346 SIR JOSEPH BANKS. 



rations on the most liberal and extensive scale, worthy of 

 his fortune and his zeal for the advancement of natural 

 knowledge. He took with him Dr. Solander, the distin- 

 guished botanist already mentioned. He likewise took 

 two draftsmen and four servants; and, as the expedition 

 was placed under the government of the naval service, all 

 who joined it became subject to its rules and its discipline. 

 The choice of Captain Cook, as commander, was 

 singularly fortunate, or rather it was perfectly judicious. 

 He had risen gradually from the humble station of an 

 apprentice in a collier of Whitby, till he became mate of a 

 vessel engaged in that trade, fitted beyond all others to 

 make excellent navigators, because it is carried on by 

 sailing upon a coast almost without any harbour of 

 refuge, and consequently exposes the mariner to constant 

 risks and exercises his unremitting vigilance. When the 

 war of 1756 broke out, (the Seven Years' War,) he had 

 volunteered into the navy, and showed such talents 

 in his profession, that the Admiralty appointed him mate 

 of a sloop, the Mersey, in which he was present at the 

 siege of Quebec, under Wolfe. His skill and gallantry in 

 laying down the river and its soundings, previous to the 

 attack, led to his being employed in making a chart 

 of the St. Lawrence as far as the sea. His chart, though 

 he had never been taught either surveying or drawing, 

 was long the only one in use. He was, in consequence, 

 made master of the Northumberland frigate, and served 

 in that capacity till 1762, employing, however, his spare 

 time in the study of the mathematics, in which he 

 received most valuable assistance from a person of great 

 science, a pupil of the Bernouillis, Mr. afterwards Major 

 Desbarres; and in 1764, his patron, Sir Hugh Palliser, 



