May) that it was "not thoii*:^ht advisable that the marines should be constantly supplied with wine or spirits/' but that as on special occasions such addition to rations might be required, Phillip miglit at Eio Janeiro or the Cape of Good Hope obtain, throun;h the commissary, billH for £20Q to purchase wine or spirits, but *'no further quantity will hereafter be allowed for that purpose/' This unwise relegation, to a distant officer in time of difficulty, of a question which ouf^ht to have been decided at head- quarters, where there was a possibility of supplying the places of insubordinate marines, was rendered less imme- diately harmful by the marines theoiselves. Some of them had petitioned in April against being cut off from having any allowance of grog at their destined port, Botany Bay, contrary to the promise made to them at head-quarters/'
- S:c,, and on the 4th and 7th May others in several of the
ships, then at the Mother Bank, reiterated the complaint, which Lord Bydoey set at rest, for a time, on the lOtli May, by writing that, '* wishing to remove any possible cause of dissatisfaction,'* he extended the permission to the three years contemplated^ but '* no further supplies of that sort will be allowed/* Thus, unpresciently, did he write on a question which was to rack and disgrace the new settlement for years. The ** first fleet," under which designation Phillip's squadron became a household word for generations in Australia, began to assemble at its appointed rendezvous, the Mother Bank, about the 15th March, 1787.^^ The man-of-war Sinus conveyed the Governor, and the armed tender Supply accompanied him. Three stores! nps, the Goldtfi Grove, Fishbuni, and Borrofrdale were freighted with provisions, implements of husbandry, and clothing for the convicts. Six transports carried the convicts, and a guard of marines accompanied each transport. It appears from a return dated 15th April, 1787,'^^ that the total number of souls in the fleet was — -of officersj marines {with '-' Some of the statements in the text are rj noted from ** Phillip's Voyage/' Stoekdale* London: 1789* The Siriui had formerly been a, ator© ship naine<l Benvicky and her name was changed when «he was chosen for the expedition to Australia. ■" Historical Records of New South Wales, Vol, i, ^ari2^^^*l'i.
