Narrative of the Surveying Voyage of HMS Fly 2 Volume Set: During the Years 1842-1846

Joseph Beete Jukes (1811-1869) was a geologist who studied at St John’s College, Cambridge under Adam Sedgwick (1785-1873) and, after many field expeditions in England, was appointed to a survey of Newfoundland in 1839. In 1841 he joined the H.M.S. Fly as a naturalist for an upcoming expedition to chart the coasts of Australia and New Guinea. He also made some inland investigations on Java before returning to England in 1846. The following year he published this two-volume account of his journey. Blackwood’s Magazine described Jukes’ work as ‘scientific without being abstruse, and picturesque without being extravagant, [Jukes] has made his volumes a striking and graceful addition to our knowledge of countries highly interesting in themselves’. Volume 1 describes the Barrier Reef, the Torres Strait, and Jukes’ arrival in the Sunda Islands. Volume 2 focuses on Java, but also contains vocabulary lists for several Torres Strait languages.