Herman Spöring Jr.

Herman Spöring Jr. was born in 1733 [citation needed] in the town of Turku, at that time a major Finnish city and administrative center of the Swedish Empire.

In 1768, Spöring Jr. was enlisted as a clerk, assistant naturalist and personal secretary in the entourage of Joseph Banks, a wealthy young botanist who was preparing for an expedition to the Pacific Ocean, sponsored by the British Royal Society.

Indeed, the confidential purpose of the voyage - from the point of view of the British Admiralty, in particular - was to seek out the hypothetical "unknown southern continent", orTerra Australis (Incognita).

Spöring was also a skilled instrument and clock maker, and in addition to his cataloging duties was assigned the maintenance and upkeep of the ship's scientific equipment during the voyage.

The first meeting between the Aboriginal people and the British explorers occurred on 29 April 1770 when Lieutenant James Cook landed at Botany Bay (Kamay[1]) and encountered the Gweagal clan.

At some point in his life, Spöring Jr. created an art piece featuring the now rare Heva Tūpāpāʻu funeral costume from Tahiti, of which very few examples still exist.

Until this point in the voyage, no crewmember or passenger had been lost to disease; however, the unhealthy conditions of the port and their new provisions would soon result in quite a few deaths, including that of Spöring himself.