The facts were different. Much of the food was of poor quality. The flour was full of weevils, a common problem on ships in this era. The salted meat shriveled to half of its size. The livestock died or strayed away. Mice and insects ate the grain seeds as they were sown or stored. Most of the convicts were city people who knew nothing of farming.
Governor Phillip knew that he had a problem at the beginning of 1789. There was no real shortage as yet, but the preservation of food became a major priority. Food stealing was to be treated as a major crime. In January 1789, a convict escapee who had lived by stealing from huts and gardens was caught, tried and publicly hanged that same day.
A couple of months later it was discovered that some marines had been pilfering from the public stores for some eight months. One admitted to have helped himself to 100 gallons of rum, bags of flour, butter, bread and tobacco. The others had stolen on the same scale. Six marines were sentenced to death and hanged; the seventh, which had informed on the others, was released.
After seven months away, the HMS 'Sirius' returned from a protracted voyage to Cape Town. She brought seed, wheat and barley, and enough flour to feed the colony for four months. It was little enough, but it at least gave the colony some breathing space.
By August the stealing of food, and the nocturnal plundering of hen coops and gardens was rampant, and Phillip formed a night watch comprising of the more trusted convicts. The settlement was divided into four areas; each patrolled by three men. The measure was so successful that that Phillip could report to Lord Sydney that not a single robbery was reported at this time.
Food stores were so low by October that the general ration was once more reduced by a third. Fishing in the harbour was good, but hunters sent after kangaroos and emus had little success. The first harvest at Rose Hill yielded 200 bushels of wheat and 35 of barley; all had to be conserved for the next sowing. By the end of 1789 the situation was critical indeed, with only enough food in store to last till May 1790.
