David Blackburn (Royal Navy officer)

Blackburn was born on 1 January 1753 at Newbury, Berkshire, England. He was eldest son of Rev. John Blackburn (d.1762) and his wife Elizabeth (née Martineau, b.1725). His family moved to Norwich after John's death in 1762. Also living at Norwich was his aunt, Dame Sarah Martineau (1725–1800) who wrote comforting letters to family members,{{cite web |title=Letter from Sarah Martineau to Elizabeth - her "sister" - [i.e. sister-in-law who was David's mother]... |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Blackburn_(Royal_Navy_officer)#/media/File:SLNSW_820603_Letter_to_Mrs_Elizabeth_Blackburn_from_her_sister_S_Martineau_7_Feb_1795.jpg |publisher=Sarah Martineau 1720-1800 |access-date=17 June 2024}} including her sister-in-law and niece – David's mother and sister respectively – concerning her nephew's well-being and death. These letters are held at the State Library of New South Wales and the National Library of Australia.{{cite web |title=File 5: Blackburn family miscellaneous papers, being mainly correspondence relating to David Blackburn's death, 1779–1796 |url=https://archival.sl.nsw.gov.au/Details/archive/110313802 |publisher=State Library NSW |access-date=15 January 2024 |quote=(7 Feb. 1795); 10 letters of condolence from family and friends to Margaret Blackburn: correspondents include sister Eliza Burrows, aunt S[Sarah] Martineau, friends Laetitia and Richard Knight, and agent B. Robertson (2)}}{{cite web |title=Papers of David Blackburn (as filmed by the AJCP) [microform] : [M971] 1785–1796|url=https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/2175544|publisher=State Library of NSW |access-date=16 January 2024}}{{cite journal |title=Letter to Mrs Elizabeth Blackburn (née Martineau) from her sister-in-law Sarah Martineau, 7 Feb 1795 |journal=Alamy LTD. |date=2023 |url=https://www.alamy.com/stock-image-820603-letter-to-mrs-elizabeth-blackburn-from-her-sister-s-martineau-164319734.html |access-date=10 January 2024}}

He joined the Royal Navy on 5 May 1779, serving as a midshipman in {{HMS|Victory||6}}. He was serving as master of {{HMS|Flora|1761|6}} in the West Indies in 1785.

File:SLNSW_820603_Letter_to_Mrs_Elizabeth_Blackburn_from_her_sister_S_Martineau_7_Feb_1795.jpgFile:The_Founding_of_Australia._By_Capt._Arthur_Phillip_R.N._Sydney_Cove,_Jan._26th_1788_%28cropped%29.jpg sketch for his 1937 painting "The Founding of Australia"]]In April 1787 he was appointed master of Supply, part of the First Fleet that established British settlement in New South Wales. During this time he wrote a series of letters to family members, including his sister Margaret (b. 1762) and friends, many of which are still extant.{{cite web |title=David Blackburn (1753–1795) |url=http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/discover_collections/history_nation/terra_australis/letters/blackburn/index.html |access-date=6 December 2013 |website=Discover Collections |publisher=State Library of NSW}} These letters describe the events of the voyage and the early days of settlement, including Blackburn's participation in the expedition to Norfolk Island to establish a settlement there in February 1788. Blackburn's letters record the change in his feelings towards the voyage. Initially reluctant to join the Fleet,{{cite web |title=Elizabeth Blackburn – Letter received from her son David Blackburn, 1787 |url=http://acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/item/itemdetailpaged.aspx?itemid=403614 |access-date=6 December 2013}} shortly before the Fleet left he told his sister in a letter that "my dislike to the voyage begins gradually to wear off".

Supply was part of the advance party of ships which arrived in Botany Bay on 18 January.{{cite web |title=Margaret Blackburn – Letters (14) received from her brother David Blackburn, 1787–1791 |url=http://acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/item/itemDetailPaged.aspx?itemID=403562 |access-date=6 December 2013}} Governor Arthur Phillip's letters to Blackburn are held at the National Library of Australia.{{cite web |title=Capt. A. Phillip to Blackburn, 25 September 1788 |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-742820390/view |access-date=10 January 2024 |location=National Library of Australia |date=1788}} Blackburn joined Phillip's expedition in search of a better location for the settlement, and describes Sydney Harbour as "excellent and extensive".

He died of illness on 10 January 1795 at Royal Hospital Haslar, Gosport, Hampshire, England.

Blackburn's Club or Whip is the only wooden object which survives from the First Fleet. Its cat o' nine tails are attached to an Aboriginal truncheon. It is thought not to have been used on Aboriginal Australians. The whip, along with his papers and letters, remained as revered, precious objects of a celebrated seafarer in the Blackburn family's possession until the 1990s when they went under the hammer at Christie's, London where a South Australian dealer purchased the club/whip (along with a small cosh which Blackburn probably carried for self-defence). The South Australian Museum eventually purchased both.{{cite news |last=Jones |first=P. |title=Oche and Dust |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nfJQEAAAQBAJ&q=david+blackburn+ochre+and+rust |access-date=26 December 2023 |publisher=Hurst |date=2019|isbn=978-1-84904-839-2 }}

• Journals of the First Fleet

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Category:1753 births

Category:1795 deaths

Category:Explorers of Australia

Category:18th-century deaths from tuberculosis

Category:Tuberculosis deaths in England

Category:First Fleet

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