[[1]]
H.M.S. Erebus
St Helena Roads -J May 18 1843.
My dear Father
Lt Matson Matson, of HMS. "Waterwitch", kindly takes charge of a box which will go
home along with this. It contains Birds-Skins, a greater part of which belong to
Lieut[enant]. Oakeley of this ship; but, as he always collects for me, I promised to
take charge of his own, by sending them all to you.-The sooner (you know) these things get home the better, from out of a Gov[ernmen]t
Ship, when there is bad stowage for private specimens. Those, alone, put up in
brown paper belong to me, with a few in white paper.-- All those uncovered are
Oakeley's.
I have a great many more plants & birds for home, but there are no boxes which I
can get privately to put them in at present. If possible, they shall go from Rio or
Ascension.
By a very splendid ship, the "Queen", I sent letters to my mother, Bessy, & Maria,
under cover to Capt[ain]. Beaufort, they sailed on the 15th & will, doubtless, have a
splendid passage. I also left letters for you at Simon's Bay. The "Waterwitch" is a
perfect yacht & may beat the "Queen"; though she does not sail till the 21 st -Bennett, your correspondent here, is a clerk in the Commissariat office, a very
gentlemanly young man indeed. His mother is an E. Ind. officer's widow, living here,
they have the best Gardens on the Isl[an]d. We still expect to be home about the
end of September, & not before, I feel sure; although
[[2]] Capt[ain] Ross has written home (I have heard), that we shall arrive at the
beginning of that month. Beaufort, probably, will tell you what Ross has said; but I
advise you to believe me.
I have a long yarn to spin you about my future prospects, Capt[ain] Ross having
been sounding me.-- He wants me to remain in the service; to serve only for
Scientific Expeditions; & has, or is going to write home; about my promotion.-- He
told me that he must write for Lyall's & mine at once; & had delayed it, expecting me
to have spoken of the subject to him, which I of course, never dreamed of doing, it
being out of my place. As he said that it was a piece of injustice not to to delay
writing for Lyall; & that he could not do that without doing so for me also & stating my
superior claims, provided I remained in the service,-- he desired an answer. I told
him that I did not intend remaining; provided I could get any good or decent shore
employment; but that I had no idea of giving up the Navy, till I felt my way on land;
which I could not do before arriving in England. Unlikely as it is there is a possibility
of your not being able to help me 5 months hence, & how foolish I should be to have
thrown away the certainty of promotion for the uncertainty of any thing else! I also
told him that I had no idea of being applied for, until our arrival in England; but as he
was good enough to do so before, I should take advantage of his offer; provided that
he would not be offended at my throwing away that offer on my arrival. Adding that I
believed & expected I should be worth being employed by you for by my living;-- that
nothing but absolute necessity should make me enter the ordinary service;-- & that it
was highly improbable that I should ever feel myself at liberty to enter any
Government
[[3]] Expedition, which would employ more than 10 or 12 months.-I have no wish to be a drag on the service, by remaining in it & not serving;-- & when
I explained this to him, he answered "that it would be a piece of great injustice in the
Navy to employ me in any way but in Nat[ural]. Hist[ory].", & said a great many
flattering things which I divided by 2, & appropriated one half (perhaps the better).-He also told me that he would apply for a sum of money, to defray the publication of
the Nat[ural]. Hist[ory]., the Botany of which should be recommended to me; & that I
ought to be employed still on pay (perhaps 1/2[?] pay), in the service; till they were
done, as a very moderate compensation for my trouble:-- to this, of course, I had no
objections, except on the ground of passing the boards. On this head I am told the
regulations are altered, & that having a diploma from Edinbro'[sic], I am not required
to pass any where but before Sir W m Burnett;-- such was not the case when we
sailed, but I am told is now:-- a matter of very great consequence, as I have no
notion of working up to pass Edinbro'[sic] again, which would cost 3--5 months' study
& classes.-The long & short of the matter being -- that Capt[ain] Ross must either apply for my
promotion, or write home & state that I would not take it if offered me,-- I, of course,
(having no competency of my own) took the promotion offer, being at liberty to
decline it on my arrival in England, without giving him offence in having put him to
trouble for nothing.-- I took two days to think over the matter, before giving him a final
answer, & hope you will approve of what I have done. I weighed the question in all
its bearings & my only objection is, that I should like to leave the service, as I entered
it, for the Expedition; & not for any
[[4]] benefit the service would give me in return. However, as you know, I am not
independent & must not be too proud, if I cannot be a naturalist with a fortune, I must
not be too vain to take honorable[sic] compensation for my trouble.
You, to whom I owe every thing, & on whom I am entirely dependant[?] out of the
service, are the best judge: of as to whether I should accept the commission & the
1/2[?] pay of 5/ a day;-- at any rate, until the plants be published.-- Were an
Expedition to go (like Parry's last) for 8 or 9 months to the North; or the more
especially any land one, for about that the same time, & offer to take me as Naturalist;
it is my present [1 word crossed out, illeg.] expectation to avail myself of it. It must be
something very good, which would put me off doing so.--
These also went by the "Queen", the drawings of mosses &c which I mentioned in a
former letter, they are directed to the Hydrographer, & Capt[ain] Ross has written
that they be sent to you at once; which their Lordships will doubtless do.-- Tell
Capt[ain] Beaufort that we are very busy[?] spinning yarn for more very deep sea
soundings (8 or 9,000 fathoms of line are ready), with my respectful compliments.
You have, above, a full true & particular account of my Navy prospects, & have
nothing to add on the subject; but the hope that you will not have any reason to find
fault with the course I have taken.-- Make my respectful Comp[liment]s[?] to Sir Wm
Burnett & Symonds, & tell the former that I have been allowed to send nothing home;
but to the Gov[ernmen]t, & to you as a Gov[ernmen]t depôt for anything or that I
should have sent him some things, but that a set of plants shall go, as they are
published, to himself or to Henslow, whichever he pleases; as also a few shells &c,
that I have been able to pick up; I should have told him this before, but that
[[5]] I do not like sending excuses, especially to one who has shown me so much
attention & placed me under a debt of gratitude. (You know there are plenty of
V[an].D[iemen's].L[and]. & N[ew]. Zealand things he can have.)
Hence we go to Re Ascension, for a few days only; & then down to Rio, where we
probably remain for several weeks, if the Observatory's go up.-- It will be a month,
before we reach the latter place; & we shall stay if the Observatorysries go up for
nearly 6 weeks. We must allow 2 months, at any rate, for our passage home from
Rio;-- so that we cannot well be home under 5 months, making it the end of
September, at earliest.
If possible, I shall write again <before> leaving this; in the mean--time, with best love
to [part of mss. missing c. 2 words lost] me ever
Your most affectionate Son | Jos D Hooker [signature]
Sir Wm J. Hooker
R[oya]l Gardens Kew
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