first marriage, he was sent to Greenwich School, and thence
into the navy, where he began his career under Captain Michael Everett at
the outbreak of war in 1755.

At twenty-three he was serving as a lieutenant in the _Stirling Castle_,
and later on, when peace came, after a turn of farming in the New Forest,
he volunteered to serve under the Portuguese Government. Leaving the
Portuguese service with distinction, he rejoined the English navy in 1778,
and the Admiralty at once made him master and commander of the _Basilisk_,
fireship, soon afterwards appointing him post captain. He commanded the
_Ariadne_, frigate, later on the _Europe_, and was then selected for the
command of the first fleet to New South Wales. All the remarkable story of
the colonizing expedition does not belong to this chapter on Phillip, but
it runs through the lives of the four naval governors.

Lord Sydney, the Home Secretary of the day, selected Phillip, and Lord
Howe, then at the head of the Admiralty, expressed this opinion on the
appointment:--

"I cannot say the little knowledge I have of Captain Phillip would
have led me to select him for a service of this complicated
nature; but as you are satisfied of his ability, and I conclude he
will be taken under your direction, I presume it will not be
unreasonable to move the King for having His Majesty's pleasure
signified to the Admiralty for these purposes as soon as you see
proper, so that no time may be lost in making the requisite
preparations for the voyage."

It took a long time to prepare the expedition, and when the fleet sailed
from Spithead on May 13th, 1787, the transports had been lying off the
Motherbank with their human freight on board for months before; yet,
through the neglect of the shore officials, they sailed without clothing
for the women prisoners and without enough [Sidenote: 1787]
cartridges to do much more than fill the pouches of the marine guard.

There were eleven sail altogether: the _Sirius_, frigate, the _Supply_,
tender, six transports, and three storeships. The frigate was an old East
Indiaman, the _Berwick_. She had been lying in Deptford Yard, had been
burnt almost to the water's edge not long before, and was patched up for
the job. The _Supply_ was a brig, a bad sailer, yet better in that respect
than the _Sirius_, though much overmasted; she was commanded by Lieutenant
Ball.

The expedition was a big affair