HMS ''Sirius'' was the

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...

of the

First Fleet The First Fleet was a fleet of 11 ships that brought the first European and African settlers to Australia. It was made up of two Royal Navy vessels, three store ships and six convict transports. On 13 May 1787 the fleet under the command ...

, which set out from

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

, England, in 1787 to establish the first European

colony In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the ''metropole, metropolit ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia. In 1790, the ship was wrecked on the reef, south east of Kingston Pier, in Slaughter Bay,

Norfolk Island Norfolk Island (, ; Norfuk: ''Norf'k Ailen'') is an external territory of Australia located in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and New Caledonia, directly east of Australia's Evans Head and about from Lord Howe Island. Together with ...

Construction

''Sirius'' had been converted from the merchantman ''Berwick''. There has been confusion over the early history of ''Berwick''. A note about her by future New South Wales governor

Philip Gidley King Captain Philip Gidley King (23 April 1758 – 3 September 1808) was a British politician who was the third Governor of New South Wales. When the First Fleet arrived in January 1788, King was detailed to colonise Norfolk Island for defence an ...

, describing her as a former 'East country man', was interpreted for many years as relating to the East Indies trade; however, analysis of the maritime nomenclature of the time suggests that this description referred instead to ships participating in the

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages * Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originati ...

trade. ''Berwick'' was likely built in 1780 by Christopher Watson and Co. of

Rotherhithe Rotherhithe () is a district of south-east London, England, and part of the London Borough of Southwark. It is on a peninsula on the south bank of the Thames, facing Wapping, Shadwell and Limehouse on the north bank, as well as the Isle of Dogs ...

, who also built another ship of the First Fleet, ''Prince of Wales''. ''Berwick'' had a burthen of 511 tons (bm) and, after being burnt in a fire, was bought and rebuilt by the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

in November 1781, retaining her original name.

As HMS ''Berwick''

The newly purchased vessel was fitted out and coppered at

Deptford Dockyard Deptford Dockyard was an important naval dockyard and base at Deptford on the River Thames, operated by the Royal Navy from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries. It built and maintained warships for 350 years, and many significant events a ...

between December 1781 and April 1782, for a total sum of £6,152.11s.4d. When completed she carried 10 guns, four 6-pounder long guns, and six 18-pounder

carronade A carronade is a short, smoothbore, cast-iron cannon which was used by the Royal Navy. It was first produced by the Carron Company, an ironworks in Falkirk, Scotland, and was used from the mid-18th century to the mid-19th century. Its main func ...

s. She was commissioned for service under her first commander, Lieutenant Bayntun Prideaux in January 1782, and went out to North America later that year. She spent the last part of the

American War of Independence The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

there, transferring to the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

in June 1784. Paid off in February 1785 she was initially laid up before being fitted for sea between September and December 1786 for service with the First Fleet. She was nominally rated as a

sixth-rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a sixth-rate was the designation for small warships mounting between 20 and 28 carriage-mounted guns on a single deck, sometimes with smaller guns on the upper works and ...

, allowing her to be commanded by a

post-captain Post-captain is an obsolete alternative form of the rank of Captain (Royal Navy), captain in the Royal Navy. The term served to distinguish those who were captains by rank from: * Officers in command of a naval vessel, who were (and still are) ...

, though she retained her armament of only 10 guns, and on 12 October 1786 ''Berwick'' was renamed ''Sirius'', after the southern star

Sirius Sirius is the list of brightest stars, brightest star in the night sky. Its name is derived from the Ancient Greek language, Greek word , or , meaning 'glowing' or 'scorching'. The star is designated α Canis Majoris, Latinisation ...

Voyage of the First Fleet

''Sirius'' sailed from The Motherbank, Ryde, Isle of Wight on 13 May 1787 as the

of the eleven-vessel First Fleet, under the command of Captain

Arthur Phillip Admiral Arthur Phillip (11 October 1738 – 31 August 1814) was a British Royal Navy officer who served as the first governor of the Colony of New South Wales. Phillip was educated at Greenwich Hospital School from June 1751 unti ...

(Governor-designate of the new colony). Phillip transferred to the Armed Tender HMS ''Supply'' at

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

, with Second Captain John Hunter remaining in command of ''Sirius''. Also on board were

Marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

Major Robert Ross, who would be responsible for colony security and surgeons

George Bouchier Worgan George Bouchier Worgan (May 1757 – 4 March 1838) was an English naval surgeon who accompanied the First Fleet to Australia. He made several expeditions to the Hawkesbury River and Broken Bay areas north of Sydney and spent a year on Norfolk Isl ...

and

Thomas Jamison Thomas Jamison ( – 25 January 1811) was a naval surgeon, who was surgeon mate on as part First Fleet which founded Colony of New South Wales in 1788. He was surgeon at the Norfolk Island settlement, before returning to Sydney and becoming pr ...

. Midshipman Daniel Southwell recorded that ''Sirius'' was carrying the

Larcum Kendall Larcum Kendall (21 September 1719 in Charlbury, Oxfordshire – 22 November 1790 in London) was a British watchmaker. Early life Kendall was born on 21 September 1719 in Charlbury. His father was a mercer and linen draper named Moses Ke ...

chronometer A clock or a timepiece is a device used to measure and indicate time. The clock is one of the oldest human inventions, meeting the need to measure intervals of time shorter than the natural units such as the day, the lunar month and th ...

used by Captain

James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean an ...

on his

second The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ...

and

third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (d ...

voyages around the world. She arrived in

Botany Bay Botany Bay (Dharawal: ''Kamay''), an open oceanic embayment, is located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district. Its source is the confluence of the Georges River at Taren Point and the Cook ...

on 20 January 1788, two days after ''Supply'', according to the journals of Hunter and First Lieutenant (later Rear Admiral) William Bradley The 252-day voyage had gone via

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

and the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is t ...

and covered more than . It was quickly decided that Botany Bay was unsuitable for a penal settlement and an alternative location was sought. While waiting to move, a large gale arose preventing any sailing; during this period the French expeditionary fleet of

Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse Jean François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse (; variant spelling: ''La Pérouse''; 23 August 17411788?), often called simply Lapérouse, was a French naval officer and explorer. Having enlisted at the age of 15, he had a successful naval caree ...

arrived in Botany Bay. The colony was established at

Sydney Cove Sydney Cove (Eora: ) is a bay on the southern shore of Sydney Harbour, one of several harbours in Port Jackson, on the coast of Sydney, New South Wales. Sydney Cove is a focal point for community celebrations, due to its central Sydney locatio ...

Port Jackson Port Jackson, consisting of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, is the ria or natural harbour of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman Sea (p ...

when Governor Phillip arrived on 26 January aboard ''Supply''. ''Sirius'' arrived the following day. Last letter La Pérouse

The British cordially received the French. ''Sirius''s captains, through their officers, offered assistance and asked if Lapérouse needed supplies. However the French leader and the British commanders never met personally. Lapérouse also took the opportunity to send his journals, some charts and some letters back to Europe with ''Sirius''. After obtaining wood and fresh water, the French left on 10 March for

New Caledonia ) , anthem = "" , image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of New Caledonia , map_caption = Location of New Caledonia , mapsize = 290px , subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...

, Santa Cruz, the Solomons, the Louisiades, and the western and southern coasts of Australia. The French fleet and all on board were never seen again. The documents carried by ''Sirius'' would be its only testament. Decades later it was discovered that Lapérouse's expedition had been shipwrecked on the island of

Vanikoro Vanikoro (sometimes wrongly named ''Vanikolo'') is an island in the Santa Cruz group, located to the Southeast of the main Santa Cruz group. It is part of the Temotu Province of the Solomon Islands. The name ''Vanikoro'' is always used as thoug ...

. ''Sirius'' left Port Jackson under the command of Hunter on 2 October 1788, when she was sent back to the Cape of Good Hope to get flour and other supplies. The complete voyage, which took more than seven months to complete, returned just in time to save the near-starving colony. In 1789, she was refitted in Mosman Bay, which was originally named Great Sirius Cove after the vessel. The name lives on in the adjacent Sirius Cove (formerly "Little Sirius Cove"). On 19 March 1790, ''Sirius'' was wrecked on a reef at

while landing stores. Among those who witnessed the ship's demise from shore was

, the surgeon for the penal settlement. Jamison would eventually become Surgeon-General of New South Wales. ''Sirius''s crew was stranded on Norfolk Island until they were rescued on 21 February 1791. Hunter returned to England aboard '' Waaksamheyd'' where he faced court martial and was honourably acquitted. He was appointed as Phillip's successor as Governor of New South Wales in February 1795, though he did not return to the colony until September. One of the sailors on ''Sirius'',

Jacob Nagle Jacob Nagle (1761–1841) was an American and British soldier, sailor, and, above all, diarist who provides an exceptional first-hand account of many of the dramatic events of his lifetime. Nagle was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, and fought in ...

, wrote a first-hand account of the ship's last voyage, wreck, and the crew's stranding. With the settlement in New South Wales still on the brink of starvation, the loss of ''Sirius'' left the colonists with only one navy ship.

Legacy

Anchor from HMS Sirius - Sydney, NSW (7834216400)

Many artefacts have been retrieved from the ''Sirius'' wreck. They include three anchors and two

carronades A carronade is a short, smoothbore, cast-iron cannon which was used by the Royal Navy. It was first produced by the Carron Company, an ironworks in Falkirk, Scotland, and was used from the mid-18th century to the mid-19th century. Its main fun ...

. Objects are displayed in the Norfolk Island Museum. Another anchor, as well as a cannon, are on display in

Macquarie Place The Macquarie Place Park, also known as the Macquarie Place Precinct, is a heritage-listed small triangular urban park located in the Sydney central business district in the City of Sydney local government area of New South Wales, Australia. Th ...

, Sydney. Other ''Sirius'' artefacts including an anchor can be viewed at the

Australian National Maritime Museum The Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM) is a Australian government, federally operated maritime museum in Darling Harbour, Sydney. After considering the idea of establishing a maritime museum, the federal government announced that a nation ...

in Sydney. A detailed 1:24 scale model of ''Sirius'' is displayed in the

Powerhouse Museum The Powerhouse Museum is the major branch of the Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences (MAAS) in Sydney, the others being the historic Sydney Observatory at Observatory Park, Sydney, Observatory Hill, and the newer Museums Discovery Centre at Castle ...

, Sydney. Small models of all the First Fleet ships are displayed in the

Museum of Sydney The Museum of Sydney is a historical collection and exhibit, built on the ruins of the house of New South Wales' first Governor, Arthur Phillip, on the present-day corner of Phillip and Bridge Street, Sydney. Description The original house, ...

. The ''Sirius'' wrecksite is protected by the Commonwealth ''

Historic Shipwrecks Act 1976 The ''Historic Shipwrecks Act 1976'' was an Australian Act of Parliament designed to legally protect historic shipwrecks and any relics or artefacts from those wrecks. The Act automatically affects all shipwrecks that meet the "historic" crite ...

'' and is listed on the

Australian National Heritage List The Australian National Heritage List or National Heritage List (NHL) is a heritage register, a list of national heritage places deemed to be of outstanding heritage significance to Australia, established in 2003. The list includes natural and ...

. An

Urban Transit Authority The Urban Transit Authority, a former statutory authority of the Government of New South Wales, was responsible for the operation and maintenance of buses and ferries in Sydney and Newcastle from July 1980 until January 1989. History The Urban ...

First Fleet ferry was named after ''Sirius'' in 1984.

Bas-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...

memorials to the ship were erected in the Sydney suburb of

Mosman Mosman is a suburb on the Lower North Shore region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Mosman is located 8 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local governm ...

and

Ryde Ryde is an English seaside town and civil parish on the north-east coast of the Isle of Wight. The built-up area had a population of 23,999 according to the 2011 Census and an estimate of 24,847 in 2019. Its growth as a seaside resort came af ...

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...

in 1989, 1990 and 1991 respectively. The scientific name of the tiny crustacean ''Mallacoota sirius'' recalls HMS ''Sirius''. The specimens of this species were collected from the point on the reef where ''Sirius'' wrecked.

Citations

References

External links

HMS ''Sirius'', Norfolk Island Museum
Retrieved 2011-08-27
Anchor and cannon in Macquarie Place, Sydney
Retrieved 2011-08-27

Retrieved 2011-08-27
Model of ''Sirius'', Powerhouse Museum, Sydney
Retrieved 2011-08-27

Retrieved 2011-08-27

Retrieved 2013-06-10 *

CC-By-SA A Creative Commons (CC) license is one of several public copyright license A public license or public copyright licenses is a license by which a copyright holder as licensor can grant additional copyright permissions to any and all pers ...

] {{DEFAULTSORT:Sirius Ships of the First Fleet Ships built in Rotherhithe 1780 ships Maritime incidents in 1790 1790 in Australia 1788–1850 ships of Australia Full-rigged ships of Australia Australian National Heritage List Shipwrecks of Norfolk Island Convict ships to Norfolk Island