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From: "James W Cropper" <>
Subject: Breadfruit in St. Vincent - the real, real story
Date: Thu, 7 Nov 2002 17:18:33 -0500


Hi Listers,

At last a good discussion about events in St. Vincent!!! The real, real story of the arrival of breadfruit is somewhere between the previous contributers. They appear to assume that the ship only contained breadfruit. Alexander ANDERSON was chosen to take over the Botanic Garden when St. Vincent was freed from French occupation in 1785. My friend Rev'd Lansdown GUILDING - the artist, naturalist and author of many flora & fauna textbooks - was born 09 May 1797 four years after the delivery of the plants. In ANDERSON's book "The St. Vincent Botanic Garden" starting at page 52 he writes :-

"About nine o'clock at night of the 23rd of January 1793 arrived in Kingstown Bay the long wish'd for Providence, Captain BLIGH, from the South Seas with the breadfruit and other useful and curious plants. The voyage was remarkably short and in every respect prosperous. Such a number of live plants were never before seen on board a single ship. On her arrival she was one of the most beautiful objects of the kind it is possible to conceive. Such a number of live plants of many different kinds brought from the remotest parts of the globe in such a state of preservation and carried through nearly all the climates of it was surprising to behold. Too much praise cannot be given to Captain BLIGH for his great attentions to the chief object of his mission nor to the two young men who had the collecting and immediate management of them. Nor is it less surprising that the share of them allotted to the Gardens have arrived to such perfection in so short a time in it. Some of the bread!
fruit plants began to produce fruit at the end of eighteen months from their arrival. In two years and three months all the fifty plants reserved in the Garden produced a large crop. This will appear the more surprising as the half left here were the smallest and the most sickly looking plants. The largest and most healthy in appearance went to Jamaica. In this division there appeared partiality; however, I conceived it just and could not with propriety object to it, as there was still the risk by sea of ten or twelve days passage from St. Vincent to it. Therefore necessary for their preservation, the weakest and most probable to suffer by continuing them in their confined situation should be landed as soon as possible, and I was confident that out of the number of 300 plants I should be able to preserve sufficient as a nursery for the Windward Islands."

Those familiar with St. Vincent's history know that the 2nd Carib War started 10th March 1795. He and a few slaves would spend the night in a fort and continued to maintain the Garden during the day. And to think suckers of those 50 plants produced so much.

Jim C



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