Events January–March January 1 – The first edition of The Times, previously The Daily Universal Register, is published in London. January 2 – Georgia ratifies the United States Constitution, and becomes the fourth U.S. state under the new government. January 9 – Connecticut ratifies the United States Constitution, and becomes the fifth U.S. state. January 18 – The leading ship (armed tender HMS Supply) in Captain Arthur Phillip's First Fleet arrives at Botany Bay, to colonise Australia. January 22 – the Congress of the Confederation, effectively a caretaker government until the United States Constitution can be ratified by at least nine of the 13 states, elects Cyrus Griffin as its last president. January 24 – The La Perouse expedition in the Astrolabe and Boussole arrives off Botany Bay, just as Captain Arthur Phillip is attempting to move his colony from there to Sydney Cove in Port Jackson. January 26 – Australia Day: Eleven ships of the First Fleet from Botany Bay, led by Captain Arthur Phillip, land at Sydney Cove (which will become Sydney), Australia, where he determines to establish the British prison colony of New South Wales, the first permanent European settlement on the continent. January 31 – Henry Benedict Stuart becomes the new Stuart claimant to the throne of Great Britain, as King Henry IX and the figurehead of Jacobitism. February 1 – Isaac Briggs and William Longstreet patent a steamboat. February 6 – Massachusetts ratifies the United States Constitution, and becomes the sixth U.S. state. February 7 – Sydney is named and founded, by the British Colony of New South Wales. February 9 – Austria enters the Russo-Turkish War (1787–92), and attacks Moldavia. February 17 – The uninhabited Lord Howe Island is discovered by the brig HMS Supply, commanded by Lieutenant Ball, who is on his way from Botany Bay to Norfolk Island with convicts to start a penal settlement there. They arrive at Norfolk Island on March 6. March 10 – The La Perouse expedition leaves Sydney Cove for New Caledonia, never to be seen again. March 14 – The Edinburgh Evening Courant carries a notice of £200 reward for the capture of William Brodie, a town councilor doubling as a burglar. March 21 – The Great New Orleans Fire kills 25% of the population and destroys 856 buildings, including St. Louis Cathedral and The Cabildo, leaving most of the town in ruins. April–June April 7