After many adventures at sea, including being shipwrecked off the coast of Norway with his father as a young man, John Hunter (1737-1821), voyaged to Sydney as part of the "First Fleet", and second captain of the 'Sirius', the convoy's flagship. An accomplished officer, "Hunter stayed for four years during which he surveyed Port Jackson, Norfolk Island and the bays and rivers around Sydney. He spent three years back in England before being appointed Arthur Phillip's successor as governor. By the time Hunter returned in 1795, many of the principles established by his predecessor had unravelled under the administration of the New South Wales Corps. Hunter struggled to curb the trade in rum and the "shameful excesses" it created. But he is also remembered for the significant explorations he instigated or conducted himself during his four-year term as governor. A typical man of the scientific Enlightenment, Hunter was skilled in navigation, astronomy, art, botany and writing. His precise observations of Sydney's topography and people remain among the most important documents of the early years of the British in Australia" (NPG Australia, online).