Captain Cook's Original Voyages round the World [The abridgment of G. W. Anderson.] Embellished with engravings, etc

Front matter

% $U. KM COOKS IRIS. TOODBRID <^E . J'ut.-li.shed l.y Bdienlh Wcodti-iifyr jfil&m ' ' 'Co-j^-itSaY. ' THE PREFACE- THE grent utility and very interesting nature of the important First, Second, and Thib* Voyages and Discoveries of the late Capt. COOK, are acknowledged by all ranks of people; consequently it might be deemed impertinent here to attempt any encomiums on the arduous but exact researches of this eminent and valuable Navigator, in which discoveries have been made far greater than those of all the other Navigators in the World, from the expedition of Columbus to the present time. Capt. Cook is unquestionably allowed to have been the ablest and most renowned Circumnavigator this or any other country has produced ; and every enlightened nation must. deplore his being unfortunately killed by the Savages of the Island of Owhyhee, on the 14th, of February, 1779, when prosecuting his Last Voyage round the Globe.

This great man possessed, in an eminent degree, all the qualifications requisite for his professioa and great undertakings. He was cool and deliberate in judging; sagacious in determining ; active in executing ; steady and persevering in enterprizes, vigilant, with unremitting caution; unsubdued by labour, difficulties and disappointments; fertile in expeditions ; never wanting presence of mind; always possessing himself of the full use of a sound understanding; mild, just, but exa.?t in discipline. His knowledge, his experience, and his sagacity, rendered him so entirely master of his subject, that the greatest obstacles were surmounted, and the most dangerous navigations became easy, and almost safe, under his direction. He explored the Southern Hemisphere, &c. to a much higher latitude than had ever been reached, and with fewer accidents than frequently befal those who navigate the coasts of Great Britain.

By his attention to the welfare of his ship's company, he discovered and introduced a system for the preservation of the health of seamen in lon^ voyages, which has proved wonderfully efficacious: for in his Second Voyage round the World, which continued upwards of three years, he lost only one man by distemper, of one hundred and eighteen persons, of whom his company consisted. The death of this valuable man was a loss to mankind in general ; and particularly to be deplored bv every nation that respects useful accomplishments, and honours science. It is still more to be deplored by this country, which may justly boast of having produced a man hitherto unequalled for nautical talents ; and that sorrow is farther aggravated by the reflection, that this country was deprived of this ornament by the enmity of a people, from whom, indeed, it might have been dreaded, but from whom it was not deserved: for, Capt. Cook frequently interposed, at the hazard of his life to protect these very people from the sudden resentment of his own injured ship's crew.