First Fleet
The prisoners were gathered from places throughout England - Wiltshire, Devonshire, Surry, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Somersetshire, Plymouth and London - many had already been locked up for several years in various prisons under appalling conditions and were in a poor state of health. Many, especially those from smaller country jails were not in good health. Captain Phillip thought that he might have to make one of the ships a hospital ship to care for the sick. Newspapers wrote that they expected about 80% of the convicts would not survive the long journey. Before they even left England, several of the convicts died and some of marines were so sick that they were removed from the ships. However the number of people that died on the trip was quite small, and shows that the planning and treatment of the convicts during the journey was actually successful. Most had put on weight and were healthier when they arrived in Australia than when they left England.