Upon his firm courage, resourcefulness and strength of purpose, difficulties and dangers acted merely as the whetstone to the finely tempered blade.

He undertook hazardous enterprises from the sheer love of doing hard things which were worth doing.

"He was one," wrote Flinders, "whose ardour for discovery was not to be repressed by any obstacle nor deterred by danger." He seemed to care nothing for rewards, and was not hungry for honours.

The pleasure of doing was to him its own recompense.
That "penetrating countenance" indexed a brain as direct as a drill, and as inflexible.

A loyal and affectionate comrade, preferring to enter upon a task with his chosen mate, he nevertheless could not wait inactive if official duties prevented co-operation, but would set out alone on any piece of work on which he had set his heart.