Pioneering voyage to provision penal colony
IN 1787, the inhabitants of the Cape supplied food, plants and animals to British convict ships on their way to establish a penal agricultural settlement in Australia. This venture was beset with difficulties and when the first harvest failed, the possibility of death by starvation loomed large.
In September 1788, Governor Arthur Phillip ordered HMS Sirius, the larger of his two ships, back to the Cape to fetch food and medical supplies, a round trip expected to take many months. The 500ton ship was stripped of all unnecessary equipment and guns in order to make more room for cargo.
Phillip expected Captain John Hunter (1737-1821) to sail westwards across the Indian Ocean (the way they had come), but Hunter favoured the longer and more dangerous eastward route south of New Zealand and round Cape Horn, which would enable him to take advantage of the Roaring Forties, strong winds that would ensure a fast passage.
This was a calculated risk as the Sirius was under-provisioned and leaky and the crew had been living on an unhealthy “salt diet” for many months.
Hunter set sail on October 2, 1788 and was soon taking in 30cm of water every two hours. Regular pumping was introduced for the remainder of the voyage.
The Sirius reached Cape Town in January 1789, having survived close encounters with icebergs and lost two sailors to disease. She arrived with just 12 men capable of duty on each watch, half of whom were unable to go aloft because of contractions in their limbs due to scurvy.
The unusual voyage aroused considerable interest in the seafaring town and Hunter wrote: “Every person here with whom any of the officers fell in company spoke of our voyage from the east coast of New Holland ( Australia), by Cape Horn, to the Cape of Good Hope with great surprise, not having touched at any port on our way and having sailed that distance in 91 days.”
Hunter was forced to spend several weeks in Cape Town to repair his ship and give his sick and exhausted crew time to recover.
He received “many marks of the most polite and friendly attention” from Governor Van de Graaff, Colonel Robert Jacob Gordon and other officers. However, the long-overdue supply fleet from Britain had not arrived, making the Sirius the colony’s only lifeline.
Hunter loaded a year’s provisions for his ship and a six-month supply of flour for the entire settlement, together with other essential stores, filling every space to capacity. He arrived at Sydney Cove on May 8, 1789 after an absence of 219 days, 51 of which were spent in Table Bay. He had circumnavigated the globe in 168 days with just one stop.
Although his voyage was successful, food continued to be severely rationed in the new colony until after the arrival of the Second Fleet the following year.