SIR JOSEPH BANKS. 81 Another unfortunate oflScer in the navy figures ptomi- 1787-89 nently among his correspondents. One of the earliest letters in the collection is from William Bligh, the celebrated wiinam lieutenant of the Bounty. It is dated August 6th, 1787, * and confirms Brougham^s statement that it was Sir Joseph " who suggested the means of transplanting the bread- fruit tree from the South Sea Islands to the West Indies." The breod- Bligh wrote immediately after his arrival in London : — I arrived yestei'day from Jamaica, and should instantly have paid my respects to you had not Mr. Campbell told me you were not to return from the country until Thursday. I have heard the flattering news of your great goodness to me, intending to honor me with the command of the vessel which you propose to go to the South Seas. This letter is followed by a series of other communications At Timor, from Bligh, written in the same strain. One of the most remarkable is dated from Timor, June 14th, 1789 — ^two days after he had arrived there — enclosing a narrative of the mutiny among the sailors of the Bounty, and of his Tae mutiny, voyage in the open boat to Timor. " I have not given so full an account to the Admiralty,** he says. The coiTespond- ence was continued for many years afterwards, including the period during which he was Governor of New South Wales. In one of his letters, dated 30th June, 1808, he gave his patron a lengthy '^account of the Rebellion** The rebd- headed by Lieutenant-Colonel Johnston. On both these occasions Bligh*s first thought* evidently was to place Sir Joseph Banks in possession of the facts of his case; reporting events to him with as much minuteness as if he had been writing a despatch to the official head of his department. His unfortunate history for twenty years reveals itself with curious distinctness in the discoloured but still legible sheets of paper preserved by his friend. There was no point of resemblance between Flinders and ninden Bligh as regards personal character ; but each of them was a victim of unexpected disaster, and each showed the same p Digitized by VjOOQIC
