First Fleet - The Voyage of The Lady Penrhyn

The Voyage of The Lady Penrhyn

In an attempt to put into execution one of the reasons given for founding the Botany Bay colony (that is, to use the colony as a base to develop the fur trade of the North West Coast of America and for trade with China, Korea and Japan), the First Fleet ship Lady Penrhyn sailed on from Port Jackson on 5 May 1788 under a contract with George Mackenzie McCaulay, an alderman of the City of London, to go to the "North West Coast of America to Trade for furrs & after that to proceed to China & barter the Furrs &ca for Teas or other such Goods..." Her owners, Timothy and William Curtis (merchants and, in William’s case, like McCaulay, a London alderman), had obtained a license to sail to the North West coast from the South Sea Company, which still maintained its ancient monopoly rights over British trade to the eastern Pacific. The poor condition of the ship and sickness among her crew compelled the Lady Penrhyn to turn back from this voyage when she had gone only as far as Tahiti from where, after the crew had recovered and the ship been repaired, she proceeded to Canton (Guang Zhou) on the China coast to take on a cargo of tea.