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John Wilkins (?–?)

John Wilkins was a marine in the 55th (Portsmouth) Company. He arrived in Sydney aboard the Lady Penrhyn in January 1788 as part of the First Fleet. He served in the company of Captain Watkin Tench.

On 23 July 1790 a whale attacked a small boat from which he, James Ferguson, Thomas Harp and John Bates were fishing near Bradley's Head in Sydney Harbour. Only Wilkins managed to swim ashore; the other three men drowned.

It is thought that Wilkins may have returned to England on the Atlantic in May 1793.

* information from Mollie Gillen, The Founders of Australia: A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet (1989), p 382

 

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Citation details

'Wilkins, John (?–?)', People Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://peopleaustralia.anu.edu.au/biography/wilkins-john-30197/text37475, accessed 2 December 2023.

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