Letter from E.S. [Edward Sabine] to Joseph Sabine esq [secretary of the Horticultural Society of London], 42 Warwick Street, Regent Street, London

Title

Letter from E.S. [Edward Sabine] to Joseph Sabine esq [secretary of the Horticultural Society of London], 42 Warwick Street, Regent Street, London

Record type

Archive

Original Reference

RHS/Col/2/Z1/8

Date

4 Jan 1822

Scope & content

Written from Plymouth

Postmarked ('C 7JA7 1822', 'Plymouth 5JA5 1822'). The letter includes an opened seal

They are sailing with a fair wind; they are all right on board, and Mr Don [George Don] is getting used to the ship; he has bought a 'Quarterly Review' ('therefore do not send me one'); Sir R. [Ralph Woodford, governor of Trinidad] has brought 2,000 fathoms [2.27 miles] of sounding line for him from the dock yard; Barrow [John Barrow, second secretary to the Admiralty, fellow of the Royal Society] is wrong in supposing that none of the present islanders of Fernando Po [Bioko, Equatorial Guinea] had seen a European vessel before the Pheasant anchored there, with so many ships annually in the Bights of Benin and Biafra, and he thinks he must have heard that no European vessel had anchored there and 'in his usual hasty way' misunderstood; he is making magnetic observations at the Plymouth Breakwater; he will remain at least six weeks at Sierra Leone and disembark everything, and request Sir Robert [Robert Mends, captain of HMS Iphigenia] to appoint the Pheasant to attend to his instructions; he will then proceed with Clavering [Douglas Charles Clavering, captain of HMS Pheasant], 'a steady, gentlemanly, honourable young man', in the Pheasant, stopping at St Thomas's [Sao Tome, Sao Tome and Principe] out of curiosity and at Cape Coast Castle [Ghana] and Fernando Po, to make magnetic observations; he will remain at St Thomas's for six weeks, or less time if his observations are completed sooner, and will use the castle at the harbour entrance; he will then travel to Ascension [Ascension Island, British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha] for a further six weeks, then to Maranham [Maranhao, Brazil] ('or if not, Para [Brazil]') for at least six weeks more, then to Trinidad for four or five weeks; he will finish with a short visit to Barbados and Jamaica. Written from Plymouth

Postmarked ('C 7JA7 1822', 'Plymouth 5JA5 1822'). The letter includes an opened seal

They are sailing with a fair wind; they are all right on board, and Mr Don [George Don] is getting used to the ship; he has bought a 'Quarterly Review' ('therefore do not send me one'); Sir R. [Ralph Woodford, governor of Trinidad] has brought 2,000 fathoms [2.27 miles] of sounding line for him from the dock yard; Barrow [John Barrow, second secretary to the Admiralty, fellow of the Royal Society] is wrong in supposing that none of the present islanders of Fernando Po [Bioko, Equatorial Guinea] had seen a European vessel before the Pheasant anchored there, with so many ships annually in the Bights of Benin and Biafra, and he thinks he must have heard that no European vessel had anchored there and 'in his usual hasty way' misunderstood; he is making magnetic observations at the Plymouth Breakwater; he will remain at least six weeks at Sierra Leone and disembark everything, and request Sir Robert [Robert Mends, captain of HMS Iphigenia] to appoint the Pheasant to attend to his instructions; he will then proceed with Clavering [Douglas Charles Clavering, captain of HMS Pheasant], 'a steady, gentlemanly, honourable young man', in the Pheasant, stopping at St Thomas's [Sao Tome, Sao Tome and Principe] out of curiosity and at Cape Coast Castle [Ghana] and Fernando Po, to make magnetic observations; he will remain at St Thomas's for six weeks, or less time if his observations are completed sooner, and will use the castle at the harbour entrance; he will then travel to Ascension [Ascension Island, British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha] for a further six weeks, then to Maranham [Maranhao, Brazil] ('or if not, Para [Brazil]') for at least six weeks more, then to Trinidad for four or five weeks; he will finish with a short visit to Barbados and Jamaica

Extent

4 page letter (1 sheet)

Is part of

RHS archive: plant collector papers

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)