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Overview
This very rare mezzotint print pictures an historically significant moment in histories of colonialism, economic botany, slavery and the Pacific. Captain Cook and Joseph Banks had seen the breadfruit in the Pacific and conceived that it might form a cheap and reliable form of sustenance for sugar plantation slaves in the British West Indies. The first effort to transport breadfruit from Tahiti to the West Indies was commanded by William Bligh captain of the Bounty, which depart England in 1787. This expedition was derailed by the notorious mutiny on the Bounty. This print pictures the second botanical mission, when, in 1791, Bligh returned to the Pacific as master and commander of HMS Providence, along with HMS Assistant under the command of Nathaniel Portlock, to undertake again to transport breadfruit from Tahiti to the West Indies. The operation was generally successful but its immediate objective, which was to provide a cheap and nutritious food for the African slaves in the West Indies islands around the Caribbean Sea was not met, as most slaves refused to eat the new food, preferring plantain.
Here, Gosse pictures the breadfruit being loaded onto boats to be transferred to the ships at anchor. The British naval officer standing in the row boat is Bligh and the noble Tahitian at centre, clad in flowing robes, is likely intended to represent Pōmare I. His posture and clothing seem to be based on Sir Joshua Reynolds’ portrait of the Raiatean who returned to England on Cook’s second voyage, Omai, or, more properly, Mai.
Thomas Gosse was a mezzotint engraver and miniaturist who made several prints relating to activities in the colonies and the Pacific. He never travelled to this part of the world, meaning his prints were based on the accounts and images made by those who did. This mezzotint was engraved by Gosse, printed in black and white and hand-coloured and was published on 1 September, 1796.