First Fleet

The First Fleet was the convoy of eleven ships that sailed from Portsmouth in May 1787 under Captain Arthur Phillip and reached Botany Bay in January 1788, founding the British penal colony of New South Wales. It carried about 1,400 people, including roughly 750 convicts, plus livestock, stores, and seed across some 15,000 nautical miles in eight months with low mortality for the era. The voyage opened European settlement of Australia and is a foundational event in Australian maritime and colonial history.