Herman Diedrich Spöring (naturalist)

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Herman Diedrich Spöring (* 1733 in Åbo , Sweden , today Turku , Finland ; † January 24, 1771 on the HMS Endeavor in the Indian Ocean ) was a Swedish-Finnish draftsman and naturalist, best known for his drawings on Captain James Cook's first research trip has become.

Drawing by Spöring
Solander Islands , drawing by Spöring, 1770

Life

Herman Diedrich Spöring, whose grandparents came from Germany, was born in 1733 in what was then the Swedish town of Åbo as the son of the couple Herman Diedrich Spöring (1701–1747), professor of medicine (1728–1747) at the academy in Åbo , now Turku, and Hedvig Ulrika Meurman was born. Spöring had one surviving sister of seven siblings. He began to study medicine at the academy in Åbo , where his father taught, moved to Stockholm in 1753, where he continued but did not finish his medical studies with a specialization in surgery.

In 1755 he went to London , where he earned his living as a watchmaker for 11 years . In 1766 he became acquainted with the Swedish botanist Daniel Solander , who at the time was working in the Natural History Department of the British Museum as an assistant on the cataloging of the museum's natural history collection. Solander got Spöring a job in the museum as his personal employee. Through Solander, Spöring also met the English botanist Joseph Banks , who hired Spöring as a research assistant for Cook's first research trip to the South Seas in 1768.

Spöring's talent as a draftsman was expressed when during the expedition in Botany Bay Sydney Parkinson (1745–1771), a draftsman, was overloaded with his work and Spöring jumped in to help and made various animal drawings. As a result, both worked together on the trip. Many of his drawings have been published, such as B. 1968 in the book by Peter Whitehead with 40 drawings of fish, or by Alwyne Wheeler , who brought out a catalog of the British Museum in which drawings were published.

But Spöring drew not only animals and plants but also landscapes on the expedition. One of the most famous drawings is Arched Rock , which was created in October 1769 in Tolaga Bay on the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand . An island off the bay, which today bears its Maori name Pourewa Island again , was named Spöring Island in honor of Spöring by James Cook .

On the return journey of the South Seas expedition, Spöring fell ill with dysentery and malaria and died two days before his colleague Parkinson on January 24, 1771 on the way between the island of Java and the Cape of Good Hope . Spöring found his final resting place in the Indian Ocean.

Honor

In 1990 a piece of rock was transported from Pourewa Island to Turku and a memorial was erected in honor of Spöring. He is with this monument in Finland a. a. revered as the first Finn to set foot on New Zealand soil.

literature

  • Brian Saunders : Discovery of Australia's Fishes . A History of Australian Ichthyology to 1930 . CSIRO Publishing , Clayton, Victoria 2012, ISBN 978-0-643-10670-3 (English).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Johan Jakob Tengström : Chronologiska Förteckningar och Anteckningar öfver Finska Universitets Fordna Procancellerer . GO Wasenius , Helsingfors 1836, p.  207 (Swedish, online [accessed March 17, 2016]).
  2. ^ Spöring, Herman Diedrich. In: Database of Scientific Illustrators 1450-1950 . GNT, University of Stuttgart, accessed on March 16, 2016 (English).
  3. ^ F. Gedike, JF Biester: Berlin monthly journal . Sixth volume Julius to December 1785. Heim and Spener, Berlin 1785, p. 242 .
  4. ↑ Saunders : Discovery of Australia's Fishes . 2012, p.  16 .
  5. ^ Peter JP Whitehead : Forty Drawings of Fishes made by the artists who accompanied Captain James Cook on his three voyages to the Pacific 1768-71; 1772-75; 1776-80. Some being used by authors in the descriptions of new species . Published by Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History) , London 1968 (English).
  6. ↑ Alwyne Wheeler : Catalog of the natural history drawings commissioned by Joseph Banks on the Endeavor voyage from 1768 to 1771 . British Museum (Natural History) , London 1984 (English).
  7. ^ East Coast places - Arched rock, Tolaga Bay: 1769 . Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand , November 16, 2012, accessed March 17, 2016 .
  8. ↑ Saunders : Discovery of Australia's Fishes . 2012, p.  16 .
  9. ^ Neil Chambers : The Letters of Sir Joseph Banks: A Selection, 1768-1820 . River Edge , London 2000, ISBN 1-86094-204-0 , Letter 5 , pp.  14 (English).
  10. ^ Arno Forsius : Herman Diedrich Spöring. Svenskt biografiskt lexikon , accessed March 17, 2016 (Swedish).
  11. ↑ Celia Syversen : Turku and the Spöring Memorial . Captain Cook Society , accessed March 17, 2016 .
  12. ^ Carl Walrond : Spöring Memorial and Spöring Island, Tolaga Bay . Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand , March 25, 2015, accessed April 15, 2018 .

Remarks

  1. ↑ In various sources, 1732 is also given as the year of birth, the year his father Hedvig Ulrika Meurman married.
personal data
SURNAME Spöring, Herman Diedrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swedish-Finnish draftsman and naturalist
DATE OF BIRTH 1733
PLACE OF BIRTH Åbo , Sweden , today Turku , Finland
DATE OF DEATH January 24, 1771
Place of death Indian Ocean