Naturalist’s Voyage should have been one of the books that inspired him to join in the voyage of the Erebus and Terror. Hooker “slept with the proofs under his pillow, and devoured them eagerly the moment he woke in the morning.” Much earlier he had been stirred by Cook’s voyages, and, like Darwin, was fired by Humboldt’s Personal Narrative. While at sea his work was largely zoological, and the tow-net was kept busy. But on 24th August 1841, he writes to his father of his great wish to devote himself “to collecting plants and studying them . . . but we are comparatively seldom off the sea, and then in the most unpropitious seasons for travelling or collecting.” He speaks, too, of his wish to see the end of the voyage, in order that he might devote himself to botany.
The voyage had its dangers: in March 1842, during a storm, the Terror collided with the Erebus, and for nearly ten minutes the interlocked ships drifted towards a huge berg: the Erebus remained rolling and striking her masts against the berg, but managed by the “desperate expedient” of “sailing stern first down wind” to escape destruction.
Hooker writes to his father, 25th November 1842: “The Barrier, the bergs several hundred feet high and 1–6 miles long, and the Mts. of the great Antarctic continent, are too grand to be imagined, and almost too stupendous to be carried in the memory.”
In a letter to his mother he describes seeing at Cape Horn “a little cairn of stones raised by the officers of the Beagle.” And again he writes, “Clouds
and fogs, rain and snow justified all Darwin’s accurate descriptions of a dreary Fuegian summer.” He speaks of Darwin’s Naturalist’s Voyage as “not only indispensable but a delightful companion and guide.” There is plenty of interesting matter in the account of Hooker’s voyage, but the above fragments of detail must here suffice. The Erebus and Terror reached Woolwich on 7th September 1843.
Having safely returned to England, the next problem was what was to be Hooker’s permanent occupation. Nothing, however, was fixed on, and in the meantime he fulfilled “his intention of seeing the chief Continental botanists, and comparing their gardens and collections with those of Kew.”
His first visit was to Humboldt, at Paris, who turned out “a punchy little German,” whereas he had expected “a fine fellow 6 feet without his boots.” Of the great man he says, “He certainly is still a most wonderful man, with a sagacity and memory and capability for generalising that are quite marvellous. I gave him my book [Flora Antarctica], which delighted him much; he read through the first three numbers, and I suppose noted down thirty or forty things which he asked me particulars about.” Humboldt was then seventy-six years of age. Hooker’s impression of the Paris botanists was not favourable; he speaks of their habit of telling him of the magnitude of their own researches, “while of those of their neighbours they seem to know very little indeed.” Of Decaisne, however, he speaks with warm appreciation. He would have been surprised if a prophet
had told him that he was to be instrumental in bringing out an English version of Decaisne’s well-known book.
In 1845 Hooker acted as a deputy for Graham, the Professor of Botany at Edinburgh. In May he wrote to his father, “I am lecturing away like a house on fire. I was not in the funk I expected, though I had every reason to be in a far greater one.” Finally, when Graham died, Balfour, the father of the present holder of the office, was elected professor, and Hooker was fortunately freed from a post that would have been a fatal tie to his career.
But happier events followed; he became engaged to Frances, daughter of Professor Henslow. Sir William spoke of the affair with a certain pomposity: “I believe Miss Henslow to be an amiable and well-educated person of most respectable though not high connections, and from all that I have seen of her, well suited to Joseph’s habits and pursuits.” Their engagement was a long one, and their marriage could not take place till after his Indian journey, which was the next event of importance in his career.