After Cook

Jordan Goodman takes us on a botanical journey to the ends of the earth.

Joseph Banks never commanded a ship. In 1773, aged 30, he went on his last voyage, a short crossing from Hellevoetsluis, south Holland, to Harwich. Yet not only was the sea always at the centre of his life – he lived until the age of 77 – but his interventions radically changed what ships did, particularly in furthering the science of natural history and redistributing the world’s flora.