David Nelson (died 20 July 1789) was gardener-botanist on the
third voyage of
James Cook, and
botanist on under
William Bligh
Vice-Admiral William Bligh (9 September 1754 – 7 December 1817) was an officer of the Royal Navy and a colonial administrator. The mutiny on the HMS ''Bounty'' occurred in 1789 when the ship was under his command; after being set adrift i ...
at the time of the famous
mutiny.
Nothing is known of his ancestry or early life. In 1776, while working as a gardener at
Kew Gardens
Kew Gardens is a botanic garden in southwest London that houses the "largest and most diverse botanical and mycological collections in the world". Founded in 1840, from the exotic garden at Kew Park, its living collections include some of the ...
, he accepted a position as a servant to
William Bayly, the official astronomer on . He was promoted to able seaman; however, his real task as arranged between
Joseph Banks and Cook was to collect as many botanical specimens as possible for the Royal Gardens,
as Cook, who had failed to attract an established botanist to the position. He received a small amount of botanical training and instruction from Banks and
William Aiton
William Aiton (17312 February 1793) was a Scottish botanist.
Aiton was born near Hamilton. Having been regularly trained to the profession of a gardener, he travelled to London in 1754, and became assistant to Philip Miller, then superinten ...
before embarking. During the voyage, he also made a significant collection of native Hawaiian birds, which is now housed in the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
.
[
On returning to ]London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
in 1780, he worked as a gardener at Kew Gardens for seven years, before Banks arranged his appointment as botanist to Bligh's voyage to Tahiti
Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austra ...
to obtain breadfruit trees.[ Nelson had control of the Great Cabin and 1015 potted breadfruit trees which were intended for the ]West Indies
The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...
. He was caught up in the mutiny and, remaining loyal to the captain, was one of the 19 men cast adrift in a small boat. He survived the famous 3800-mile voyage to Timor
Timor is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, in the north of the Timor Sea. The island is divided between the sovereign states of East Timor on the eastern part and Indonesia on the western part. The Indonesian part, also ...
, but a few days after arriving in Kupang
Kupang ( id, Kota Kupang, ), formerly known as Koepang, is the capital of the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara. At the 2020 C ensus, it had a population of 442,758; the official estimate as at mid 2021 was 455,850. It is the largest ci ...
, died of a fever.Mount Nelson, Tasmania
Mount Nelson is a suburb of the city of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia above the Hobart suburb of Sandy Bay and to the south of Hobart's CBD. Because of its views over the River Derwent (Tasmania), it is one of the more prestigious suburbs in Ho ...
in his honor.
See also
* List of gardener-botanist explorers of the Enlightenment
The Age of Discovery, also known as the Age of Exploration, was a period in history starting in the early 15th century and continuing into the early 17th century during which Europeans engaged in intensive exploration of the world, establishing di ...
* European and American voyages of scientific exploration
The era of European and American voyages of scientific exploration followed the Age of Discovery and were inspired by a new confidence in science and reason that arose in the Age of Enlightenment. Maritime expeditions in the Age of Discovery were ...
References
Bibliography
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, David
1789 deaths
Botanical collectors active in Australia
English horticulturists
Crew of HMS Bounty
James Cook
Year of birth unknown