the Third Fleet to resupply the colony at Port Jackson, New South Wales. He departed England in March 1791 and reached Port Jackson in July that year. There the Lieutenant-Governor, Philip Gidley King, decided that the rice supply was insufficient for the needs of the colony and despatched Bowen to Bengal to acquire more. Bowen set off on the voyage, dropping King and his family at Norfolk Island on the way, and sailed east past New Caledonia, the Isle of Pines and Terra Arsacides, a route never before sailed. He also sailed a never-before navigated passage, between Borneo and Paragua into the South China Sea. From there he passed through the Straits of Malacca, reaching Bengal in January 1792. After acquiring provisions he made his way back to Port Jackson. He picked up Governor Arthur Phillip in December and returned him to Britain, arriving at Spithead in May 1793. By then he had completed two long voyages, one of them around the world, in a transport vessel. French Revolutionary Wars Caribbean By the time of Bowen's arrival war had broken out between France and Britain. He was offered a chance to perform a similar to mission to his earlier voyages to the colonies in Australia, but turned in down in order to serve under Jervis, now commander-in-chief of an expedition to attack the French colonies in the Caribbean. Bowen joined the fleet as fourth-lieutenant and signal-officer aboard the 98-gun , and after the fleet had rendezvoused at Barbadoes, sailed for Martinique on 3 February 1794. Jervis placed Bowen in command of the guard and gunboats after the fleet's arrival at Fort de France Bay, and instructed him to prepare an assault on a large French frigate, the Bien Venu, chained to the walls of the fort protecting the city. The frigate was rumoured to hold a number of captured English prisoners, whom the French were threatening to kill by blowing up the frigate, should the British attempt to storm the fort. Bowen developed a plan of attack and on 17 February led an assault force consisting of Boynes barge and a number of small boats. The boats rushed the frigate and the boarding party stormed her successfully. The boarding party killed or drove off all of her crew, with the exception of twenty whom Bowen took prisoner, among them the captain and lieutenant. Finding that there were no British prisoners