[[1]]
H.M.S. "Erebus"
Berkeley Sound
Falkland Isl[an]ds..
December 5th 1842.
My Dear Father *1
Having written to you lately via the "Governor Halkett" from Sydney which sailed
from this on Nov[embe]r. 2 very fully I have little now to add viz our Cape Horn trip
which I shall make the subject of a letter to my Mother. -- Since the sailing of that
vessel which took up my whole time & mind in packing & writing I have been
collecting a little & filling a small case of Plants for you which will be left here for a
passage to England. -- The other day I dined on board the "Philomel" which again
sailed for the survey on Friday last & was much pleased with all I saw of her & her
officers[.] The Surgeon will do something for us I hope. -- Sullivan[sic] *2 is a most
excellent fellow beloved by his officers & all who know him his forte is Geology but
he will not neglect plants, his wife*3 is a friend of Miss Warren's *4 your old
correspondent & is a bit of a Botanist so Sullivan says. She comes out to Monti
Video [Montevideo] where the Philomel winters so you had better write to Miss
Warren to ask her to (Mrs Sullivan) to collect plants & seeds ) which from what
Capt[ain]. S[ulivan]. says she would do with the greatest pleasure. By the Governor
Halkett I send 2 square boxes containing, one birds skins, the other a lot of New
Zealand duplicates the Ferns are the only good ones, (as they got damp) & some
few minerals[,] shells &c. also a bundle sewed up in ships canvas containing
duplicate Hermite Isl[an]d Cryptogamms[sic] & the entire set of Falk[land] Isl[an]d
algae which I had kept to shew[sic] Harvey *5 at the Cape & lastly a little square box
with rocks &c which you will please to apprize[sic] Darwin *6 of on its arrival as it is a
present from Davis *7 for him & keep it quite private[.]
[[2]] By the same vessel a large cask goes containing my Gov[ernmen]t collections of
Falk[land]. Isl[an]d & Hermite Isl[an]d plants, also by the letter bag a letter to you
sent through Capt[ain]. Beaufort*8 containing a note to my Grandfather Hooker *9,
Darwin, Bentham*10 & Fitch *11 -- & a £63 bill which I wish you to use about your books &
collections buying me another Daniell's *12 Hygrometer quite like the last (which is a
perfect beauty) from Newman *13. Other letters are to Dr & Mrs Richardson *14, Dr &
Mrs Boott *15, Mr Ward, Bentham Brown, Jane Fleming, Archy [Archibald] Smith &
Ja[me]s Hamilton & those were all the letters I could possibly manage -- About 2
months before that numerous letters & collections went to Rio to be forwarded by
Moss & Tross to your direction. Again in July or thereabouts ? I wrote to Maria *16 by
Buenos Ayres[sic]. Since the Governor Halkett sailed I have been looking at your
kind presents to me & the books are charming particularly Endlichers *17 Enchiridion
[Botanicum] where the cunning fellow puts Gunneraceae under Halorageae & never
mentions his having in his "genera" kept it in Urticeae, either under Urticeae of the
Enchiridion or under Halorageae. I never was so pleased at any thing[sic], for that
genus has been a torment to me ever since Brown *18 would not tell whether it
belonged there or no. Endlicher also keeps up Milligania (which I had intended to
reduce to Gunnera) on account of the trifid calyx; the spicate not paniculate stamens
is another character altogether[.] The Enchiridion is a splendid work & the most
complete of its kind. Next comes Lindleys *19 Elements [of Botany] also most
excellent, he is a bold man with his new systems (ind. p[age]. 226) all however are
so far good that the more systems are brought under a practised students eye the
more the various affinities are impressed on the mind & I cannot suppose he intends
that people are to follow all his other innovations & vagaries[.]
The wood cuts are indeed beautiful. -- The Icones [Plantarum] I went through in my
last letter as also the London Bot[anical]. Journal. -- We sail about the
[[3]] the[sic] end of this week for the Ice but Capt[ain]. Ross *20 seems to be in no
hurry to go nor need he be for I doubt not we are pretty close to the pack edge; we
had snow yesterday with a Southerly wind meant as an inviter[?] to the South. The
ship is full of what are called Galley-yarns about our future motions (these are stories
whose origin cannot be traced[)]. -- The latest yarn is that we only take a look at the
Ice & bear up for the Cape to arrive there in February & home in June or July via Rio,
but I do not believe it except it be possible that we are only going down to take
observations in some of the Southern Isl[an]ds which I should like very much indeed
but if we do go to the Ice I sincerely hope we shall push to the Southward & not
leave off until the season or some land or barrier bring us up. -- The fact is I believe
no one knows what our future motions are; no one knows less than myself & I never
trouble my head about the matter. I should not be in the least surprised if we go
south as before & on our return pass some time among some southern Isl[and]s in
which case you will not hear from us probably for 4 or 5 months. This would suit me
very well and should then both complete my marine Zoology & arrive at the Isl[an]ds
in time for the end of Autumn about the best for plants in the higher latitudes. -These are all speculations however. -- My hurry in doing my last letters was such
that I forgot to tell you that I had recommended as a probable object of charity one of
our men to you who we were obliged to invalid; he was one of the best men in the
ship quite civil always most attentive to me & never seen drunk poor fellow I was
quite sorry to part with him, for he has done me no little services -- I fear he
labors[sic] under an organic disease of the Stomach
[[4]] but his servitude in the Navy is so short that he cannot avail himself of that for a
pension -- he goes to some Naval hospital & when well enough to leave it I cannot tell
what will become of him he has a friend in London & if he is in any straits will send
the note to you which begs you to give him something out of my bills. I think I spelt
his name "Rich[ar]d." but it is "Edward Baxter"[.] In the same vessel with the other
things there goes a box full of live plants from Cape Horn in beautiful condition full of
Beeches & Winter's bark & all doing well & the passengers promise to pay every
attention to them as well as the Capt[ai]n. On doing it up finally I found one little thing
flowering & took it out a bit for it was barren when gathered it proved to be the
Drapetes muscosa of which Endlicher's generic character is very imperfect[.] I have
examined it & find it very curious the proper pelatoid corolla or Perianth being joined
onto the top of what I at first considered a calyx without a limb & which contains the
ovary. The stigma is capitate very like Macrostigma -- I put a scrap into a letter to
Brown but I dare say he knows all about it. --
I have found several new plants here which I could not detect in the winter -- 2
Ranunculi & the Epipactis Lessonii, the Acaena ascendens which I could not before
distinguish from the A[caena] lucida. -- Polylepsis in flower & many other things in a
better state[.]
I shall thank my Mother *21 & Maria for Gaudichaud's *22? work which they copied,
though it is the most wretched affair I ever saw! he ought to be ashamed of himself
for his chicanery, would you believe it he makes my little Halonageous plant a
Callitriche verna though I have again examined it & find my previous analysis correct
he goes on to say the stamen rises from a bipartite calyx whereas there is no
[[5]] trace of any thing of the sort & he has evidently copied that from some printed
(perhaps Linnaeus'*23) character of the plant. -- In his Bulliarde moschata he says the
stamens &c are 4 they certainly are only 5 in my Auckl[an]d. Isl[an]d. specimens but I
have not seen it in flower here. -- Cardamine hirsuta I take to be C[ardamine].
glacialis -- Brassica?! McCloviana [macloviana] you know yourself. -- Azorella
daucoides is my new Caldasia! -- Valeriana sedifolia I have not seen but suppose it
to be Wright's new sedum from the hills, you mention it in your letter. I am going
toward the end of the week to a hill about 10 miles off to look for it. -- Achillaea[sic]
tomentosa is my Polylepis as to its flowers not remaining that is very likely but
enough of the floral envelopes remain all winter to determine the plant. -- There are
many other little things which shew[sic] great carelessness. In my last letters I gave a
full[,] true & particular account of our opinions of the light in which the Expedition is
held at home accompanied by a growl[?] which give to "Bruno", when satisfied
yourself. I shall not therefore enlarge on the subject but merely add that the Terrors
are all up in arms, for the Royal Geogr[aphical]. Society have given the gold medal to
Capt[ain] Ross & in their speech not mentioned the officers of the Expedition. If this
be true it is too bad, no one would withhold the honor[sic] from Ross which he richly
deserves, all own that, but what could he have done without officers & crew, &
whether or no, do not they deserve a mention from a Society who pretend to
encourage discovery & those who attempt it. No one expected any thing further than
an general acknowledgement of their services of the officers under him, the base
mention was expected & nothing more, & its being omitted argues that we have not
seconded his efforts. -- Backs *22 officers were not treated so after he by shear[sic]
bungling & in total ignorance of a sailor's
[[6]] duty did nothing at all & nearly lost his ship by getting her between the Pack Ice
& the land. I charge you not to mention the above or it would look like seeking
honor[sic] for ourselves & you are a member of the Society -- but give me your
opinion of it & tell me what is thought of the Expedition none of my poor shipmates
are afraid of Capt[ain] Ross not getting honor[sic] enough nor am I afraid of my not
either, that however is little satisfaction to them. -There is another subject which annoyes[sic] me exceedingly & is the only one in the
course of the Expedition that does; it is the following passage in a letter from my
Mother dated August 1st "xxx" your drawings (you need not tell Capt[ain]. Ross,
unless he w[oul]d like to hear it) are known far & wide". -- I thought in my letters I
explained my wishes on that subject fully to you all so much so that I feared to
trouble you al by mentioning too often my positive desire that they should be known
but to few & as to "unless Capt[ain] Ross w[oul]d like to hear it" I surely have said
often enough or at least given it fully to be understood that I had no business
whatever to send them home at all & that did it come to his ears I should not so soon
hear the end of it. -- Nothing but affection for you all prompted me to make them, it
was a pleasure to me to do so, although my conscience told me that I was not acting
properly to an Expedition whose orders I have often told you are "all journals books
charts drawings &c." to be given up. That it will now come to Capt[ain] Ross' ears
there can be no doubt, I have difficulty enough in weathering him who know him well,
-- I must however blame myself for sending them at all -- If you have made Davis's
drawing of "the ships in the pack" also to be known "far & wide" you will run every
chance of doing him a serious injury who is dependent on the service. -- Again, a
midshipman of the Philomel, a youngster
[[7]] of the name of Fox comes up to me on a cricket ground when I was enjoying a
little exercise with the Philomel's after the General Halkett sailed & tells me he has
heard my letter read in Dublin by his Aunt a Mrs Butler some relation to some one of
the name of "Innes" who these Foxes Butlers & Innes' are I do not know nor care,
but my letters where never written to be made so public or to leave the house further
than Yarmouth or Hampstead, nor do I choose to be the gossip of half the friends
friends' who may like to see them. My own wishes with regard to them have been
expressed often enough & surely I am old enough to know my own mind on such
matters; they were written for my near relations alone & contain such messages to
others as are requisite for them to know, my repugnance to any such notoriety is so
strong that if these wishes cannot be complied with I must give up writing any thing
but simple statements -- You may remember that I was always very averse to any
society but that of persons whose pursuits were similar to mine, & more particularly
to that of four fifths of our Glasgow & other friends with whom my parents brothers &
sisters were on terms of intimacy; this may be owing to a peculiar temperament of
mine or more probably be a fault still I cannot help it & care to be known by four most
[foremost] Botanists & men of Science, with them my own industry must introduce
me & what other real friends I have I can write to. -- Do not be angry with me for
writing the above, as a duty to myself it was in my opinion necessary for me to state
that I fear my letters & drawings are given far more publicity to than I warranted & I
cannot help speaking firmly perhaps too strongly on the subject. You are doubtless
surrounded by many very & kind friends at Kew & no one can be more grateful to
God than I am; you are calculated to strive in their society & have an open heart to
receive their friendship
[[8]] it is however totally different with me[,] a few friends are all my narrow mind has
room for & I often think they are kept better on that very account. My ambition to rise
in one branch of science will soon cause them to think themselves neglected if I
should make their acquaintance & not keep it up. I should have mentioned this
subject to in my mothers letter but shall not, we are men & may talk to one another
without feeling that annoyance which women often will, & I am sure you know my
feelings well on the subject though my dear mother's love may have prompted her to
make me the subject of all conversation every where. Do remember then that I do
extremely dislike having my letters shewn[sic] to them I do not know & that with
regard to the drawings it is not fair to me to make them known far & wide, in as much
as I have defrauded the Expedition of them. -Dec[embe]r. 13. I have lately been botanizing a little & looking for some plants in the
list you sent me as asked for the Tetroncium of which you sent a specimen the latter
I cannot find any where although I have been hunting in places the most similar to its
Hermite Isl[an]d habitat nor do I find the Valeriana sedifolia but have added to the
collection the Drapetes muscosa, Azolla magellanica which grows on banks very
shaded, Menzies *25 little Viola 3dentata [tridentata] (out of flower) & the Alopecurus
magellanicus the plant so like the A. alpinus it also grows here by the grassy banks
of rivulets in very similar situations as at Clova[?] but to a much larger size & is
otherwise distinct. It flowers early & apparently soon goes off --I have also got a most
beautiful Ranunculus quite silvery with villous hairs & has curious petals it is very
scarce here apparently also two other smaller species one the R[anunculus].
Falkland McLovianus [maclovianus] of the list another the R[anunculus]. exiguus of
[[9]] of[sic] the same list & a third new very small species. The R. exiguus may only
be a var[iety]. of R. biternatus. The R. Hydrophilus is very common but does not
flower yet[,] the other species sent home like it but with the end of the leaf trifid I
have never seen before or since[.] Caltha sagittata is in flower but not the C.
appendiculata although it was in Hermite Isl[an]d. An Achillaea[sic] introduced grows
near Gov[ernmen]t. house & (I am told) bears a white flower it is apparently the
A[chillea]. ptarmica or serrata I forget which is which. In this unfortunate list the
Polylepis again occurs under, or rather as, Ancistrum lucidum var [word crossed out,
illeg.], villosum. I begin to suspect the list is D'Urville's *26, do tell me when you write:
there are two Acaena here besides the Polylepis though I could not distinguish them
last winter. Your Senecio litteralis is quite correctly so called & well figured but in your
Icones, but in this list another Senecio is taken for it which I also have & of which he
may truly say, "miro modo variabilis" which this is not the case with the true plant.
Homoianthus has flowered & smells deliciously of violets the fl[owers]. are a very
pale blue or white with blue tips. -- There are no seeds to be had here yet but I leave
directions for Chartres *27 of the Philomel about collecting & packing them. There is
no news but Botany to tell you from this miserable hole & so you must excuse me if I
bore you with what you know before. -- The weather has been very stormy for this
last fortnight & it is now blowing half a gale of wind. I have been putting my plants by
all this morning & the Capt[ain]. I suspect writing to Prince Albert *28, for he is in a
very anxious state getting up & walking up & down the cabin clearing his throat &
asking me what date we had deep sea
[[10]] soundings, when we left England? What is the height of M[on]t Blanc? & such
like questions. Our berth is so large that I often lay out my plants in it & it is also very
light & use the cabin more for examination which I like much better as I often make a
sad[?] mess in the cabin yet he never takes any notice of it. I am going on exactly in
the old way collecting & noting occasionally making a few sketches. My time passes
very quickly & pleasantly & I have not the slightest doubt but that every thing both at
home & here is going on to my entire satisfaction, certainly I could not be more
comfortable any where else, nor do I want for any thing. We shall expect to hear from
you at Rio when you must tell all you know about the Expedition for my shipmates &
how you like my plants for me. It begins to look very likely that we shall be home next
year there is not a remote probability of our wintering to the S[outh?] -- Except to see
my friends &c I am so comfortably situated that I am in no hurry; although I think it
would be much for my advantage to go home at once, still every thing cannot be as
we wish & I have nothing to complain of. You must tell all the great folks how much
flattered & honored[sic] I feel by their kind enquiries. I am quite pleased to see that
his R[oya]l Highness & the Queen came to Kew I do long to see you all & the
gardens. In Fitch's two drawings, one side of the house has 3 front windows & the
other front in the other drawing 5. Which is right? or both? Give my best love to all
but I am writing to my Mother & Maria also to Dr Graham *29 Edin[burgh], Balfour *30
& Dawson. We sail in a very few days & I shall not close my Mother's letter till the
last moment.I shall think & pray for you often; untill[sic] our arrival at the Cape we
shall get no more news -- Tell Capt[ain]. Beaufort how. much I am <grateful?>
[[11]] for all his kindness to you & to me. Do you ever see Darwin or Capt[ain]. Parry
*31 or C[harles]. Lyell *32.-- When you next write you must tell me what materials we
are likely to possess for our Antarctic Flora, also what is done with D'Urvilles &
Wilks'[sic] *33 plants &c.? I have found several mosses in fruit here since our arrival
this time. -- Did you see Humboldt *34 in London?
Capt[ain]. Crozier *35 wishes me particularly to tell you that all the botanical
collections of the "Terror" were made by Lyall *36. The latter often walks with me &
though no Botanist[,] endeavours to make good collections, in which I am glad to
hear you say he has succeeded[.] I read him the parts of your letter noticing them.
He did not put his name to any of them & put them along with Robertson's *37 as other
Nat[ural]. Hist[ory]. Coll[ection]s. hence the latter seems to have got the credit of them. What
are the notes mentioned as "on the Botany of Kerguelen's Land" laid before the
Royal Society viz -- Mr Robertson?
Dec[embe]r. 15th. 9PM I have just come in after a very long walk & find that my letter
must be ready to put into the bag tomorrow morning early I am sadly pressed for
time but must stop to tell you that I this day found the Tetroncium in flower when I
least expected it at Uranie Bay close to where Freycinet's *38 company encamped it
probably is near Triglochin the spike is like it -- nothing to do near Astelia[.] I also
found today a new Compositae & the little Lysimachia in flower both very scarce.
Caltha appendic[ulata] no signs of flowers [Caltha] sagittata which Wright must of
meant, almost over. The Tetroncium must be rare hereabouts as it is rather
conspicuous & I can hardly have passed
[[12]] it by. I first saw its yellow spike when stooping down to gather the Nanodea
muscosa in flower. It was then very late & I had 10 miles to walk & I could not stop
for more but go again tomorrow morning & shall be back in time to settle my affairs in
the village as we go to sea on Saturday morning for certain the first thing[.]
Here is another nuisance, my letter to Maria is just begun, & a schooner has just
arrived from Fuegia & one of my shipmates who boarded her, got for me a Fuegian
humming bird which I take to be the Melissuga[sic] Kingii & a little Parrott[sic] the
former is all but decayed but I must skin it as Sinclair has given you the most
northern species & this is the most Southern the Parrott[sic] is rather firmer. these
you see must be skinned at once & Maria's letter go as it is. -You must excuse my correcting this letter. I wrote a note two days ago via Valparaiso
& Guayakil [Guayaquil] or Panama to say I was all well.
Believe me | your most affectionate son | Jos[eph] D Hooker[signature]
My letter to Dr Graham must go from the Cape.
I am quite sorry I cannot write to Aunt Palgrave *39 I had so fu<lly> intended to do so
that I have not even mentioned her name in my other letters. My best love & regrets
when you see her. also to uncle &c Please seal my other letters & forward them -the wax only makes a mess in the tropics.
ENDNOTES
1. Hooker, Sir William Jackson (1785--1865). Botanist & Director of RBG Kew.
2. Sulivan, Sir Bartholomew James (1810--1890). British Naval officer &
hydrographer
3. Sulivan, Sophia (fl 1837) née Young
4. Warren, Elizabeth Andrew (1786--1864). Botanist, of Flushing, Cornwall.
5. Harvey, William Henry (1811--1866). Irish botanist & phycologist
6. Darwin, Charles Robert (1809--1882). Naturalist
7. Probably Davis, John Edward (1815--1877). Naval officer & hydrographer
8. Beaufort, Sir Francis (1774--1857). Naval officer & hydrographer
9. Hooker, Joseph (1754--1845). Amateur botanist & collector, of Norwich.
10. Bentham, George (1800--1884). Botanist
11. Fitch, Walter Hood (1817--1892). Botanical illustrator
12. Daniell, John Frederic (1790--1845). Professor of Chemistry
13. Newman, John (1783--1860). Maker of scientific instruments
14. Richardson, Sir John (1787--1865). Naval surgeon, Arctic explorer & naturalist
15.Boott, Francis (1792--1863). Physician & botanist; Boott, Mary, née Hardcastle,
wife of Francis Boott
16. McGilvray née Hooker, Maria (1819-1889). Joseph Hooker's younger sister.
Married Walter McGilvray (1807-1880) in 1846.
17. Endlicher, Stephan Ladislaus (1804--1849). Austrian botanist
18. Brown, Robert (1773--1858). Scottish botanist & palaeobotanist
19. Lindley, John (1799--1865). Botanist
20. Ross, Sir James Clark (1800--1862). Naval officer & explorer
21. Hooker, Lady Maria (1797--1872) née Turner, wife of William Jackson Hooker
22. Gaudichaud-Beaupré, Charles (1789--1854). French botanist
23.Linnaeus, Carl (1707--1778). Swedish botanist, physician & taxonomist
24. Back, Sir George (1796--1878). Admiral & explorer
25. Menzies, Archibald (1754--1842). Surgeon, botanist & naturalist
26. d'Urville, Jules Sébastien César Dumont (1790--1842). French explorer, Naval
officer & botanist
27. Chartres, William (fl.1842--1845). Surgeon on HMS 'Philomel'
28. Prince Francis Albert Augustus Charles Emmanuel of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
(1819--1861) known as Prince Albert, consort to Queen Victoria
29. Graham, Robert (1786--1845). Scottish physician & botanist
30. Balfour, John Hutton (1808--1884). Scottish botanist
31. Parry, Sir William Edward (1790--1855). Naval officer & Arctic explorer
32. Lyell, Sir Charles (1797--1875). Geologist
33. Wilkes, Charles (1798--1877). American Naval officer & explorer
34. Humboldt, Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von (1769--1859). Prussian
geographer, naturalist & explorer
35. Crozier, Francis Rawdon Moira (1796--?1848). Naval officer & explorer
36. Lyall, David (1817--1895). Naval surgeon & botanist
37. Robertson, John (fl 1842). Surgeon on HMS 'Terror'
38. Freycinet, Louis Claude de Saulces de (1779--1841). French navigator
39. Palgrave, Lady Elizabeth (d.1852) née Turner, wife of Sir Francis Palgrave &
maternal aunt of Joseph Hooker
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