Initial career Charlotte first appeared in ''
Lloyd's Register (LR
) in 1784. Prior to her voyage transporting convicts, Charlotte'' traded with the Baltic and the West Indies.
Convict transport in
Botany Bay at voyage's end in 1788, from
The Voyage of Governor Phillip to Botany Bay.
Charlotte was a "heavy sailer"; she had to be towed down the English Channel to keep pace with the rest of the Fleet. Her
master was
Thomas Gilbert, and her surgeon was
John White, principal surgeon to the colony. On 15 March, when
Charlotte had been two days at sea it was discovered that her third mate had been left behind at Plymouth; he was replaced for the remainder of the voyage by a seaman hastily dragooned from the accompanying naval vessel . She sailed for
Botany Bay carrying 84 male and 24 female convicts , or 89 male and 20 female. Among the prisoners were
James Squire,
James Bloodsworth,
James Underwood,
Samuel Lightfoot,
William Bryant and
Mary Bryant, She also carried 42 men from the
New South Wales Marine Corps to guard the convicts.
Charlotte arrived at
Port Jackson,
Sydney, Australia, on 26 January 1788. This voyage was commemorated on the
Charlotte Medal, commissioned by White and created by the convict
Thomas Barrett. One female convict, thought to be Ellen Fraser 1764-1840 (nee Redchester), was transferred from "Prince of Wales" to " Charlotte" on 13 August 1787, during the stop in Rio, where she joined her husband William Fraser who was a convict on the " Charlotte". Ellen gave birth to the second child of British parents in the colony (John Fraser). She left Port Jackson on 6 May 1788, bound for China to take on a cargo of tea, under charter to the
East India Company. In May 1788, Captain Gilbert in
Charlotte and Captain
John Marshall in , left Port Jackson together intending to find a new route to China. After sighting
Lord Howe Island and
Norfolk Island they discovered, on 27 May 1788,
Matthew Island, and then, on 24 June, they saw land in the southern sector of the
Marshall Islands. They continued on via
Abemama,
Kuria,
Aranuka,
Tarawa,
Abaiang,
Butaritari, and
Makin without attempting to land on shore. They reached
Canton on 9 September 1788, 126 days from Port Jackson. The two large dispersed groups of islands they discovered in the Central Pacific have since been known as the
Gilbert and
Marshall Islands.
Later career On her return to England on 28 November 1789, Bond and Co., Walbrook merchants, purchased
Charlotte to use her in the
London—
Jamaica trade. The following data is from ''
Lloyd's Register''.
Charlotte was one of the transport vessels that were part of the expedition under General Sir
David Baird and Admiral Sir
Home Riggs Popham that would in 1806, capture the
Dutch Cape Colony. On 11 March, she and
Anacreon sailed as
cartels to France with prisoners from . At some point she may have been sold to a Quebec merchant; if so, this does not appear in
LR or the
Register of Shipping. ==Fate==