Prince of Wales was a transport ship in the First Fleet, assigned to carry convicts for the European colonisation of Australia. There is some ambiguity about her origins and she was probably launched in 1779 at Sidmouth and rebuilt at London in 1786. Still, in 1787 she set sail for Australia, and reached Botany Bay in January 1788. On a difficult return voyage in 1788–89 she became separated from her convoy, was taken eastward around the world instead of west and drifted helplessly off Rio de Janeiro for a day while her crew was incapacitated with scurvy.