John Marshall

Who was John Marshall?

Captain John Marshall was born in Ramsgate, Kent, England on 15 February 1748. Having been bound apprentice at the age of ten he spent his life at sea. In 1788 he captained the Scarborough, a ship of the First Fleet taking convicts from England to Botany Bay. He then sailed from Australia to China, charting previously unknown islands, as well as a new trade route to Canton. The islands which he had originally called "Lord Mulgrove's range" were later named Marshall Islands. John Marshall also captained the Scarborough on her second voyage transporting convicts to Australia, but the convicts coming aboard were in poor health and many did not survive the voyage; this, combined with an attempted seizure of the ship by the convicts, deterred him from any further voyages of transportation. He saw action during the American war of Independence, and also the Napoleonic Wars, being severely wounded when on board the ship Diana. He died in 1819 at the age of 71.