It was reported that a seaman had smallpox .
While it was noted that , in the 8 month voyage of the first fleet and the following 14 months there were no reports of small pox amongst the colonists and that as small pox has an incubation period of 10-12 days it is unlikely it was present in the first fleet , it is now known that the likely source was bottles of smallpox virus possessed by First Fleet surgeons and there was a report of smallpox amongst the colonists - a seaman , Jefferies .
Smallpox