to be adopted partially. The formation of a penal settlement on the west coast of Africa, which was also proposed a second time, was again rejected, on the grounds on which the transportation of criminals to that country had already been successfully opposed by Sir George Saville sixteen years before; and it was at length determined, after much and earnest deliberation, to form a penal settlement at Botany Bay, on the east coast of New Holland, which had then been but recently discovered and described by the celebrated English circumnavigator, captain Cook. A penal settlement was accordingly formed at Port Jackson, a few miles to the northward of Botany Bay, under the command of captain Phillip, of the Royal Navy, in the year 1788; the first detachment, commonly called the First Fleet, consisting of six hundred male and two hundred and fifty female convicts, under a guard of about two hundred marines (including officers), forty of whom were accompanied by their wives and children; the Second Fleet, which arrived in the year 1790, carrying out one thousand six hundred and ninety-five male, and sixty-eight female convicts.
