Joseph Banks (1743-1820)

The Journals of Joseph Banks’s Voyage up Great Britain’s West Coast to Iceland and to the Orkney Isles, July to October, 1772, ed. Roy A. Rauschenberg, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 117, 3 (Jun 15th, 1973), 186-226.

"Morven the land of heroes once the seat of the exploits of Fingal the mother of the romantick scenery of Ossion. I could not even sail past it without a touch of enthusiasm ... I lamented the busy bustle of the ship & had I dard to venture the censure of my companions would certainly have brought her to an anchor. To have read ten pages of Ossian under the shades of those woods would have ben luxury above the reach of kings."

Joseph Banks
In July 1772, fresh from a pioneering exploratory voyage of discovery to the Pacific with Captain Cook, the 29-year-old English naturalist, wealthy landowner and explorer Joseph Banks led the first British scientific expedition to Iceland by sea. Accompanying him on this expedition was fellow naturalist Daniel Solander, as well as an astronomer, translator, surveyors, servants and three artists: John Cleveley and the Miller brothers. On the outward journey the travellers spent 17 days exploring the islands off the west coast of Scotland, from Jura to Oronsay, Staffa and Iona. Their return journey mid-October included a stop in the Orkney Islands. Together with Bank's journal, the Miller brothers and Cleveley’s drawings and watercolours act as invaluable sources of information on the Western Isles of Scotland in the 1770s. Although these all went unpublished in the main, Banks’ description of Staffa, illustrated with engravings after studies made on the spot, was published in Pennant's 1772 volume.
[taxopress_postterms id="1"]

John Cleveley, 'View of a Semicircle of Stones on the Banks of Stenhouse Lake in the Island of Pomona' (British Library)
John Cleveley, 'View of a Semicircle of Stones on the Banks of Stenhouse Lake in the Island of Pomona' (British Library)
John Frederick Miller, 'Forefront of the Weavers House near Bomore on the Island of Ila' (British Library)
John Frederick Miller, 'Forefront of the Weavers House near Bomore on the Island of Ila' (British Library)
John Frederick Miller, 'Inside of the Weavers House near Bomore on the Island of Ila' (British Library)
John Frederick Miller, 'Inside of the Weavers House near Bomore on the Island of Ila' (British Library)
John Cleveley, 'View of the Town of Bomore on the Island of Ila' (British Library)
John Cleveley, 'View of the Town of Bomore on the Island of Ila' (British Library)
John Frederick Miller, 'View of Mr Freebairns House at Freeport on the Island of Ila' (British Library)
John Frederick Miller, 'View of Mr Freebairns House at Freeport on the Island of Ila' (British Library)
James Miller, 'Cloyster in Oronsay Monastery' (British Library)
James Miller, 'Cloyster in Oronsay Monastery' (British Library)
James Miller, 'A View of the Church of Columb Kill, on the Island of Iona' (British Library)
James Miller, 'A View of the Church of Columb Kill, on the Island of Iona' (British Library)
John Frederick Miller, 'View of the bending pillars near the Landing place on the Island of Staffa' (British Library)
John Frederick Miller, 'View of the bending pillars near the Landing place on the Island of Staffa' (British Library)
John Cleveley, 'Eua no Fion or Fingalls Cave, on the Island of Staffa' (British Library)
John Cleveley, 'Eua no Fion or Fingalls Cave, on the Island of Staffa' (British Library)
John Cleveley, 'View of the Island of Boo-sha-la and bending pillars with the bendng Pillars in its neighbourhood' (British Library)
John Cleveley, 'View of the Island of Boo-sha-la and bending pillars with the bendng Pillars in its neighbourhood' (British Library)

Explore more...