Series 07: Letters received by Banks from James Cook concerning the second Pacific voyage in HM Ships Resolution and Adventure, 1772

Provenance Note

The letters in this series , previously located at ML Safe 1/68, were purchased from Lord Brabourne by Sir Saul Samuel, the Agent-General for New South Wales in 1884. They had been presented by the Government of New South Wales to the Australian Museum in 1894, and were transferred from the Museum to the Mitchell Library in November 1935. The documents in this series include the original folio numbers assigned by Banks, written in ink in an unknown hand in the top right hand corner. They were used by the compilers of Historical records of New South Wales, vol 1, part 1 (1893).

Background Note

James Cook was given command of a second Pacific expedition (1772-1775) to search for a southern continent. He sailed from England in July 1772 in HMS Resolution accompanied by HMS Adventure. The expedition circumnavigated the world in high southern latitudes. Joseph Banks, invited by Lord Sandwich to join the expedition, withdrew from the voyage finding the Resolution unsuitable to accommodate his intended party. Subjects: Adventure (ship : Captain = Tobias Furneaux) Resolution (ship)

View Series 07 in the Catalogue
View Series 07 in the Sir Joseph Banks Papers website