# Journal of the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks/Naturalists and Voyagers

NATURALISTS AND VOYAGERS MENTIONED IN THE JOURNAL
Anson, George, Lord (1697-1762), entered the navy in 1712, and was in 1740 sent to the Pacific in command of a squadron. Reaching his destination by way of South America, he captured the "Spanish galleon," and brought it to England, returning by the Cape of Good Hope in 1744. His "Voyage round the World" was published in 1748. In 1746 he was appointed to the command of the Channel Fleet, and was raised to the peerage in 1747. In 1751 he became First Lord of the Admiralty, having virtually performed all the duties of that office for two or three years previously.
Baster, Job (1711-75), a Dutch naturalist, who published many works on natural history, including a treatise on the classification of plants and animals (1768), and "Opuscula subseciva" (1759-65), consisting of miscellaneous observations on animals and plants, referring more especially to seeds and embryos.
Biron, C., author of "Curiosités de la Nature et de l'Art, apportées de deux Voyages des Indes, en Occident, 1698-99; en Orient, 1701-2; avec une Relation abrégée des deux Voyages" (1703).
Bougainville, Louis Antoine de (1729-1811), was successively lawyer, soldier, secretary to the French Embassy in London, and officer under Montcalm in Canada. In 1765 he persuaded the inhabitants of St. Malo to fit out an expedition to colonise the Falkland Islands, but upon these being claimed by the Spaniards, Bougainville was sent out in 1766, in command of the frigate Boudeuse, with a consort, to transfer them to the latter country. After accomplishing this mission he proceeded through the Straits of Magellan and fell in with Otahite (to which he gave the name of Cythère, but which had been previously seen by Quiros and Wallis), the Navigators, and the New Hebrides (Quiros' Terra del Espiritu Santo). Endeavouring to steer due west at about the 15th degree of south latitude, he was, when still out of sight of land, brought up by reefs (outside the Great ​Barrier Reef). Turning northwards he sailed, by the Louisiade Archipelago and New Guinea, to the Moluccas, returning to France in 1769 viâ Batavia and Mauritius.
Bougainville was accompanied on this voyage by a naturalist, Philibert Commerson, whose servant, Jean Bary, passed for a man until her sex was recognised by the Tahitians. Otourrou, a Tahitian whom Bougainville took with him to France, died of small-pox at Madagascar while being conveyed back to his native country. The genus Bougainvillea was so named by Commerson in honour of the navigator, who was the first Frenchman to circumnavigate the globe. Bougainville afterwards commanded various vessels in the American War.
Brisson, Mathurin Jacques (1723-1806), French naturalist and physicist, author of "Le regne animal" (1756), and "Ornithologie" (1760), and various works on physics.
Brosse or Brosses, Charles de (1709-77), first President of the Parliament of Burgundy, author of "Histoire des Navigations aux Terres Australes"(1756).
Browne, Patrick (1720?-1790), a physician who studied natural history, more particularly botany, and after a voyage to the West Indies published the "Civil and Natural History of Jamaica" (1756). He also compiled more or less local catalogues of birds, fishes, and plants.
Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, Comte de (1707-88), French naturalist and writer. Upon being appointed Director of the King's Garden at Paris, in 1739, he conceived the idea of compiling a natural history of creation, and devoted the following fifty years of his life to carrying out this project, with the help of other naturalists. His "Histoire naturelle" (published at various periods from 1749 to 1788) treats of the theory of the earth, nature of animals, man, viviparous quadrupeds, birds, and minerals. The task was continued after his death by Lacépède.
Byron, Vice-Admiral John (1723-86), was the second son of the fourth Lord Byron, and grandfather of the poet. He accompanied Anson on his voyage to the Pacific as a midshipman on board the Wager, which was wrecked on the coast of Chile in 1741: some years later he published the details of his adventures (1768). In 1764 he was appointed to the Dolphin, with orders to explore the South Seas. He left England in company with the Tamar, and, passing through the Straits of Magellan, stood across the Pacific, but following a course already known, made no discoveries of any importance. With a great deal of scurvy on board he reached the Ladrones, and returned home in 1766. [Otahite was rediscovered on the Dolphin's second ​voyage by Wallis, q.v.] Byron was afterwards (1769-72) Governor of Newfoundland, and had command of the West Indian Fleet in 1778-79.
Canton, John (1718-72), F.R.S., electrician, was the first Englishman who successfully repeated Franklin's experiments. He invented an electroscope and an electrometer. The Copley Medal of the Royal Society was awarded him in 1751.
Cook, Captain James (1728-79), the son of an agricultural labourer, was born at Marton in Yorkshire. He served several years in the merchant service, but volunteered for the navy in 1755, entering on the Eagle under Captain Hugh Palliser. It was owing to the influence of the latter that Cook, who had previously surveyed the St. Lawrence river, was afterwards appointed "Marine Surveyor to the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador." He published his results as directions for navigating these coasts (1766-68).
The Admiralty having at the instance of the Royal Society resolved to despatch an expedition to observe the transit of Venus in the Pacific, Cook was appointed Lieutenant and placed in command of the Endeavour (1768): this voyage is described in the following pages.
On his return in 1771, Cook was immediately promoted to the rank of Commander and sent again to the Pacific with the Resolution and Adventure, the primary object of the expedition being to verify the existence or non-existence of an antarctic continent. He left Plymouth in 1772, and proceeded to the Cape of Good Hope, whence sailing in a south-easterly direction, he was the first to cross the Antarctic circle. After revisiting New Zealand, Otahite, and New Zealand again (when the Resolution and Adventure parted company), he sailed to the south, and reached his highest latitude (71°⋅10) in January 1774. After touching at Easter Island he explored the New Hebrides and discovered New Caledonia, whence he returned home by New Zealand, Cape Horn, and South Georgia, reaching Plymouth in July 1775.
Apart from the geographical discoveries, and finally setting at rest the question of a habitable southern continent, this voyage was, even more than the first, remarkable for the fact that Cook kept his crew absolutely free from scurvy, and lost only a single man during the whole of the three years. Cook's demonstration of the possibility of maintaining the health of crews during long periods is one of his greatest titles to fame. He gave an account of his methods for the prevention of scurvy to the Royal Society in 1776, and the Copley Medal was in the same year awarded to him, in recognition of his services to the maritime world and to humanity in this connection.
Having been promoted to the rank of Captain, he offered to take command of an expedition to the North Pacific in search of a Northwest Passage. He left England on this, his third voyage, in July ​1776, in the Resolution, his consort, the Discovery, joining him at the Cape of Good Hope. The two ships visited Van Diemen's Land and New Zealand, and spent 1777 among the islands of the South Pacific. Going north, he discovered the Sandwich Islands (1778), and surveyed the west coast of North America as far as Icy Cape (thus passing through the Behring Straits). Thence, finding further advance impossible, he returned to the Sandwich Islands, anchoring in Karakakoa Bay. The natives at first proved friendly, but quarrels afterwards arose, and Cook, going on shore to recover a stolen boat, was killed (14th February 1779), no attempt at a rescue being made.
Cowley, Captain, buccaneer, fell in with "Pepys" Island, which was afterwards recognised to be one of the Falklands, about the year 1683. He sailed round the world in 1683-86, keeping a Journal from which the account of his voyage in Callander's "Terra Australis Cognita" is taken.
Dalrymple, Alexander (1737-1808), went out as a writer in the East India Company's service in 1752, and undertook several voyages for the Company, particularly to the Sulu Islands and to China. In 1767 he published an "Account of Discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean before 1764," and later a "Historical Collection of South Sea Voyages" (1770-71), besides pamphlets on Indian affairs. He was appointed the first Hydrographer to the Admiralty in 1795, but was dismissed in 1808, and died the same year.
Dampier, William (1652-1715), buccaneer, captain in the navy, and hydrographer, made several voyages to the South Seas. In one of these he left Virginia in 1683 and went by way of South America to the East Indies, where he spent some time in trading. He returned to England in 1691 and published his "Voyage Round the World" (1697). On a later voyage he sailed under directions from the Admiralty along the northern coast of New Holland and visited New Guinea (1699-1701). His narrative of this expedition, entitled "Voyage to New Holland in the year 1699" (published 1703-9), is remarkable for the information it contains on the natural history, etc., of Australia. He was again in the South Seas in 1703-7 and in 1708, upon which last occasion he rescued Alexander Selkirk, whom he had himself left there on the former voyage, from the island of Juan Fernandez.
"Dolphin," the first vessel in the English navy sheathed with copper: 1st voyage, see Byron; 2nd voyage (to Otahite), see Wallis.
Edwards, George, F.R.S. (1694-1773), naturalist, Librarian to the Royal College of Physicians. He was the author of a "History of Birds" (1743-64), one volume of which is remarkable for being dedicated to God.
Fothergill, John, M.D., F.R.S. (1712-80), was a Quaker, and the first graduate of Edinburgh to be admitted as a licentiate of the College of Physicians (1744). He was greatly interested in botany, and possessed a magnificent botanical garden at Upton, near Stratford, where he kept many draughtsmen. He also made large collections of shells and insects. His "Hortus Uptonensis" was published amongst his "Works" after his death in 1783-84.
Frézier, Amédée François (1682-1773), engineer and traveller, born at Chambéry, was descended from the Scotch Frasers. He was sent out by the French king in 1711 to examine the Spanish colonies in South America, and on his return in 1714 published his "Relation d'un Voyage de la Mer du Sud aux côtes du Chili et du Pérou" (1716). He was afterwards Director of Fortifications of Brittany, and was the author of several works on architecture.
Hasselquist, Fredrik (1722-52), Swedish naturalist and pupil of Linnæus. He spent three years (1749-52) travelling in Palestine and Egypt, and made large collections of fishes, reptiles, insects, plants, and minerals, studying also Arab manuscripts, coins, and mummies. He died at Smyrna, and his collections passed into the hands of Linnæus, who published Hasselquist's journal and observations under the title of "Iter Palestinum" (1757).
Histoire des Navigations aux Terres Australes, see Brosse.
Hulme, Nathaniel, F.R.S. (1732-1807), was Physician to the Charter-house.
Le Maire, Jacob (died 1616), Dutch navigator, left Holland in company with William Cornelissen Schouten (died 1625) in 1615, in the Concorde, with the view of determining the position of the southern point of South America, in defiance of the regulations of the Dutch East India Company, which attempted to close the routes to India, either by the Cape of Good Hope or the Straits of Magellan. Le Maire and Schouten discovered Staten Island and Cape Horn, which they doubled, and thence proceeded to Batavia, passing along the north-east coast of New Guinea. On their arrival at Batavia, their ship was seized and they were sent to Holland, but Le Maire died before reaching Europe. Schouten published an account of the voyage in 1618.
Marcgrav, George (1610-44), German physician and traveller, accompanied Piso (q.v.) and the Prince of Nassau to Brazil in 1636, where he travelled for six years. The results of his discoveries are embodied with those of Piso in the "Historia naturalis Brasiliæ" (1648). He afterwards went to the coast of Guinea and there died.
Maskelyne, Nevil, F.R.S. (1732-1811), was sent by the Royal Society to St. Helena to observe the transit of Venus in 1761, but the phenomenon was obscured by clouds. He was afterwards Astronomer-Royal (1765); and to him we owe the "Nautical Almanac," the publication of which he superintended for forty-five years. In 1769 he observed the transit of Venus from Greenwich. Later, in 1784, Maskelyne strongly supported Dr. Charles Hutton against Sir Joseph Banks, then President, during the dissensions in the Royal Society (see p. xxx.)
M'Bride, David (1726-78), medical writer, advocated the use of fresh wort or infusion of malt as a preventive of scurvy at sea, a specific adopted by Banks on this voyage. It was, however, soon after superseded by Lind's lemon juice.
Narbrough, Admiral Sir John (1640-88), was sent out to the South Seas in 1669. Passing through the Straits of Magellan, he sailed as far as Valdivia and then returned home. He was present at the battle of Solebay (1672), and after some years of service, died at Saint Domingo, whither he had gone, at the instance of the Government, to search for treasure.
Nassau Fleet. See L'Hermite.
Oldenland, Henry Bernhard, Dutch naturalist, author of "Catalogi duo plantarum Africanarum" in the "Thesaurus Zeylanicus" (1737).
Osbeck, Pehr (1723-1805), Swedish naturalist and traveller. He studied natural history, and on the recommendation of Linnæus was appointed chaplain to a vessel of the Swedish East India Company, in which he visited China, and, on the return voyage, Ascension. Osbeck published his observations under the title of "Journal of a voyage to the East Indies, 1750-52, with observations on the natural history, language, manners, and domestic economy of foreign peoples" (1757).
Pennant, Thomas, LL.D. (1726-98), Scotch naturalist and antiquary. He was the author of "British Zoology" (1766); "Synopsis of Quadrupeds" (1771), afterwards enlarged and published as the "History of Quadrupeds" (1781); "Genera of Birds" (1773), etc. He was a constant correspondent of Gilbert White of Selborne.
Piso, William (17th century), Dutch naturalist and doctor, accompanied Prince Maurice of Nassau as his physician on his voyage to Brazil in 1636, taking with him two young German savants, Marcgrav (q.v.) and Kranitz. The observations which he and Marcgrav made were published in 1648 under the title of "Historia naturalis Brasiliæ." He was the first to introduce into Europe and to describe ipecacuanha and its medicinal properties.
Quiros, Pedro Fernandez de (died 1614), Spanish navigator, accompanied Mendana in 1595 to the Solomon and Santa Cruz Islands. On the death of Mendana, Quiros brought the remains of the fleet to Manilla, and then returned by South America to Madrid. Obtaining permission to search for the supposed Southern Continent, he set out again from Lima in 1605, and discovered "Dezana," afterwards called Osnaburg Island. In the following year he discovered Otahite, which he named "Sagittaria." Proceeding westwards he then discovered "Terra del Espiritu Santo," one of the New Hebrides. From this point he turned back to Mexico, and died at Panama in 1614.
Rembrantz von Nierop, Dirk (1610-82), Dutch astronomer and mathematician, published, besides several works on mathematics and astronomy, a short account of Tasman's voyage.
Roggeween, Jacob (1659-1729), Dutch navigator, was at one time counsellor of the Court of Justice at Batavia. In his voyage round the world he started from Holland in 1721, reached the Falkland Islands, and sailed south as far as 62½° S. lat., then went to Chile, Juan Fernandez, Easter Island (of which he was the discoverer), New Britain and Batavia. An account of his voyage was published in 1728.
Rumphius or Rumpf, George Eberhard (1627-1702), German doctor and botanist. He went out to the Dutch possessions in the ​East Indies about 1654, and entered the Company's service. He was made Consul at Amboyna, where he resided until his death, making large collections there and in the adjacent islands. Notwithstanding that he became totally blind in 1669, he was the author of several works on natural history, which, however, were not published until after his death, notably the "Herbarium Amboinense" (1741-55), "Herbarii Amboinensis Auctuarium" (1755), supplementing the former work, "D'Amboinische Rariteitkammer" (1704), and "Thesaurus imaginum piscium, testaceorum, et cochlearum" (1711).
Sharp, Captain Bartholomew (17th century), made several buccaneering voyages to the South Seas, chiefly off the coast of South America and Darien. He kept a journal, and published an account of his voyages in 1684.
Shelvocke, George (18th century), buccaneer, although he had been long in the navy, went out in command of the Speedwell (privateer) in 1719-22 to the South Seas. He was wrecked on Juan Fernandez, but built a craft out of the remains of the wreck, and reached Peru; he thence sailed to Formosa. After three years of constant fighting and adventures, he reached England and published his "Voyage round the World by way of the Great South Sea" (1726).
Sloane, Sir Hans, Bart. (1660-1753), botanist and physician. He went to Jamaica in 1687, collecting 800 plants there, and afterwards published an account of his travels (1707-25), and a "Catalogue of the Plants of Jamaica" (1696). He became Secretary to the Royal Society in 1693, and edited its Transactions for twenty years. He was appointed Physician-General to the army, and was the first medical practitioner to be created a baronet (1716). He was elected President of the College of Physicians in 1719, and of the Royal Society in 1727, retaining the latter dignity until 1740. He was an indefatigable collector, and his library and collections, which he by will directed should be offered to the nation for £20,000, were in 1759 opened to the public as the British Museum.
Tasman, Abel Jansen (cir. 1602-59), Dutch navigator. In 1639 he was sent by Van Diemen to the Philippines and Japan; and in 1642 the same Governor directed him to investigate the south of New Holland. He fell in with Van Diemen's Land, without discovering it to be an island, and thence sailed across to New Zealand, which he called Staten Land. Anchoring in Massacre Bay, he lost three men, killed by the natives (whence the name), and then coasted along the west coast of North Island. After leaving this he reached the Friendly Islands, returning to Batavia by the north coast of New Guinea. In 1644 he undertook a third voyage to the north coast of New Holland and discovered the Gulf of Carpentaria. He died at Batavia in 1659.
Valentijn, François (1656-1727), Dutch traveller, was for many years pastor of the Protestant Church at Amboyna. He was the author of "Oudt en Nieuw Cost-Indie" (1724-26), and of various theological works, including a Malay version of the Bible.
Wallis, Captain Samuel (died 1795), was sent out in command of the Dolphin on Byron's return in 1766. In company with the Swallow, he left England in August 1766, but was separated from his consort in a gale after emerging from the Straits of Magellan. He rediscovered Otahite (already seen by Quiros in 1606) in June 1767, one year before Bougainville. He named it King George III. Island. After a month's stay he left the island for Batavia, and finally reached England in May 1768. Hawkesworth published an account of this voyage in 1773. It was Wallis who recommended Otahite as a station for observing the transit of Venus in 1769. Wallis retired from active service in 1772, and was in 1780 appointed an extra commissioner of the navy. (For the first voyage of the Dolphin, see Byron.)