TOTAL | 1706 [173] (1879) | 169 [9] (178) |
From the above table it can be seen that 173 male convicts and 9 female convicts died during this voyage. Though this death rate was high, it was nowhere near as bad as that which had occurred on the Second Fleet.
Convict Arrivals on the Third Fleet included:[1]