Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 2.djvu/182

 154 PBOGRESS APTEK ABRIYAL OF SECOND FLEET. 1^^ obtained important appointments at Sydney. He was the father of William Charles Wentworth, who in later years played a prominent part in the political life of the colony. At the close of 1790 the loss of population caused by death and desertion in the settlements at Sydney and Parramatta was reckoned up by Collins. It amounted to one hundred and fifty-nine souls. During the twelve months the only deaths from sickness among the free population were those of two seamen and one soldier ; while of the convict MortaUty. class. One hundred and twenty-three men, seven women, and ten children died. Most of these had arrived by the vessels of the Second Fleet, and many of them were in a dying state when they landed. The despatches show that fifty died in less than three weeks after their arrival. The rest of the people, notwithstanding the privations they suffered, seem to have kept their health.