John Easty
Marine
Arrived on: Scarborough
Left colony: December 1792 on the Atlantic (Governor Arthur Phillip returned to England on the same ship)
Four companies of the British Marine Corps travelled with the First Fleet to maintain law and order in the new British settlement.
Volunteers rushed to sign up for the adventurous posting, and Private John Easty was one of 213 marines selected for a term of three years’ service in the colony. His written account gives a rare glimpse of the long voyage and life in Sydney Cove through the eyes of an ordinary soldier.
Despite the fact that he was stationed to maintain discipline, Easty was a known rule breaker. He was detained for one week after being found intoxicated on duty during the voyage to Sydney, and in March 1788 he was ‘Confined by Serjt Hume for bringing a feameale Convict into Camp’ and received 150 lashes. While some marines chose to settle in the growing colony after the replacement NSW Corps arrived in 1791, Easty returned to England, to his ‘unspeakable joy’.
Source: John Easty – Journal, 1786–1793, State Library of NSW.
First Fleet Ships
Scarborough
33.9 metres (111 feet, 6 inches); width: 9.1 metres (30 feet, 2 inches); weight: 417.5 tonnes (411 tons)
Published on
First Fleet people
Browse all
First Fleet Ships
Ambition and adventure: the early life of Arthur Phillip
We looked back at the early life of Phillip, who had enjoyed an extraordinary career before he even set foot on a boat bound for Botany Bay
First Fleet Ships
John Hudson
Described as ‘sometimes a chimney sweeper’, John Hudson was the youngest known convict to sail with the First Fleet
First Fleet Ships
John ‘Black Caesar’
Convict John ‘Black’ Caesar became Australia’s first bushranger when he fled the settlement in December 1795 and led a gang of fellow escapees in the bush surrounding Port Jackson
First Fleet Ships
James Ruse
Ex-convict James Ruse became the first person in NSW to receive a land grant when Governor Phillip gave him 30 acres at Parramatta in April 1791