were not bound fast here by 64 years of age, and a worn-out body, I would this very day set
out for London, to see this great hero of botany.From the moment they had safely returned to England, Linnaeus and many other
scholars wanted to know – when was Banks going to publish his account of the
voyage? Was Solander at work on the catalogue? When would the descriptions and
the classifications of these new plants be published? The whole botanical world was
waiting in anticipation, for in that world as defined by Carl Linnaeus a plant did not
officially exist until it was described and classified under the Linnaean system and the
results published.
But Joseph Banks was now a celebrity and he made himself very much available to
the popular press. Banks enjoyed being famous and this started to take up a large part
of his time. Fame was certainly more interesting than the tedious job of describing,
drawing and classifying the thousands of plant specimens required to publish a
scholarly volume. The increasing view of him as the leading figure of the voyage
allowed a newspaper to publish an article referring to ‘Lieutenant Cook of the Royal
Navy, who sailed around the Globe with Messrs Banks and Solander’. To add to his
status, a contemporary portrait of Joseph Banks shows him wearing the cloak of a
Maori chief made from native New Zealand flax over a blue naval uniform with its
gold buttons, surrounded by plants, weapons and other souvenirs from the voyage.
The writer and editor Dr John Hawkesworth was commissioned by the Admiralty
to write the book entitled An Account of the Voyages Undertaken by the Order of His
Present Majesty For Making Discoveries in the Southern Hemisphere using both
Cook’s journals and those of others on the Endeavour. After a request made through
Lord Sandwich, Banks’ journal was also made available. Here was a great adventure
story. All that was required to achieve huge interest was accuracy, objectivity and the
ability to assemble a vivid narrative. It is said that after two years labour Hawkesworth
managed to achieve none of these and many copies of his Account of the Voyages
remained unsold.
While the scientific and botanical world waited to read Banks’ account of the voyage
and the descriptions of his marvellous specimens, Banks was not only enjoying being
famous but also saw another opportunity to add to his glory. In November of that
year Cook was appointed to command a second expedition to the South Seas in a
further voyage of exploration. He would command the collier renamed Resolution
with another collier Adventurer as consort, to leave in March 1772. Through his
connections Banks secured an invitation to participate in this next voyage and he
wrote:
Soon after returning from my voyage around the world I was solicited by Lord Sandwich, the
First Lord of the Admiralty, to undertake another voyage of the same nature. His solicitation46 Where Australia Collides with Asiahttp://www.ebook3000.com