The Scottish naturalist Robert O. Cunningham (1841 1918) began his 1866 voyage to South America in inclement weather, and, by the eleventh day of travel, noted a 'pond' forming in his tiny cabin aboard HMS Nassau. With never-failing humour, Cunningham presents here a record of the zoological, botanical and geological observations made across the three years he spent at sea. As the ship's naturalist (recommended for the post by J. D. Hooker), his time was given wholly to research and exploration, and his findings are both fascinating and thorough. Included are his anecdotal records of seamen's...