Friendship had traded to Antigua, carried coal, and sailed to Saint Petersburg for iron, hemp, and planks before being chartered as the fleet's smallest convict transport. Her recorded complement was 76 male and 21 female convicts, although the precise distribution was uncertain. At the Cape, the women were transferred to other transports so Friendship could carry livestock purchased for New South Wales. Two women died during the voyage, and Friendship became the last fleet vessel to anchor at Sydney Cove on 26 January. A surviving silver medallion bears the inscription "Success to the Friendship 1787" and Francis Walton's initials; the suggestion that Walton commissioned it before departure remains a theory.
Notable Point · 2:00:08-2:03:02
Friendship exchanges convicts for Cape livestock
The smallest convict transport reorganized its complement at the Cape so that livestock could be carried onward to the new colony.