Law, rations, farming, and survival under Phillip

Only twelve carpenters and very few people with agricultural knowledge reached the colony, while replies from London could take almost two years, forcing Phillip to govern with broad local discretion. Henry and Susanna Cable's successful suit against master Duncan Sinclair demonstrated that the colonial court would hear a convict's claim for property lost during the voyage, despite Sinclair's argument that convicts lacked legal protection. Phillip's planning memorandum also rejected slavery in the proposed settlement. Supplies were issued on the same scale to convicts, officers, and Marines, although women received two-thirds of the men's weekly ration. Discipline still included flogging and execution: Thomas Barrett was hanged after six convicts received death sentences for stealing supplies, while the other five were reprieved and banished on bread and water. Harbor surveys, Sirius's relief voyage, Henry Dodd and James Ruse's farming, Guardian's loss, and Supply's Batavia mission tied legal authority to immediate food and transport emergencies.