Letter from E. Sabine [Edward Sabine] to Joseph [Joseph Sabine, secretary of the Horticultural Society of London]
Information
Title - Letter from E. Sabine [Edward Sabine] to Joseph [Joseph Sabine, secretary of the Horticultural Society of London]
Record type - Archive
Original Reference - RHS/Col/2/Z1/25
Date - 21 Jun-18 Jul 1822
Scope & content - Written from HMS Pheasant, 800 miles east of Ascension [Ascension Island, British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha]
The letter is written in three parts, on board HMS Pheasant, from Ascension and from Bahia [Brazil]. Letter started 21 Jan 1822
He is sending four boxes and a mat [matted parcel] for Joseph at St Thomas's [Sao Tome, Sao Tome and Principe], as supercargo on the merchant ship Eclipse, owned by Messrs Herbert, Burg & Co at 26 Austin Friars [merchants in London], with Mr Fernandez, formerly captain in the 53rd Regiment [John Fernandez, vice-consul and merchant at St Thomas]; the Eclipse should leave St Thomas's on 1 Aug and will sail directly to Cowes, Isle of Wight; her cargo is coffee, and upon arrival her owners will send orders regarding which foreign port the coffee should be taken to; Fernandez has a letter for Joseph to let him know of the ship's approach so that Joseph can immediately write to Captain Kent (a 'respectable, attentive person'), to have the boxes forwarded to him; the Eclipse returns to London after delivering her cargo; the first box contains live plants including several young pineapple trees, the second holds seeds, the third dried specimens, and the fourth box holds about 40 birds of 15 or 16 species, which, along with three or four other species which he has in spirits, constitutes the ornithology of St Thomas's, except for a coot, a swallow and an eagle; he has missed Fenton [Thomas Fenton, animal preserver in Edinburgh] and Gmelin [Johann Friedrich Gmelin, publisher, who published an edition of Carl Linnaeus' 'Systema Naturae', 1788-1793] very much, but he suspects that several of the birds of St Thomas's have not previously been described; the large pigeon is rare and only found in the higher parts of the island; the frigate bird, of which he has a complete set of specimens, appears to be a new species; some of the herons are interesting and the Photus may be new; the birds were mostly obtained by one of the marines, who was very helpful, but unfortunately died of fever; Smith [John Smith, Edward Sabine's assistant] almost died upon arrival, but has 'surprisingly' recovered and was able to skin the specimens collected in the last few days, the earlier ones being in spirits; Smith had a minor relapse today, which hopefully will not prevent him landing at Ascension; he does not think that the few shells he has gathered would be of value to Lord Mountnorris [George Annesley, 2nd Earl of Mountnorris, fellow of the Royal Society and a collector of shells], so he has suggested in a note in the box that they should be offered to Mrs Kater [Mary Frances Reeve Kater, wife of Henry Kater, inventor of Kater's pendulum, which Edward Sabine used], who may appreciate them as curiosities [for the note, 10 Jun 1822, see RHS/Col/2/Z1/22]; he has since received from the officers and seamen a more extensive, and hopefully more valuable, assortment; he has a good collection of crustaceans, both freshwater from Don [George Don] and saltwater; the box is filled up with pineapple tops for Joseph to grow; Mr R. Brown's [Robert Brown, botanist] opinion that pineapples are not native on the coast 'receives no quarter' from the Gambia to St Thomas's; even Don, who fights hard for Brown's opinions, has conceded this point; Baptiste [Joao Baptista da Silva, governor of St Thomas, Sao Tome and Principe], the foreman of St Thomas's, a horticulturalist, who introduced the coffee which is now the staple produce of the island, confirmed that the first Portuguese settlers found the pineapple abundant on their arrival at the island; Brown has also said that he knows of no laurels on the Coast, but he has seen three or four species and Don has collected more in the mountains of Sierra Leone and on this island; he wonders whether the pineapples found here are the same species as those found in America; the fruit is very fine, with a large core; the mat contains branches of the pineapple tree and of the fan palm, both with fruit; he hopes that Joseph will not be charged for the sending of these packages if they are received by Kent, but Fernandez 'is not the person to pass by an opportunity of making a charge'; they have a second box of duplicate live plants which Clavering [Douglas Charles Clavering, captain of HMS Pheasant] has assigned a berth, where Don thinks they will do well; he proposes that they offer Woodford [Ralph Woodford, British governor of Trinidad] and his gardener [David Lockhart] any specimens which are not already in Trinidad, in exchange for whatever they can give; they have room for five more boxes and the materials to make them; they purchased wood and nails at great cost at St Thomas's as the Pheasant's supply was for her own use, as she is old and requires 'significant patching up'; the high cost of these may have been due to Fernandez, who holds a temporary appointment from Robert Mends [Robert Mends, captain of HMS Iphigenia] as vice-consul to make purchases for British vessels; before they knew him well he charged them 25 dollars for 20 boards, paid for on the Society's account; he has since been told by the Portuguese that the boards would not have cost Fernandez more than 10 dollars, and that their market price was not more than 7 dollars; Fernandez treats purchases for the government in the same way, and is a 'very improper person for the appointment he has received', but seems to have got on the weaker side of Sir Robert, which is not difficult to do; Don has been diligent in his botanical researches at St Thomas's and Edward is sure that his collection will speak for itself; Don is past the worst of his fever, which was mild compared to that of the two marines who succumbed and died, and the third marine who 'is almost past hope'; he believes the fever was caused by the 'unhealthiness of the night air' at St Thomas's, as the lower parts of the island are 'a fat and extremely moist earth', the hills 'rise like an amphitheatre' towards the south and interrupt the prevailing winds, the heat of the day is rarely below 86° yet at night the cold air from the hills sends it to 72°-73°; all the cases of fever on their ship are proportional to exposure to the night air, and those on shore who shut up their rooms and took precautions are not unwell, whereas every person who slept on shore and did not take precautions has caught fever; those who worked in the daytime yet slept on the ship were unaffected; the area around the town is cleared and probably less affected by 'these pestilential miasmata'; 'the extreme heat of a tropical sun, abstracted from local insalubrity, is not altogether indeed to be defied by the thin skulls of Europeans, but with moderate care, and avoiding it especially after excess of any sort, even strong exercise may be taken at all times and without risk'; he has no doubt that in these parts of Western Africa troops could carry on active operations in the dry season with no more loss from climate exposure than occurs in Europe, if they were careful not to venture further than is safe for Europeans; the surgeons say that the fever that their men contracted in St Thomas's differs from those caught higher on the coast, as is it less inflammatory and more similar to typhus and the 'Congo malady'; the best precaution is stone walls, sash windows and stoves, never exposing the body to the night air while sleeping, and not eating or drinking too much; he asks Joseph to tell Mr Murdoch [?Thomas Murdoch, fellow of the Royal Society] that their experience has confirmed his advice on the risks of sleeping on shore; he thinks that Murdoch might find mention of pineapples in the accounts of the first Portuguese discoverers and settlers of the coast; Don's fever is less severe than he feared, and he should be nearly recovered by the time they leave for South America on or before 18 Jul; 'I did design to have written to you at length concerning some parts of his conduct, which are not so satisfactory as his exertions on shore, but I shall not do so now because he is not sufficiently well to hear my letter read, and as it concerns only his temper and disposition towards the officers and persons around him, the inconveniences of which fall on himself personally, and through my being on board do not interfere with his usefulness to the Society […] It is much to be regretted that a person who appears so well qualified in knowledge and exertion […] should mar his prospects and his usefulness by the absence of qualities of easy acquirement, but essential in all situations in life, with highest as well as the lowest […] One would have supposed that the maxim that 'civility costs nothing' might have reached him in any part of Scotland, but he is the most entirely thankless man for anything that is done for him that I have ever seen, and as he is at no pains to get accustomed to the sea or to a ship (of which he is always expressing his detestation), he is frequently both helpless and unhelped'; Mr Buckle [Thomas Stuart Buckle, surveyor and engineer in Sierra Leone] aided them significantly in Sierra Leone, and made all the packing cases for the collections sent from there at the expense of the government; he asks Joseph to send thanks in the name of the Society to Buckle, which would 'make an important friend' of him as he is a 'very gentlemanly, well informed person' and could be 'of great consideration' in the colony were he not indolent; he is a civil engineer and surveyor, and does not promise much, but could help them with birds, and is likely to help more than he promises, and he was very kind to Don; Dr Nicoll [Andrew Nicoll, medical officer in Sierra Leone] is returning to England soon and has also provided much assistance to Don; they have given up hope of receiving letters this side of the Atlantic; their last hope was that Sir Robert Mends [Robert Mends, captain of HMS Iphigenia] might have reached Sierra Leone in time to dispatch their letters to Ascension [Ascension Island, British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha], but the Iphigenia has only just arrived at Sierra Leone and as such they should receive their first letters since December at Trinidad; this wait is half as long as the entire last Northern voyage with Sir William Parry [William Edward Parry, arctic explorer; Sabine accompanied Parry on his 1819 expedition], but he remarks that Parry's fortune is more severe [Parry was at this time on an expedition in the Arctic]; he hopes that their own letters will reach England by the end of August, as they will have frequent opportunities to send them from Ascension; replies should be sent to Port Royal in Jamaica as they should be there by September; if Joseph can procure any letters [of introduction] for him to Bermudas [Bermuda], Washington or Baltimore [Maryland, United States of America] he should send them, as they may come in useful; Clavering will go from Ascension to the Bay of All Saints in Bahia [Brazil] in search of freight, and then to Pernambuco [Brazil]; they expect to reach Bahia on 20 Jul, and if Clavering is assured of freight at Bahia in advance, he will set up his pendulums and remain for ten days to conduct his experiments, otherwise he will do so at Pernambuco; if he cannot land his pendulums at either, he will set up at Maranham [Maranhao, Brazil], their next stop; they will not therefore arrive at Trinidad before September, which may be too early to meet Woodford; Smith has assisted him so much both with the birds at Sierra Leone and with his pendulum experiments that on return to England he hopes to find him 'some situation [...] I am quite aware that such situations as we wish for him are not easy to obtain; I think his habit will be very much steadied by his present voyage and illness'; Sir George Collier [commander in chief of the Royal Navy before his death in 1795] has likely taken home from the coast some very valuable birds, and Edward thinks that he sought after them with a view to give them away in England for scientific purposes, rather than with any private intention; he asks that the birds are seen and described before they are dispersed, not kept 'under lock and key' in Pultney Street [Little Pulteney Street, later re-named Brewer Street, or Great Pulteney Street, Soho, London]
Letter continued from Ascension Island, 8 Jul 1822
He cannot write much as his eyes are inflamed by too much use; he has completed his observations and will finish tomorrow by measuring the height of the highest point on the island; Don has recovered and has been up a mountain and collected two dozen species, including a new moss and a new fern; he requests a small packet of seeds to be sent to Barrow [John Barrow, second secretary to the Admiralty, fellow of the Royal Society] for the islanders of Ascension, who want gourds, marrows, onions, and other common English vegetables, along with melons and cucumbers; the island has good lettuces, cabbage and carrots; they have specimens of all the birds, including a tropicbird different from the tropicbird of St Thomas's, a frigate, two boobies, a white tern, and a black tern with a hoary crown; one other species called the 'wide-awake', which he believes is a tern, visits the island to feed; the doctor, who Smith has taught to skin, has promised to send us specimens as soon as the wide-awakes arrive; they will not send the birds from Ascension as the opportunities are uncertain; if Smith remains healthy they should have a good collection, but he has not recovered as fast as usual, and Don will soon overtake him; Clavering has removed Don from the midshipman's mess as requested, so he should get on better than previously; he asks Joseph to enquire about specimens of tropicbirds (Phaethontidae), as he suspects there are many different species compounded together, including the red-shafted one spoken of by Buffon [Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, French naturalist], which is not known in Ascension as he said it was; they will sail on the afternoon of 10 Jul, and expect a 12-day journey to Bahia; the shells on the beach here are the same as at St Thomas's ('a curious circumstance')
Letter continued 'off Bahia', 18 Jul 1822
They have arrived sooner than expected; Don's trip up Ascension 'has thrown him back very much', but he is recovered again; Smith has been saving their Ascension specimens from insects by baking them in an oven; if there are insects in any of the collections which reach Joseph, he should immerse the rare small bird in spirits for a few days to save it; the plants are in as good a condition as when they were embarked
Extent - 8 page letter (2 sheets)
Repository - Royal Horticultural Society Lindley Library
Copyright - John J. Timothy Jeal
Credit Line - Courtesy John J. Timothy Jeal / RHS Lindley Collections
Usage terms - Non-commercial use with attribution permitted (CC BY-NC 4.0)