User:Wilcannia

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203.10.76.15 (talk)

In 1788 a detachment of four companies of marines, under Major Robert Ross, accompanied the First Fleet to protect a new colony at Botany Bay (New South Wales). Due to an unknown error the Fleet left Portsmouth without its main supply of ammunition, cartridge paper and tools to repair their flintlocks. The omission was noted early on during the voyage and a message was sent back to the British Home Office from Santa Cruz in July 1787 requesting that the missing supplies be sent out in William Bligh's ship HMS Bounty. As Christopher Warren noted, this resupply meant that the voyage could continue to its final destination - Botany Bay in New South Wales. However, despite the Home Office receiving the request, the resupply was never sent and consequently, after 12 months, the marines ended up in dire circumstances.

The First Fleet marines had a detachment strength of 212 including 160 privates. This relatively small force was arranged on the advice of Joseph Banks who advised the British government that local Aborigines were few and retiring. On arrival in New South Wales the Governor of the new colony, naval Captain Arthur Phillip, found that the natives were vastly more numerous than expected and also that they soon started resisting the settlers. Within 12 months, natives killed 5 or 6 First Fleeters and wounded many more. The marines also found that their single shot musquets could not compete against native weapons, apart from an initial period of shock and awe. To further aggravate their predicament, around a dozen marines had died and over a dozen were typically on the unfit list. Finally, in October 1788, the marines were tasked to expand the initial settlement at Sydney Cove to commence farming more fertile land at Parramatta. This generated a threatening strategic situation that required unconventional tactics. According to C Mears and M Bennett the First Fleet was the source of the smallpox that then spread amongst local natives. Warren's analysis suggests that due to dire circumstances, that some marines must have deliberately spread smallpox as the only means left to defend themselves and the settlement.

During the voyagewere not resupplied after arrival. Recent research claims that by early 1789 the marines in New South Wales were running out of ammunition and had no other option than to use smallpox against local tribes to protect themselves and the settlement although earlier authors suggested the infection was accidental, or from actions unsanctioned by the Governor of the Colony, naval Captain Arthur Phillip.

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Arthur Phillip

Torture (Countries With US Training) - Post World War II to 1975
 "Torture Countries" identified by Amnesty International.  

Source: The Washington Connection and Third World Fascism, Chomsky N, Herman ES, Spokesman (1979), ISBN 0896080900, pg 361.