She left Port Jackson on 14 July 1788 to return to England via Cape Horn. The crew was so badly affected by scurvy that the master, (Readthorn) Hobson Reed, took her to Rio de Janeiro, where the harbour master and his men had to bring the ship to its berth. Five of the crew died on the homeward voyage. One of the five was the captain's father, Joseph Reed, a former master mariner in the coal trade. "Borrowdale" arrived at Plymouth from Botany Bay on 25 March 1789.