John Marshall (1748 - 1819)

Born 15 Feb 1748 in Ramsgate, Kent, England

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Biography

John Marshall ... was a marine who came to Australia with the First Fleet

John Marshall is Notable.

John Marshall was born in Ramsgate, Kent, England. He became an apprentice sailor at age ten, and spent his life at sea. He saw action during the American Revolutionary War of 1778 to 1783.

In 1788 he captained Scarborough, a ship of the First Fleet taking convicts from England to Botany Bay in New South Wales. There were no deaths on the voyage from England to Australia out of 208 convicts and a crew of over 35. When he left the colony he left behind a New Foundland dog named Hector that he had brought out with him on the voyage, in the care of a contractor remaining in Australia as a companion.

Marshall Islands (Wikipedia)

He then sailed from Australia to China, charting previously unknown islands (mainly some of Gilbert Islands and Marshall Islands), as well as a new trade route to Canton (present-day Guangzhou), where the profile photo on this website was created. The islands which he had originally called "Lord Mulgrove's range" when departing Australia to return to England after the First Fleet were later referred to as the Gilbert and Marshall Islands.

John Marshall also captained Scarborough on her second voyage transporting convicts to Australia in 1790. One month into the second voyage Elizabeth Macarthur and her family were transferred to the scarborough after conflcits between her husband and the other captain. she diarised that John Marshall was married with three children. The convicts coming aboard were in poor health and many did not survive the voyage. the ship was overcrowded with 258 convicts. These factors, combined with an attempted seizure of the ship by the convicts, deterred him from any further voyages of transportation.

A reflection of his character is that after anchoring in Australia for the second time, it is recorded that his dog Hector was so happy to see him return that it swam to the ship, recognised him and never left his side again and went back to England with him.

Newfoundland Dogs by artist Louis Aggasiz Fuertes (1874-1927) (Fuertes painted the dogs looking out to sea – the reader can imagine Marshall’s Hector waiting at Sydney Cove for the return of the Scarborough

During the Napoleonic Wars of 1803 to 1815, as captain of the ship Diana, he was severely wounded while repulsing an attack by a French privateer.

John Marshall died in 1819 at the age of 71.

In 1788 as a Royal Navy Officer he captained the Scarborough, a ship of the First Fleet taking convicts from England to Botany Bay. He also captained the Scarborough on her second voyage transporting convicts to Australia in 1790.^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ Wikipedia, John Marshal (British_captain), accessed 17 Oct 2017.

Wikipedia: Captain John Marshall.

First Fleet Fellowship Victoria Inc: https://firstfleetfellowship.org.au/ships/hms-scarborough/