Description
Contents: "11 July-29 Oct. 1772; A manuscript journal of a voyage on board the brig 'Sir Lawrence', commanded by James Hunter. The journal is written in a clear hand which differs from the hand in Robert's account of the Endeavour voyage. It appears to be a copy prepared for publication. Opposite the manuscript title page is a watercolour illustration of a scene which includes an abbreviated version of the book's title written on a rock. The illustration is inscribed : 'W. Brand invt. deln., Boston, October 1796'.
Roberts gives an account of the voyage undertaken by Joseph Banks, accompanied by Lieut. John Gore, Daniel Solander, James Lind, Sigismund Baestrom, John Cleveley Jnr., Frederick Walden, James and John Miller, Peter Briscoe, and others. He describes the islands of Oronsay, Scarba, Staffa and Iona in the Hebrides; Bessastad, Reykjavik, Skalholt, Mount Hekla and the surrounding region in Iceland; and the Orkneys. The account ends in Edinburgh on 29 October 1772."
Biographical History: James Roberts was a servant to Sir Joseph Banks. He travelled with Banks on the Endeavour voyage, 1768-1771, and to Iceland in 1772. He came from Mareham le Fen in Lincolnshire and was 20 when he joined the Iceland voyage. He later lived in Banks' house in Soho Square, before retiring to Mareham le Fen in 1795. He died in 1826 aged 74.
Joseph Banks had assembled a group of men to accompany him on James Cook's second voyage. When he withdrew from the expedition, he commissioned the brig 'Sir Lawrence' and sailed for Iceland, via the Hebrides, accompanied by Lieut. John Gore, Daniel Solander, James Lind, and others, including James Roberts.
This is part of a larger body of work: "James Roberts - 'A journal of a voyage to the Hebrides, or Western Isles of Scotland, Iceland and the Orkneys undertaken by Joseph Banks Esqr. in the year 1772', 11 July - 29 Oct. 1772, with watercolour illustration, 1796"
Image Licence
Out of copyright
Image Credit
Courtesy of State Library of New South Wales
Location
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Country
USA
Tags
Category
Landscapes & Seascapes
