The life of Sir Joseph Banks Author:Edward Smith Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER II ROUND THE WORLD WITH CAPTAIN COOK A opportunity came, in the year 1768, for an exploit in all respects suitable to the active genius of Mr. Banks.... more » Circumnavigation had been a topic of interest for several years past, not less in scientific than in political circles. British captains had gained renown, and Frenchmen had closely emulated them, by tales of adventure and research in hitherto unknown seas ; and bulky compilations of travel and exploration were popular with all classes of people who read any books at all. Now, yet another project was in the air, to unravel the mysteries of the southern ocean. The occasion was this. The Royal Society was desirous of getting an accurate observation of the Transit of Venus, which was due in 1769. The Transit of 1761 had not been satisfactorily observed. Great anticipations were formed by astronomers of an improved result in 1769— Dr. Maskelyne at Greenwich, and the Rev. Thomas Hornsby at Oxford, led discussions on the more suitable stations for taking the observation. Hornsby contributed an excellent paper on the subject to the Philosophical Transactions. Having established their position, and marshalled its points in a memorial to the King, the Royal Society obtained an immediate acquiescence in the proposal to send various expeditions to distant quarters of the globe. On March 24, 1768, the President announced that £4000 had been paid to him, on account of the astronomical expenses. The places decided upon asbest for the observation were Madras, Hudson's Bay, and an island in the Pacific Ocean. The Hudson's Bay Company granted a passage in one of their vessels; and the Admiralty fitted out ships for the use of the other parties. The immortal James Cook, then a lieutenant, R.n., was chosen to take the company to the souther...« less