European maritime exploration of Australia
Cook's first expedition carried botanist Joseph Banks, for whom a great many Australian geographical features and the genus Banksia and a number of plant species e.g. Grevillea banksii were named. The reports of Cook and Banks in conjunction with the loss of England's penal colonies in America after they gained independence and growing concern over French activity in the Pacific, encouraged the foundation by the British of a colony at Botany Bay. The First Fleet led by Captain Arthur Phillip left England on 13 May 1787 to found a penal colony in Australia. It reached Botany Bay in mid-January 1788. Phillip had decided to move the settlement to Sydney Cove in Port Jackson, but the British ships were unable to leave Botany Bay until 26 January because of a tremendous gale.
Journals of the First Fleet
During his time on "HMS Sirius" and in the colony, he kept a journal which also included his experiences in the settlement at Sydney. In 1797 he returned to London and the following year with the help of his wife Maria, he published his journal entitled "An Account of the English colony in New South Wales", a detailed first-hand account of early settlement in Australia. The book's introduction describes the long voyage of the Fleet and particularly "HMS Sirius" to Australia. Collins gives an account of the accompanying ships, their weight and the number of convicts, supplies and crew each carried. He describes an incident on Sunday 20 May 1787, where a mutiny being plotted by some convicts on board "Scarborough" was discovered. Captain Phillip ordered the two ringleaders be taken on board "HMS Sirius" where they were punished with two dozen lashes to each offender. In the introduction Collins also mentions the Fleet's passage to Brazil and describes two accidents that took place on that part of the voyage: