Transplanting of the Bread-Fruit-Trees from Otaheite

Artist Thomas Gosse

Date1796

Object number00055336

NameEngraving

Mediumpaper

DimensionsOverall (In mount): 630 × 780 mm
Overall (Without mount): 563 × 440 mm

ClassificationsArt

Credit LineANMM Collection

Terms

DescriptionAn engraving by Thomas Gosse titled 'Transplanting of the Bread-Fruit-Trees from Otaheite'. The image depicts William Bligh standing in naval uniform in a ship's boat while in front of him on the shore, crew and Tahitians tend a potted breadfruit tree under the gaze of Pomare, paramount chief of Tahiti. Gosse issued his print in 1796 to celebrate the safe return of Bligh's second and successful breadfruit voyage on the HMS PROVIDENCE and HMS ASSISTANT. HistoryThe breadfruit tree was noticed by the British on Captain Cook's first voyage to the Pacific. Botanist Joseph Banks and others recognised the fruit's value as a high energy food source and saw it as a promising solution for feeding slaves in the sugar-producing colonies of the British West Indies. So convinced was Banks on the potential of the breadfruit tree that in 1787, then president of the Royal Society, he successfully petitioned the government to undertake an expedition to transfer hundreds of breadfruit trees from Tahiti. This experiment would be headed by William Bligh on the ship HMS BOUNTY which departed England in December, 1787. While the outcome of that voyage is well known, what is less known is what Bligh's original task in Tahiti was and that the BOUNTY left Tahitian shores loaded with over 1000 specimens. It is recorded that the ship had undergone numerous conversions on board to accommodate the huge number of potted plants, including Bligh's own cabin and parts of the aft deck. Water was rationed to ensure the plants survived and these new cramped and restrictive conditions likely contributed to rising tensions on-board amongst the crew. When Bligh finally returned to England after the BOUNTY mutiny it was decided that he would lead another breadfruit expedition back to Tahiti. He departed in August 1791 with the ships HMS PROVIDENCE and ASSISTANCE. Better equipped and knowing what to expect, Bligh was this time successful and landed in the West Indies with 678 breadfruit plants intact. SignificanceThe engraving ranks in importance with the iconic image of Bligh set adrift by the BOUNTY mutineers by Robert Dodd, but is less well-known. It is a highly evocative work referencing William Bligh's successful transportation of the breadfruit plant from Tahiti to the West Indies in 1795.