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SECOND FLEET & DEATHS EN ROUTE: THE LONDON CHRONICLE

July 14-16 and August 4-6, 1791: The earlier edition carries a report on the arrival of the Neptune, the Scarborough and Surprize at Botany Bay [June 1790]. "The convicts were very sickly, of whom 270 died on their passage, and 100 more after their arrival....They found the colony in a distressed state...". The later condition provided more insight into the sorry state of the colony and the recent arrivals via an "Extract of a Letter from one of the Women Convicts that sailed from England in the Lady Juliana..." She writes "We arrived here safe after a long voyage, in very good health, thanks to our good Agent on board, and the Gentlemen in England who sent us out....We landed here 223 women and 12 children; only three women died, and one child...." But when she turns her attention to the arrival of the 3 ships carrying male convicts, she writes "Oh! if you had but seen the shocking sight of the poor creatures that came out in the three, it would make your heart bleed; they were almost dead; very few could stand, and they were obliged to sling them as you would goods, and hoist them out of the ship, they were so feeble; and they died ten or twelve of a day when they first landed.....The Governor was very angry...and, I heard, intended to write to London about it; for he said it was murdering them." A third edition (Sept.15-17, 1791) carries a repeated report about a highly inflamable leaf found in Botany Bay; first reported in the LE of Sept.10-12, 1789. (3 editions).