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ossenbaCh — Orchids and orchidology in Central America
Royal Company of the Philippines. In a letter from
September 1788 to the Naval Ministry, together with
his colleague José Bustamante y Guerra, he explained
the ideas that inspired him to his expedition: “to
increase the knowledge about natural sciences (biology,
botany, zoology and geology), to undertake astronomic
observations and to ‘construct hydrographical charts
for the most remote regions of America’ ” (Becquer
Casaballe, 2003: 2). The government approved his
proposal as a “scientific and political voyage around
the world” and gave the order for the construction of
two corvettes, that were baptized “Santa Justa” and
“Santa Rufina”, names which Malaspina immediately
changed to “Descubierta” and “Atrevida”, in honor of
the ships “Discovery” and “Resolution” of the English
explorer James Cook (although the second name is not
the most fortunate of translations) (Fig. 13A).
The expedition did not have the intention of
discovering new territories, but of exploring in depth
those already known. Malaspina, a man of vast
culture, was therefore very meticulous in the selection
of the scientists who were to accompany him. The
most prominent among the botanists chosen for the
expedition, were Pineda, Haenke and Neé. Malaspina
professed great admiration for these three men and their
scientific qualities. In addition to this, Malaspina had
sought and received the advice of the most prominent
European men of science of his time, among them
Joseph Banks, president of the Royal Horticultural
Society (Soler Pascual, 1999: 29). The artists of the
expedition were José Cardero, Felipe Bauzá, José Guío
and Francisco Lindo.
Antonio Pineda was born in Guatemala in 1751
and received his education in Spain under the
guidance of Casimiro Gómez Ortega, soon standing
out as a naturalist and botanist. He held the position
of Infantry Lieutenant of the Spanish Royal Guards
when Malaspina, in 1788, asked for his designation
as director of the natural history research of the
expedition. After being appointed in the month of
December, Pineda proposed as his assistants for
Botany and Mineralogy Louis Neé, employee of
the garden of the Royal Boutique, and the chemist
Florian Coetanfeu. While the gardener, stimulated by
his precarious position, accepted the offer without
thinking it over, and tried to obtain substantial
benefits by tergiversing his curriculum, the chemist
used the subterfuge of his family to resign from the
expedition. Finally, Tadeo Haenke was admitted as
the third expeditionary naturalist” (Puig Samper et al.,
2001: 50). In Central America, Pineda took part of
the exploration of Panama and somewhat later in the
ascend to the El Viejo volcano, in Nicaragua, together
with Haenke (Fig. 13B). While exploring the island of
Luzon (Philippines) Pineda fell sick and died in June
of 1792.
Thaddeus Peregrinus Xaverius Haenke was born in
Bohemia in 1761. He studied natural sciences in the
universities of Vienna and Prague. In 1786 Haenke
was selected as a botanist to participate in the first
multidisciplinary expedition to the Giant Mountains
(Krkonoše, Riesengebirge) organized by the Royal
Czech Society. The results of that expedition were
published in 1788. This was the most important work
of Haenke from Bohemia, and he was awarded for it
a silver medal by the Royal Czech Scientific Society.
Haenke always wanted to travel to distant places and
study the botany of new, botanically uncharted areas.
He was interested in participating in Captain Billings’
expedition sponsored by the Russian Catherine II, but
Billings ultimately did not take any scientists with
him 14 . In 1789 Haenke was offered the position of a
botanist in the Malaspina expedition and he eagerly
accepted the offer. The Austrian Emperor Joseph II
learned about Haenke, now one of the best botanists
in all of Austria, and did not want to allow Haenke to
leave the country. Emperor Joseph II allowed Haenke
to leave only after the intervention by Professor
Jacquin, but Haenke had to agree that he would return
back to Austria after the expedition. By misfortune,
Haenke arrived in Cádiz one day after the corvettes
had sailed. This forced him to take another vessel to
Buenos Aires, crossing the Andes all the way to Chile
and finally joining the group in Valparaíso. “But this
contrariety served the purpose of forcing Haenke [...]
to cross the South American all the way to Santiago
14 Captain Joseph Billings, an English navigator, had earlier accompanied Captain James Cook on his third voyage to the Pacific,
and subsequently entered the Russian navy, initially as a lieutenant. In 1785, Empress Catherine II of Russia, acting for her
government, commissioned Billings to command an expedition to search for the Northeast Passage, forming the “Northeastern
Secret Geographical and Astronomical Expedition” (1785-94).
LANKESTERIANA 9(1—2), August 2009. © Universidad de Costa Rica, 2009.
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