13 May 1787: Australia’s ‘First Fleet’ sails from Portsmouth

On this day in 1787 a fleet of 11 ships set sail from Portsmouth to establish a penal colony in New South Wales.

It is perhaps a little-known fact that, in the 1700s, Britain's American colonies provided a very handy place for the mother country to dump its undesirables (some 52,000 convicts were sent there between 1718 and 1775). Unfortunately, that all came to a stop when the pesky Americans declared independence, and Britain's jails soon became overcrowded.

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Ben Judge

Ben studied modern languages at London University's Queen Mary College. After dabbling unhappily in local government finance for a while, he went to work for The Scotsman newspaper in Edinburgh. The launch of the paper's website, scotsman.com, in the early years of the dotcom craze, saw Ben move online to manage the Business and Motors channels before becoming deputy editor with responsibility for all aspects of online production for The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and the Edinburgh Evening News websites, along with the papers' Edinburgh Festivals website.

Ben joined MoneyWeek as website editor in 2008, just as the Great Financial Crisis was brewing. He has written extensively for the website and magazine, with a particular emphasis on alternative finance and fintech, including blockchain and bitcoin. 

As an early adopter of bitcoin, Ben bought when the price was under $200, but went on to spend it all on foolish fripperies.