David Nelson (died 20 July 1789) was gardener-botanist on the third voyage of

James Cook Captain (Royal Navy), Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer famous for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 176 ...

, and

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

on under

William Bligh William Bligh (9 September 1754 – 7 December 1817) was a Vice-admiral (Royal Navy), Royal Navy vice-admiral and colonial administrator who served as the governor of New South Wales from 1806 to 1808. He is best known for his role in the Muti ...

at the time of the famous

mutiny Mutiny is a revolt among a group of people (typically of a military or a crew) to oppose, change, or remove superiors or their orders. The term is commonly used for insubordination by members of the military against an officer or superior, ...

. Nothing is known of his ancestry or early life. In 1776, while working as a gardener at

Kew Gardens Kew Gardens is a botanical garden, botanic garden in southwest London that houses the "largest and most diverse botany, botanical and mycology, mycological collections in the world". Founded in 1759, from the exotic garden at Kew Park, its li ...

, 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 Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, (19 June 1820) was an English Natural history, naturalist, botanist, and patron of the natural sciences. Banks made his name on the European and American voyages of scientific exploration, 1766 natural-history ...

and Cook was to collect as many botanical specimens as possible for the Royal Gardens, since Cook 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 Scotland, Scottish botanist. Aiton was born near Hamilton, Scotland, Hamilton. Having been regularly trained to the profession of a gardener, he travelled to London in 1754, and became assistant to Phi ...

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 Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

. On returning to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

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 language, Tahitian , ; ) is the largest island of the Windward Islands (Society Islands), Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France. It is located in the central part of t ...

to obtain

breadfruit Breadfruit (''Artocarpus altilis'') is a species of flowering tree in the mulberry and jackfruit family ( Moraceae) believed to have been selectively bred in Polynesia from the breadnut ('' Artocarpus camansi''). Breadfruit was spread into ...

trees. Nelson had control of the Great Cabin and 1015 potted breadfruit trees which were intended for the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

. 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 Indonesia–Timor-Leste border, divided between the sovereign states of Timor-Leste in the eastern part and Indonesia in the ...

, but a few days after arriving in

Kupang Kupang (, ), formerly known as Koepang, is the capital of the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara. At the 2020 Indonesian census, 2020 Census, it had a population of 442,758;Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2021. the official estimate as o ...

, died of a fever. Bligh would later name

Mount Nelson, Tasmania Mount Nelson is a residential suburb of Hobart, Tasmania, located approximately south of the Hobart city centre. It is part of both the City of Hobart and Kingborough Council municipalities. The suburb was developed post-World War II and incl ...

in his honor.

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, David 1789 deaths Botanical collectors active in Australia English horticulturists Crew of HMS Bounty Participants in James Cook's voyages Year of birth unknown

See also

References

Bibliography