Friendship (ship)

Friendship was a First Fleet transport ship, built in Scarborough, England, in 1784.

A brig of 278 tons, she was among the smallest of the transports. Her master was Francis Walton and surgeon Thomas Arndell. She left Portsmouth on 13 May 1787, carrying seventy-six male and twenty-one female convicts. The female convicts were transferred to other transports at the Cape of Good Hope to make room for livestock purchased there. She arrived at Port Jackson, Sydney, Australia, on 26 January 1788.

The Friendship left Port Jackson on 14 July 1788 in company with Alexander. The crews of both ships were so badly affected by scurvy off the coast of Borneo that enough healthy sailors remained for only one working ship, and the Friendship was scuttled on 28 October 1788.

Further reading

• Gillen, Mollie, The Founders of Australia: A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet, Sydney: Library of Australian History, 1989.
• Bateson, Charles, The Convict Ships, 1787–1868, Sydney, 1974.