Botany Bay – Lord Sydney, Arthur Phillip & ‘Hush Christopher Robin’ – Mark 2
Tuesday, March 3rd, 2020‘It will be asked why, when we [Britain] have as great if not a greater, force than we ever had, the enemy are superior to us. To this it is to be answered that England till this time [1778-83] was never engaged in a sea war with the House of Bourbon [France and Spain] thoroughly united, their naval force unbroken, and resources, and having no other war or object to draw off their attentions and resources’. Lord Sandwich cited Robert .J. King, The Secret History of the Convict Colony, Sydney 1990
1775- America, Lexington: In April 1775 Britain went to war with her North American colonists. But not all of them. Loyalists, remained faithful to the Crown and, alongside British soldiers, fought their rebellious Patriot-brothers.
Led by General George Washington, against all odds America’s Patriots went on to win independence from Britain.
1778 – France: In February 1778 the French signed a formal alliance with the United States.
1778 – England: The following month, March 1778, Britain declared war on France.
‘Although Spain never officially allied with the United States its entry into the Revolutionary War alongside France turned a regional North American conflict into a global war and forced Britain to divert its vaunted Royal Navy to defend other interests [including Gibraltar] around the world’. The American Revolution – A World War, eds .notes, Spanish Naval Operations. Ed. David K. Allison & Larrie D. Ferreiro, Smithsonian Books, Washington D.C. 2013
1779 – Spain: In 779 Spain entered into alliance with France. Spain assisted with logistical support, woollen uniforms, foodstuffs and medicines.