A good early letter from Banks relating specifically to the second breadfruit voyage of Bligh on HMS Providence.

A good early letter from Banks relating specifically to the second breadfruit voyage of Bligh on HMS Providence.

This fine original letter from the "Father of Australia" was sent from Soho Square to Under-Secretary of the Admiralty, Sir Evan Nepean, referring to an account of salary due to James Wiles, the head gardener who accompanied Bligh.

Testament to the interest Banks took in the outfitting of both of Bligh's voyages, Banks personally appointed Wiles (1768-1851) to the position of gardener on the Providence in June 1791, giving him instructions that were very similar to those that he had earlier provided to David Nelson on the Bounty – Nelson's tragic death in Kupang after the open boat voyage had been a blow to Banks's ambitions, given Nelson's expertise as a veteran of Cook's third voyage and the fact that he worked at Kew for many years before sailing with Bligh.

Banks was anxious to replace Nelson with a well-credentialled gardener, and soon settled on Wiles, who had trained at Chapel Allerton, the property of R.A. Salisbury, one of the first places to grow Australian exotics in the eighteenth century, the ideal training for returning to the Pacific with Bligh. A number of important letters from Wiles are recorded, chiefly in the Banks Papers of the SLNSW.

In the present letter Banks seeks to clarify Wiles's standing, given that he had remained in Jamaica in June 1793, describing him here as "the head Gardener who accompanied Capt. Bligh in the Providence & was discharged at Jamaica where he is now employed by the assembly in the care of the bread fruit trees which he brought from Otaheite."

Banks also notes in the same letter that he hoped to tidy up any payments due to Wiles's fellow gardener Christopher Smith (d.1807), at the same time. This was a matter of some urgency because Smith had come home to England on the Providence with the voyage plants destined for Kew but was on the brink of being sent – again by Banks – out to the Calcutta botanic gardens. One of Smith's assistants in Calcutta was Peter Good, who later sailed with Flinders.

Nicely written and signed, albeit in Banks's usual hasty scrawl, the letter amply demonstrates the central position he held in respect to most voyages of exploration into the Pacific in the late eighteenth century. It connects Bligh, the voyage of the Providence, the breadfruit saga and the Admiralty and is a fine example of Banks as the "dealmaker" both in the appointment of officers and their welfare whilst on duty.