Lieutenant Watts

C18th engraved portrait of John Watts (1755 – ?)

Also known as Lieutenant John Watts, Captain John Watts was an artist, naval officer who sailed with the First Fleet to New South Wales in the convict transport ‘Lady Penrhyn’.

He entered the Royal Navy in 1770. In March 1776 he was appointed to the Resolution as a midshipman, sailing with Cook on his third voyage. In 1781 Watts was promoted lieutenant. He took leave of absence from the navy to sail with the First Fleet to New South Wales in the convict transport Lady Penrhyn , then was ordered in 1787 to take command of the ship at Port Jackson and continue on to China on charter with the East India Company. The Lady Penrhyn left Sydney on 15 May 1788. After reaching China, Watts returned to England on board the Scarborough . Little else is known about him, apart from an anecdote retold by Arthur Bowes Smyth who also mentions that he suffered from asthma. When drunk at Port Jackson, Watts fell from the jolly boat and was saved from drowning in Sydney Harbour by two boys.