My Journey on the First FleetBy : Thomas Acres
Hi my name is Thomas Acres. I am a convict on the transport ship the Charlotte. I have been kept on this ship for three and half months and we haven’t even left Portsmouth. If only I could see touch and smell land again. Finally we set sail to New Holland on 13th May 1787.
To find my sleeping quarters from the deck you have to open this small door called a hatch and walk down some narrow wooden creeping stairs which were more like ladders. I had a large bedroom but unfortunately I had to share it with many other people.
During the next three months I woke and saw that we were at Tenerife but I was feeling very ill and homesick. I was as green as a shiny green apple and was ready to throw up in the bucket. When I finished vomiting I went down the creaky ladder stairs. When I went down I saw him. He was my arch enemy . When he saw me he chased me so I went to the marines so they could protect me but instead they grabbed me by the shirt. How dare they had the cheek to do that. My arch enemy John Cuss punched me in the face. After that my nose started bleeding so I put a piece of cloth to stop the bleeding in my nostrils. Later I got some rations which were salty beef, flour dough and dried peas. When I finished eating I went to sleep with my buddy James Cox who was very friendly and gave me some rum to drink secretly. Later that night I found out that we had reached Rio.
The next day it was stormy and freezing so the hatch got locked up and stale air clouded the room. Today my buddy got scurvy because he didn’t eat any vegetables and his face was pale white.
The next month my buddy was lying on his bed so I checked his pulse and it wasn’t pumping so I covered him with blankets and the marines threw him out into the rushing waves.
When the First Fleet crossed the Crossing of the Line the officers started dressing up as mermaids and a sailor dressed up as the sea god Neptune. Then he grabbed my arch enemy John and shaved his hair off wildly. Anyway he deserved that , I thought. “Aaaaaahhhh me maties shave his hair off”, the mermaid shouted loudly. This night we had reached Cape Town which meant we were nearly at Botany Bay.
The next month I woke up and smelt someone vomiting. Then I went to line up for my rations so when I got my rations I ate it up quickly. A marine made me sweep the deck and I almost fell overboard.
In abouteight months we had reached our destination Botany Bay. The marines started putting hard solid chains around our necks. It was quite painful. When we got off the ship I was gobsmacked of the land and space and I finally could smell and feel land. It was a delightful feeling. Then we built tents and started putting old smelly seeds in the soil.
Then Captain Phillip made us do jobs. He made me grow crops. It was so tiring. But the worst part was Captain Phillip made John Cuss do the job with me.
Three weeks past and John Cuss got to be my best friend
FOREVER!!!!
By : Sophia, Nikki, Jennifer and Rooley