Trans Tasman, then turn right!
The year 1988 marked 200 years since the British settled the colony of New South Wales, a territory claimed by James Cook during his 1770 voyage of discovery. The First Fleet comprised 11 small square-rigged ships that set sail from Portsmouth on 11 May 1787 with about 1,400 people on board. They included civil officers, naval marines, sailors and a few free settlers, but the large majority were convicts transported from Britain to establish the first penal colony Down Under.
To mark the Australian Bicentenary, a re-enactment of this event was undertaken by seven similar ships in 1987. They set sail on 13 May 1987 and attempted to follow a similar route via Tenerife, Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town and Mauritius and then across the Indian Ocean to Western Australia.
When the re-enactment fleet grouped in Jervis Bay, some 80 miles south of Sydney Harbour, my family and I took to our 32ft Manitou ketch to welcome them. Along with many others we accompanied the fleet via Botany Bay for the finale in Sydney Harbour on 26 January 1988 where a flotilla of some 3,000 vessels came out to greet the fleet at the heads and accompany the
