The Indian and Pacific Correspondence of Sir Joseph Banks, 1768–1820, Volume 6

Neil Chambers

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9781851968404
• eBook ISBN: 9781315475912
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Military & Maritime History
• Index: History

Following his participation in James Cook's circumnavigation in HMS Endeavour (1768-71), Joseph Banks developed an extensive global network of scientists and explorers. His correspondence shows how he developed effective working links with the British Admiralty and with the generation of naval officers who sailed after Cook. Volume 6 Letters 1801–1805

From Bartholomew Rudd

[1]

Redcar, near Gisborough

10 September 1801

Sir,

I have the pleasure to acknowledge the receipt of your letter inclosing your very handsome & truly charitable donation of Ten Pounds for M^rs. Fleck the Sister of the late Capt. Cook –¹ I can assure you it is an act of great & well timed charity for in consequence of a very unfavourable season for the catching of Lobsters & crabs which is now the occupation of her husband they have been reduced to great distress indeed & as you rightly conjecture have been in a great measure supported by charitable contributions [deletion] – It appears to me the best mode of administering your bounty to them not to give them all the money at once but to advance it by weekly allowances as their necessities may require it –

¹Elizabeth Cook (née Batts) (1740/1–1835) was the widow of James Cook (1728–79). Banks assisted in arranging a pension from government to support her. He also ensured that the largest share of profits from the publication of Cook’s voyages was assigned to Elizabeth and her children. James Cook’s sister, Margaret Fleck (1742–1804), was not included in these provisions, and when she and her husband, James (1739–1817), fell on hard times Bartholomew Rudd (d. 1829), a local barrister, intervened on their behalf. He approached Banks for help and Banks donated £10 to the Flecks. Banks advised Rudd to contact Elizabeth Cook for assistance and himself approached the Admiralty to request financial aid for the family. The Admiralty refused to help, however, on the basis that giving money to wider family in such cases might set an undesirable precedent.
The son of the Flecks, James (1765–1828), was introduced by Rudd to Banks. James was the master of a ship in which he purchased a share for £225, the money having been loaned to him for this purpose by Elizabeth Cook. Rudd later approached Banks regarding James when the Fleck family’s fortunes once again deteriorated following Margaret’s death. James and his partners were at this point forced to sell their ship. Rudd asked Banks to help James obtain a post in the navy or possibly as a revenue officer. See Rudd to Banks, 22 April 1805, this edition, vol. 7, letter 14.

I propose to follow that mode of relief & when the money you have so Kindly & generously given them is in that way all expended I will of course take the liberty of transmitting to you the amount & vouchers of the expenditure – I believe it is now about three weeks since M^rs. Flecks letter to M^rs. Cook was sent but I do not find that any answer has yet been received /but / perhaps she may be absent from home or ill but should no answer be returned in a month or two I think we may conclude that M^rs. Fleck’s application in that quarter does not meet with Success – Should that be the case I will as I before mentioned transmit you a proper Certificate of M^rs. Fleck’s Situation & I hope there can be no doubt of your generous & /appl / humane application to Government for a small pension for her proving successful – I am sure you will agree with me that it would be little short of a national disgrace to Suffer the Sister of Cap^t. Cook to pass her old age in want of the common necessaries of life or in a parish workhouse –

I have the honour to remain, Sir,

with very great respect

your most humble & most obedt Serv

Bart^w. Rudd

[Banks Endorsements.]

Sept 15

[and]

M^r Rudd

Sept 15 – 01

From Rev. Thomas Haweis

[2]

Brighton

19 September 1801

Dear Sir,

Your favor of Augt 22^d reached me only this morning, having lain at Spafields, till a Packet from thence brought it with other Letters.¹

¹In 1797 a party of missionaries was sent by the Missionary Society (later the London Missionary Society) to islands in the Pacific on the Duff . In the years that followed these missionaries struggled to cope, both as a viable community and in their missionary work. Indeed, some of them departed for Port Jackson while others were ostracized for taking native wives. When the Albion whaler arrived at Tahiti in December 1800, she brought bleak news regarding the capture in the Atlantic by a French privateer of the Duff as it carried a second consignment of missionaries to the Pacific. The Albion also brought news of the massacre on Tonga (the Friendly Islands) of three missionaries, mistakenly thought by the locals to be participating in tribal wars. All but one of the survivors of this tragedy were evacuated on board the Betsy in January 1800. Meanwhile, in the Marquesas, William Pascoe Crook (1775–1846) had persevered alone. There he mastered the native language and gained the respect of the local people, before returning home to report to the Missionary Society directors. In July 1801 the Royal Admiral arrived at Tahiti bringing eight more missionaries, as well as letters from home and the first official communication from the society’s directors. Many of the missionaries on the island wanted an increase in their numbers for greater security and in order to achieve their evangelical aims, but at this time the supply of missionaries from England remained small. Families and more women for wives were thought by them to be desirable. When the Royal Admiral departed it carried away troublesome runaway sailors who on Tahiti, as elsewhere among the Pacific islands, had caused considerable disruption. It was not until early in 1802 that the missionaries on Tahiti were able to undertake their first tour of the island preaching in Tahitian. Shortly thereafter tribal war broke out, and their efforts were once again placed in jeopardy. See Haweis to Banks, 15 May 1801, this edition, vol. 5, letter 272.

As a Subject, & friend to my Country, I feel myself bound to any Service it may require of me. I am too incompetent on the Subject, to trouble his Lordship with any Suggestions, ready only to do any thing, & Every thing in my Power, which the Commander of the District where invasion might be made or apprehended should judge necessary.² There are not many Miles from Newcastle to the Land’s End, & indeed round the whole Coast where there are not Some Persons, many, /in connection with us,/ who would probably be Excited to Activity in any Service, which might be recommended by the Commander in cheif, if a Man in whom they had Confidence were among them, and I know many of my Brethren in Wales as well as England, who would as readily as myself come forward to promote any Service, that might conduce to national Defence in Case of Emergency. I need not perhaps repeat that I am ready at an hour’s notice to go to any Part of the Coast, and under the Direction of the Commander of the District, to Suggest or Execute whatever may be within the Sphere of my Influence and Activity. I shrink from the Idea of Intrusion, or of appearing of any Importance, where I merely fulfill the Calls of Duty. mine can be but small, but Every little adds to the Mass. I shall rejoice to find there is no Call for such exertions, but if there should, conscious of my motives & only regretting that I had not greater Ability to Serve my Country, in Willingness your humble Servant would approve himself.

²In the summer of 1801 Britain was in the grip of the first real invasion scare of the Napoleonic Wars. Britain was the sole nation at war with France since the signing of the Treaty of Luneville between the French and the Austrians in February 1801. Partly in order to gain bargaining power in subsequent peace negotiations, Napoleon (1769–1821) concentrated the now unemployed French army together with a flotilla of barges at Boulogne. On 12 August The Times published general instructions for the organization of British troops being marched to assembly points in the event of an invasion. On 15 August Horatio Nelson’s (1758–1805) attempt to attack the flotilla at Boulogne failed. The peace negotiations that began on 1 October 1801 led to the signing of an armistice, the Treaty of Amiens, on 27 March 1802 and a brief interruption to years of war between Britain and France.

And now dear Sir, I must trouble you on another Subject, which I was just sitting down to lay before you, as your favor came to hand. You know in what concerns our Southern Establishment, especially at Otaheite, you are my magnus Apollo. The kind Indulgence with which you have always treated me, & the ready Assistance you have given, make me reckon confidently on your advice, & direction, how we may eventually Succeed in an Object, which I think great in a national View, but greater as referring to Interests unspeakably beyond every thing temporal.

I have given you the State of our Mission at Otaheite, & the reinforcements sent out by the royal Admiral. Our most Sensible Men there, from whom we have received letters earnestly recommend a firm & enlarged Settlement at /a / Mattavai, with a schooner remaining to keep up correspondence thro’ the circumjacent Islands, & diffuse thereby knowledge as from a central focus, increasing our Numbers according to our calls. In order to [do] this many of us think an orderly Government among our Brethren should be established, clothed with some proper & legal Authority. I wish therefore if it be not too troublesome to learn from you

1. Whether the India Company’s exclusive rights would prevent such a settlement – could in that case their consent be obtained, subjecting us to such commercial constraints as thought proper to be imposed.
2. Could our Government, at a peace not I hope very distant be prevailed upon to grant us a ship which would otherwise /be/ laid up, to convey a body of fifty or Sixty persons to join our Brethren at Mattavai.
3. Whether if we freighted an annual Ship to communicate with our Brethren, and to bring home any produce of the Islands, as the Moravians do from Labradore, a license could be obtained with an admitted Entrance of such produce here. If the leading points were ascertained The details would all be submitted to you, & I shall not offend you by Expressing my Confidence that you would not Spare yourself a considerable Degree of trouble to perfect an Object so desireable

I mean to be here till October the middle perhaps the End, & then shall merely pass thro Town for Bath.

Your much obliged

& obedient Serv^t

T Haweis.

P.S. I am anxious to know what we may hope, as it will require time & much Attention to find proper persons, especially a president, & what I wish, from Germany or Sweden a Botanist mineralogist, & naturalist as I think there is a great Treasure of Natural History to be yet collected, in the Southern Ocean. I have made many Enquiries from D^r Vanderkemp,³ which I hope will bring something valuable from Caffraria & the Tambouquis It has been suggested by intelligent Men returned from Port Jackson that the very Supply of that Colony with provisions & live Stock from Otaheite, where they might be raised in any quantity, would be an unspeakable Advantage. You know the run down may be done in a fortnight tho’ the return be Slower. they say this Article alone would defray the Expence of our Settlement.

³Johannes Theodorus van der Kemp (1747–1811): Dutch-born missionary, sent by Missionary Society to the Cape of Good Hope in 1799. See Haweis to Banks, [25 November 1798], this edition, vol. 5, letter 20.

[Banks Endorsement.]

Sept 22

[Addressed: Soho Square.]

From William Roxburgh

[3]

Calcutta

21 September 1801

Dear Sir

The Georgiana packet...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Editorial Principles
• Abbreviations and Sources
• Timeline 1801–1805
• Letters 1801–1805
• Calendar of Correspondence
• Index