Alexander: overloading, bilge water, disease, and mutiny

Alexander was the First Fleet's largest transport, but her stated cargo capacity may have encouraged overloading beyond what her design could safely support. With only about thirty crew, the ship also lacked ten men compared with another point in her service. Foul bilge water rose high enough to blacken fittings and clothing, filling the accommodation with noxious vapors and adding both a health hazard and a sinking risk. Principal surgeon John White had to appeal to Phillip before regular pumping was enforced, after which the condition of the convicts and crew improved. Orders allowed Marines and convicts to assist with the pumps, showing how commercial economizing on crew transferred labor and risk to everyone aboard. A separate mutiny plot involving iron bars led to the alleged conspirators being identified, flogged, and transferred. The later return voyage carried the surviving papers of the French explorer La Pérouse, whose party met British vessels at Botany Bay. British and French personnel exchanged supplies, but their senior officers avoided meeting because months away from Europe left both sides unsure whether their countries were now at war.