William Nash joined the Resolution for the third voyage on 20 December 1771 as an AB. He was discharged on 28 April 1772 to a supernumerary list but was re-entered on to the ship's muster on 01 July 1772 as an AB.

Nash also sailed on the Resolution for Cook's third voyage. He joined on 10 February 1776 as an AB. On this voyage, he was punished 2 times; on 31 October 1776 for neglect of duty; and on 25 January 1779 for disobedience.

Nash was born in London about 1754.

James Cook was not keen to carry naturalists on his third voyage to the Pacific. William Anderson, surgeon's mate on the second voyage, was therefore engaged as surgeon on the Resolution in the knowledge he could undertake many of the tasks required of a naturalist. For the Discovery, the companion vessel, Cook agreed that someone could sail to collect specimens on behalf of Joseph Banks. Banks needed then to find a suitable person and approached James Lee of the Vineyard Nursery at Hammersmith.

Lee wrote the following letter and had the man, David Nelson, described in the letter, deliver it to Banks in person:

Banks obviously approved and employed Nelson immediately. Banks though was careful not to repeat the situation after the Endeavour voyage when Stanfield Parkinson challenged ownership of journals that his brother Sydney has produced. He therefore had Nelson sign a contract, part of which read:

In return, Banks immediately paid Nelson an advance of £12-12s-od paid on 26 April 1776. His annual wage would be £35 per annum. Banks also began showing Nelson the rudiments of plant and seed collection, preservation and methods of safely transporting them, together with procedures for record keeping.

The exact date when and place where David Nelson joined the Dicovery are not recorded. It was probably 06 June 1776 at Galleon's Reach, the same time as William Bayly, the ship's astronomer, joined. Nelson was classed as a supernumerary and listed as servant to Mr William Bayly. He finally appeared on the ship's muster on 05 February when the Discovery was crossing the Tasman Sea en route for New Zealand. On 29 October 1778, Nelson was remustered as an AB as Cook left Unalaska for Hawai'i.

Nelson assiduously collected herbarium material at every opportunity ashore that the Discovery offered. For example, his specimen of Eucalyptus obliqua, collected at Tasmania in January 1777, was the holotype for the genus. The island of Hawai'i provided Nelson with his greatest opportunity given that no Europeans had collected there before him.

On 26 January 1779, a shore excursion was allowed and Nelson, accompanied by a small group of shipmates climbed Mauna Loa, collecting along the way. James King recorded:

King also gives an account of the expedition, which was away four days and while not reaching the volcano's summit, did go beyond the tree line. Nelson collected at least 136 species on the island of Hawai'i during his time ashore. He was described by Charles Clerke as "one of the quietest fellows in nature".

Nelson continued collecting during the remainder of the voyage, including Chinese sumac (Rhus chinensis), which he obtained at Macau. He also fulfilled his obligations to collect insects, which were later described by J. C. Fabricius. After the voyage, Banks employed Nelson as a gardener at Kew Gardens. In 1783, another plant collecting expedition was proposed, this time to the west coast of Africa, and Nelson was chosen by Banks to participate. He joined the Swift, which left the Thames on 23 December but remained at Plymouth until March 1784 when the expedition was cancelled.

Nelson resumed his duties at Kew for another three years until 1787. Breadfruit was seen as a potential food for slaves on the plantations in the West Indies and it was decided to transport some plants there from the South Pacific where it had been found. The Bethia was purchased by the Navy Board for the expedition and renamed HMS Bounty. Joseph Banks was once again at the heart of the project and recommended William Bligh to lead the voyage. Bligh was given command of the Bounty, which sailed on 23 December 1787.

Banks also selected the person who would look after the breadfruit plants and, on 01 March 1787, Banks appointed David Nelson to the position with William Brown as his assistant. Nelson and Bligh had both been on Cook's third voyage though on different ships. Nelson even helped choose the Bethia and oversaw the construction of frames to house the plants during their shipping to the West Indies. Banks had written to the Earl of Sandwich, First Lord of the Admiralty:

Shortly before sailing, Bligh wrote to Banks:

The Bounty left Spithead on 23 December 1787 and reached Tahiti from where they were collecting the breadfruit on 26 October 1788. Nelson had been able to collect specimens at stopovers at Tenerife, Cape Town and Tasmania. After the Bounty arrived in Tahiti, Nelson had to wait while the breadfruit trees were seeded and grown into saplings large enough for transport, a process taking at least six months. Bligh opted to remain at the island and use the time for exploring. This allowed his men time to form strong relationships with the islanders so they were most reluctant to leave when the time came.

On 28 April 1789, three weeks after leaving Tahiti with 1005 plants, a mutiny took place on the Bounty, off Tofua in Tonga, led by Fletcher Christian. Bligh and 18 other crew members loyal to him were set adrift in an open longboat. Nelson was one of those who stayed with Bligh and watched as the mutineers threw the plants overboard in a further gesture of defiance. Bligh's navigational skills enabled those in the longboat to reach Kupang on Timor in Indonesia on 14 June. They had survived a journey of 6,000 km. over 47 days in an open boat. The ordeal had severely weakened Nelson and a few days before reaching Timor, he was taken quite ill with "a burning in the bowels, loss of sight, and inability to walk". Nelson, who died at Kupang on 20 July 1789 possibly from an inflammatory disease, caused by eating poisonous berries that he could not identify. He was buried next day.

Bligh, in an enclosure to a letter to Phillip Stephens (Jakarta 15 October 1789), wrote:

On hearing the news of Nelson's death, Banks wrote:

When Bligh sailed to Tasmania in 1792, he named Nelson's Hill (called Mount Nelson today) out of great respect for the botanist. The botanist Robert Brown dedicated the genus Nelsonia of Acanthaceae to Nelson's memory, citing Hortulanus meritissimus qui in ultimo itinere Cooki pluremas novas species plantarium idetexit.  

James Nicholson (Nicolson) was an AB on the Endeavour on Cook's First Voyage. He joined the ship on 30 May 1768. During the voyage, he was punished on 12 June 1769 for theft.

Nicholson was born in Inverness about 1747 and died on 31 January 1771 as the Endeavour crossed the Indian Ocean. His will (PROB 11/970) does not mention any family and his friend, Alexander Simpson, whom he named as his executor and to whom he left his possessions, died only three weeks after him.

James Norman (#51 on the ship's muster) was 2nd lieutenant on HMS Pembroke from 03 May 1757 until 28 March 1759. With the death of the 1st Lieutenant, George Allen, Norman was promoted to that position and remained as such until 06 October 1759 when he moved to HMS Sutherland.

Prior to joining the Pembroke Norman had passed his lieutenant's examination in March 1756 and become a lieutenant in June 1756. Norman, who was born about 1735, had had six years experience in the Royal Navy on the Sphinx and Captain as AB and midshipman. He had five and a half years on the Sphinx from 1bout 1748, firstly under Captain William Lloyd and then from 1751 under Captain Edward Wheeler.

Unlike many officers, Norman appears to have managed to stay in active service through most of his career. Following the Sutherland (1759), he served on the St. George (1760), Winchelsea (1761), Bellona (1764), Arrogant (1768), Ferret cutter (1770), Centaur (1774) and Barfleur (1775) before being promoted to commander on 27 August 1779. He then took charge of the Spitfire fireship (1779), Lynx fireship (1781), Ariel sloop (1789) and Flint sloop (1789) before further promotion to post-captain on 21 September 1790.

As captain, Norman took command of HMS Medusa in 1793. However, he was court-martialled in 1796. The trial on the Prince George at Portsmouth lasted from 09 February to 01 March. He had been in command of the Medusa, which had escorted a convoy across the Atlantic from Jamaica. Some ships had been captured and Norman was accused of not looking after them properly. The case was proved in part and Norman was reprimanded and placed on half-pay for the rest of his life. He died in 1806. His will was proven on 03 January 1807 (PROB 11/1455). He was listed as living in Portsea.

George Nowell (Knowel) sailed on the Endeavour. He joined on 20 July 1768 as carpenter's crew and was made carpenter on 12 February 1771 after the death of John Satterley. He remained on the Endeavour at the end of the voyage but was discharged on 22 August 1771 following James Cook to the Scorpion, which he joined on the 31st.

Nowell was not one of the thirty or so members of Scorpion's who transferred to the Drake / Resolution with Cook in December 1771.

William Orford (sometimes Offord) was the carpenter on the Adventure during the second voyage. Orford joined the ship on 11 February 1772, At the end of the voyage, there was a deficiency in the carpenter's store, which required Furneaux to negotiate with the Navy Board and the Admiralty to resolve the matter.

Orford died in 1799. In his will (PROB 11.1329), written on 20 February 1799, Orford left everything to his mother, Sarah Orford, a widow living at 103 Brook Street in London. Nobody else is mentioned in the will, proven on 09 August 1799 by his mother, suggesting Orford never married.

Richard Orton sailed on Cook's first voyage on the Endeavour. He joined the ship on 30 June 1768 as clerk. On 23 May 1770, off the Autralian coast, he was attacked and his ears were mutilated. James Magra was at first thought to have carried out the attack but it was later believed to have been done by Patrick Saunders, a midshipman. Saunders deserted at Batavia / Jakarta, which was taken as proof of his guilt.

Orton was often drunk and was probably drunk when attacked. Shortly after the incident, Cook wrote:

After the voyage, Cook wrote to Philip Stephens, the Admiralty Secretary, on 01 August 1771: