68 SIEGE OF THE SOUTH POLE 
sands of pounds in preparation.* It was held to be of 
public Utility that some person skilled in Natural 
History should accompany the expedition and, as 
Cook drily observes in his preface, “ Mr. John Rein- 
hold Forster with his son were pitched upon for 
this employment. ,, The choice turned out to be an un- 
happy one, but it proved valuable in a quite unexpected 
way, as the eloquent expression the disappointed natural- 
ists gave to their grievances supplies all the touches of hu- 
man interest that are lacking in Cook's impassive chron- 
icle. The equipment of scientific instruments was slender ; 
setting aside those for astronomical work and the ordinary 
duty of navigation we find mention made only of an 
azimuth compass, a dipping needle, a marine barometer 
and two portable barometers, a wind-gauge, six thermom- 
eters, a theodolite, level and chain and an apparatus 
for taking the temperature of the sea at various depths. 
There were chronometers of several patterns, the use of 
which for determining longitude was then in an experi- 
mental stage, and these proved invaluable. 
The expedition left the Thames on June 22nd, and sailed 
from Plymouth on July 13th, 1772. Madeira was reached 
on the 29th, and after a stay of three days the voyage 
was resumed, Cape Town being reached on October 30th. 
At Cape Town Cook was courteously received by the 
Dutch governor, who informed him of the results of the 
voyages of Kerguelen and of Marion and Crozet, and 
showed a chart of their discoveries. Plere also he met 
Andrew Sparrmann, a Swedish naturalist, one of the 
* When Sir Joseph Hooker went to India in 1847 he was pre- 
sented with a number of large glass jars for preserving plants in 
spirits that had been part of Banks's equipment for Cook’s second 
voyage. 
