Captain Cook: his life, voyages, and discoveries

Chapter I

Early Training. . . . . . . .13 Parentage — Birth — School-days and Apprenticeship — Friendship of Captain Palliser— Appointment to the Mercury — Siege of Quebec — Narrow escape from Indians — Becomes Master on board the Northumberland, — Marriage.

Chapter II

Fiust Voyage of Discovery, 1768 — 1771. . . .21 Voyages of Wallis and Carteret — Expedition to observe the Transit of Venus — Cook becomes Commander of the Endeavour— Madeira — Rio ilu Janeiro — Dangers at Cape Horn — Society Islands — Arrival at Otaheite — Rules to be observed in intercourse with Natives — Thieves in Tahiti — The astronomical instruments set up— Fresh Difficulties— Character of the Tahitians — Tupia — Etuas— Temples and Burial-places — Natural Productions — Houses and modo of cooking — Canoes — Fishing — Leave Tahiti — Huaheine, Ulietea, and Oheteroa — Arrival at New Zealand — Attempts to open up intercourse at Poverty Bay — Botanizing — Food of Natives — Pahs — Productions of New Zealand — Bay of Islands — Cannibalism — Middle Island — Mount Egmont — Discovery of New South Wales — First Landing-place, Botany Bay— The Endeavour in danger — The Kangaroo and Opossum — Plants, Trees, and Turtle — A Dangerous Reef — New Guinea — Results of the Voyage — Hard Terms at Savu— Java — Deaths at Batavia — St. Helena — Return, and Arrival in London. Contents.

Chapter III

Second Voyage of Discovery, 1772 — 1775 .... 131 Search for the great Southern continent— Cook appointed — Sailing of the Resolution and Adventure — Loss of Live Stock through Cold — Among the Icebergs — Auroral Lights— New Zealand again — Waterspouts —More Thieves and Quarrels — Omai taken on board — Arrival at Ulietea again — Plays — Human Sacrifices — The Tonga or Friendly Islands— Visit and Offerings to the Etuas — A great Chief — Canoe-building — Leave Tongatabu — Separation of the Adventure and Resolution — Animals put ashore for stocking — New Zealanders — Among the Ice again — Easter Island — Wonderful Statues — Marquesas Islands — Return to Tahiti — Warriors and War Canoes — Huaheine— Ulietea— Tonga Group — Mallicollo — Sandwich Islands — Fight with the Natives — Erromanga — John Williams — Tanna — New Caledonia and its Natives — Terra del Fuego — Among the Sea-Lions and Seals— Sandwich Land — Health of the Crew — Home again.

Chapter IV

Third Voyage of Discovery, 1776 — 1778 .... 234 Honours conferred on Cook — Omai's Reception in England — " The North-west Passage " — Cook offers to head the Expedition — The Resolution and Discovery fitted out — Delays — Van Diemen's Land — New Zealand revisited — Native Ferocity and Ignorance — Mangaia — Feenou — Native Entertainments — The King of the Friendly Isles — Plots against the Expedition — Toobouai — Tahiti revisited — Misconduct and End of Omai — What may be made of an old Anchor — Cannibalism — Captain Vancouver — Nootka Sound — Behring's Straits — The North-west Passage attempted — Return to the Sandwich Islands — Legend of Rono — Difficulties with the Natives — Death of Captain Cook — His Character and Achievements — Captain Clerke succeeds to the Command — Sail northward again — Russian Hospitality — Arctic. Exploration resumed — Death of Captain Clerke — Return.

Chapter V

Subsequent History of Polynesia . . . . .311 Missionary Work in the Pacific — The good ship Duff — Tahiti — Failure of the Marquesan Mission — Pomare — Dark clouds in Tahiti — The Huaheine Mission— Borabora — Raiatea — Aitutaki — Rarotonga — Savage Island — Missions in the Fiji Islands — Death of John Williams — Samoa — Loyalty Group — Sandwich Islands — Tabular Statement. LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS. PAGE Map of Polynesia ... .... 10 Quebec .......... 16 Bay of Funchal, Madeira ....... 25 Eio Janeiro ......... 28 Cook's arrival at Otaheite, or Tahiti .... 32 Bread-fruit ......... 33 Coral Island in the South Seas ..... 39 A Mystery Man's Hut ....... 45 The Cacao, or Cocoa ........ 49 Cocoa-nut Palm ...... . 50 Huaheine, Society Islands ....... 59 Patoo-patoo .......... 73 New Zealand Pah 81 "War Clubs and Adze made by New Zealanders . . 83 A Carved Coffer in New Zealand Work . . . .83 Bay of Islands ........ 87 First Landing-Place in Australia at Botany Bay . . 95 The Endeavour laid up on Shore for Eepairs . . . 100 The Kangaroo 102 Chlamydosaurus, or Frilled Lizard of New Holland . 107 Driving on to a Coral Eeef Ill Ornithorhynchus Paradoxus of Australia . . . 116 Batavia from the Sea . . . . . . .121 .St. Helena, showing the Ladder up to the Fort . .

List of Illustrations. PAGE Harbour of Pango Pango, Tutuila . . . • .130 Hjgh-Prowed Double Canoe of Tahiti . . • • 131 Great Patagonian Penguin . . . ■* • • 137 Ice-bound . . . . . . • • • 138 Auroral Lights ......-•■ 140 Waterspout . . , . . . - • • W* Native Drum — Mode of Playing ..... 156 Double Canoe ........ 16-5 Canoe Building . ... . . . • • .167 New Zealanders . . . . . . • • 173 Marquesas Islander . . . . • • .181 Valley of Akaoui, Marquesas Islands .... 185 Coral Island, named Whitsunday Island, im the Pacific Ocean 189 Polynesian Scene ........ 196 Crater of Kilanea, Sandwich Islands ... 199 Attacked by the Savages ....... 204 Native Hut, Exterior ....... 214 Native Hut, Interior ....... 214 Cabbage Palm ........ 216 Natives cf Terra del Fuego ...... 220 Cape Town, Table Bay, and Mountain .... 227 Island of Ascension ........ 231 Australian Bower Bird ....... 233 New Zealand Idol ........ 249 Axe left by Cook at Mangaia .... 251 A Storm in the Forest . . . • . . . 262 Tropical Vegetation ....... 2C8 The Albatross . . . . . . ... . 280 Karakakooa Bay, Owiiyhee ...... 289 Diamond Head Crater, Honolulu, Owhyhee . . . 291 Portrait of Captain Ccok ...... 299 Among the Icebergs ........ 307 Titikaueka Chapel, Earatonga ..... 329 Missionary Church in the Fiji Islands .... 333 House at Earotonga occupied by the Missionary Williams b ISLANDS OP THE PACIFIC OCEAN. Sift aittr Itopjgcs 0s Captain daalu

Chapter I

EAF^LY TF(AIJMIJ\[q. mong all those Englishmen who, from a humble origin, have risen to an honourable position, Captain James Cook is especially worthy of record. His parents were of the peasant class — his father having commenced life as a farm -labourer, ancl his mother being a cottager's daughter. Probably, however, they were both superior to others of the same station, as the husband, in process of time, became farm-bailiff to his employer — a Mr. Thomas Skottowe. This was about the year 1730, ancl the farm of which he had the management was called Airy-Holme; near Ayton, in Yorkshire. Not far from this place, at the village of Marton, near Stockton-upon-Tees, his son James was bom, on the 27th of October, 1728. James was one of nine children, all of whom he survived, with the exception of a sister who married a fisherman at Eedcar.

The father of this family spent the latter years of his life with his daughter at Eedcar, and was supposed to have been about eighty-five years old at the time of his death, so that he must n have had the satisfaction of seeing his son rising in his profession ; though probably he little thought of that son as establishing a fame which would be handed down in history. James Cook does not appear to have enjoyed any peculiar educational advantages : but owed his subsequent advancement chiefly to his own intelligence, perseverance, and diligence. He first went to a village school, and was afterwards sent, at the expense of Mr. Skottowe to an ordinary commercial school kept by a Mr. Pullen. He continued there four years, and was then apprenticed to Mr. William Sanderson, a grocer ancl haberdasher at the fishing town of Straiths, ten miles from Whitby.

It may be supposed that the occupation in which he was engaged was not suited to his taste. The sea was constantly before his eyes, and the desire to seek his fortune on it sprang up within him, and grew stronger and stronger till in about a year after he went to Straiths he obtained a release from his engagement with Mr. Sanderson, and apprenticed himself to Messrs. Walker and Co., shipowners of Whitby. He went to sea for the first time when he was about eighteen, on board one of their vessels — the Truelove* collier, of 450 tons burden, trading between Newcastle and London. The lad soon showed that he was well fitted for his new profession, and in 1748, not two years after he had commenced it, we find him especially directed to assist in fitting for sea the Three Brothers, a new ship of six hundred tons.

While he served on board this ship she was hired by Government as a transport ; ancl on her being paid off she was employed in the Norway trade. After making several voyages in the Three Brothers up the Baltic, young Cook was promoted to the rank of mate on board the Friendship. He had by this time gained the good will of * In the biographies of Cook the name of the vessel id which he first went to sea is given as the Freelove — evidently a misprint. I have never known a vessel of that name, whereas the Truelove is a favourite name. Enters the Navy. 15 his employers and had made several other friends on shore, who, before long, were enabled to render him essential service. He was now known as a thorough seaman ; indeed, from the moment he went on board ship, he had steadily applied his mind to acquiring a knowledge of his profession.

Still he served on as mate of the Friendship till the breaking out of the war between England and France in 1756, when he made up his mind to push his fortunes in the Eoyal Navy. He knew that at all events there was a great probability of his being pressed into the service, and he had good reason to hope that he might be placed ere long on the quarter deck, since many young men at that time had been who went to sea, as he had done, before the mast. He accordingly volunteered, and entered as an able seaman on board the Eagle, of 60 guns, then commanded by Captain Hamer, but shortly after wards by Captain Palliser, who became the well known Sir Hugh Palliser — Cook's warm and constant friend. As soon as the young sailor's Yorkshire friends heard that he had entered on board a man-of-war, they exerted themselves in his behalf, and a letter of introduction was procured from Mr. Osbaldeston, member for the county, to his captain, who, having already re marked the intelligence and assiduity Cook exhibited in all his professional duties, was the more ready to give him a helping hand.

Considering how best he could assist the young man, who had served too short a time in the navy to obtain a commission, Captain Palliser advised that a master's warrant should be pro cured for him — this being a position for which, both from age and experience, he was well fitted* This was done ; and on the 10th of May, 1759, James Cook was appointed to the Grampus, * Masters in the navy were in those days appointed by warrant, and were very general!}' taken direct from the merchant service without going through any preparatory grade, as at present. They are now also commissioned officers, and on retiring receive commanders' rank. sloop of war; and was now in a fair way of gaining the object of his ambition. He had, however, to undergo a trial of patience at the first outset of his career ; for the former master returning, his appointment was cancelled.

His friends were not idle, ancl four days after this he was made master of the Garland ; but on going to join her he found that she had already sailed for her destination. On the following day, the 15th of May, he was yLEBEC. appointed to the Mercury, on the point of sailing for the North American station to joiu the fleet under Sir Charles Saunders, which, in conjunction with the army under General Wolfe, was engaged in the siege of Quebec. The termination of that contest gained for Great Britain one of her finest provinces. To this success Cook contributed in his particular department ; and it is Siege of Quebec. 17 remarkable that he should have been in various ways instrumental in giving to his country the three finest provinces she possesses — Canada, the Australian settlements, and New Zealand.

James Cook was now about thirty-two years of age, and although the position in life he had filled for the previous twelve years was not one (especially in those days) conducive to refinement of manners, he appears from the first to have conducted himself with propriety and credit. He had already shown his superiority as a seaman. He was now to exhibit his talents in the more scientific part of his profession in which officers in the navy were in those days greatly deficient. It was necessary to take the soundings in the channel of the St. Lawrence, between the island of Orleans and the north shore, directly in front of the French fortified camp of Montmorency and Beauport, in order to enable the admiral to place his ships so as to oppose the enemy's batteries, and to cover the projected landing of the British army under Wolfe, and a general attack on their camp.

Captain Palliser, who now commanded the Shrewsbury, a seventy-four gun ship, recommended Cook for this difficult and dangerous service. He was engaged on it for many consecutive nights, it being a work which could not be performed in the daytime. At length his proceedings were discovered by the French, who laid a plan to catch him. They concealed in a wood near the water a number of Indians and their canoes. As the Mercury's barge in which Cook was making the survey passed, the canoes darted out on him and gave chase. His only chance of escape was to run for it. He pushed for the isle of Orleans with a whole host of yelling savages paddling at full speed after him. On they came, every momeut gaining on his boat. The English hospital where there was a guard was before him ; towards this he steered, the bows of the Indian canoes almost touching tho barge's stern ; a few strokes more, and the Indians would have C grappled him.

He sprang from his seat over the bow of his boat, followed by his crew, just as the enemy leaped in over whelming numbers over the quarters. They carried off the barge in triumph, but Cook and his comrades escaped ; and he succeeded, in spite of all difficulties, in furnishing the admiral with a correct and complete draft of the channel and soundings. This was the more extraordinary, as Sir Hugh Palliser afterwards expressed his belief that before this time Cook had scarcely ever used a pencil, and knew nothing of drawing ; and it is one of many proofs that the ardent seaman not only threw his soul into the duties of his profession, but that this determination enabled him quickly to master every subject to which he applied his mind. While his ship remained in the St. Lawrence, Cook, at the desire of the admiral, made an accurate survey of the more difficult parts of that river below Quebec.

So complete and perfect was the chart which he executed, and which, with his sailing directions, was afterwards published, that until a late period no other was thought necessary. So little were the English acquainted with the navigation of the river before this, that when, early in the season, the fleet under Rear- Admiral Darell arrived at its mouth, some difficulty was expected in getting up it. Fortunately when off the island of Caudec, the inhabitants, mis taking the English ships for their own fleet, sent off their best pilots. These were of course detained, and proved of great use in taking the English fleet up the river. After the conquest of Canada had been accomplished, Admiral Saunders despatched the larger ships to England, following himself in the Somerset, and leaving the command of the fleet in North America to Captain Lord Colvill, who had his com modore's flag flying on board the Northumberland.

To this ship Cook was appointed as master by warrant from his lordship on the 22nd of September, 1759. The squadron wintered at Marriage. 19 Halifax. Cook employed the leisure which the winter afforded him in acquiring that knowledge which especially fitted, him for the service in which he was thereafter to be engaged. At Halifax he first read Euclid, and began to study astronomy, and other branches of science, in which, considering the few books to which he had access, and the want of assistance from others, he made wonderful progress. In the following year, 1760, a lieutenant's commission was presented to him as a reward for his services. In 1762 the Northumberland was engaged in the recapture of Newfoundland. The activity which Cook displayed in sur veying its harbour and heights attracted the attention of Captain Graves, the acting governor, and commander of the Antelope.

Captain Graves, on becoming further acquainted with Cook, formed a high opinion of his abilities, while he admired the energy and perseverance he exhibited in surveying the neighbouring coasts and harbours. At the end of the year Cook went to England, and on the 21st of December he married, at Barking, in Essex, Miss Elizabeth Batts, a young lady of respectable family, to whom he had some time before been engaged. As she died in 1835 at the age of ninety-three, she must at the time of her marriage have been twenty years old. Her husband was tenderly attached to her, but his married life, like that of most sailors, had long and frequent interruptions. She bore him six children, three of whom died in their infancy. Soon after Cook's marriage, peace with France and Spain was concluded. On this Captain Graves, was again appointed governor of Newfoundland.

As the island was of great import ance to England, he obtained from the Government, with some difficulty, an establishment for the survey of its coasts, and offered the direction of it to Cook, who, notwithstanding his recent marriage, accepted the offer. In the following year, 1764, Sir Hugh Palliser, being appointed governor of Newfoundland and Labrador, Cook was made marine surveyor of the province ; the Grenville schooner, being placed under his command. The charts made by Cook enlightened the Government as to the value of Newfoundland, and induced them, when drawing up articles of peace with France, to insist on arrangements which secured to Great Britain the advantages which its coasts afford. Not content, however, with merely surveying the shore, Cook penetrated into the interior of the country, and discovered several lakes hitherto unknown.

On the 5th of August an eclipse of the sun occurred, an observation of which was taken by Cook from one of the Burgeo islands, near the south-west end of Newfoundland. The paper he wrote on it was published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Eoyal Society. This fact alone proves that he must already have become a good mathematician and astronomer. The last time he went to Newfoundland as marine surveyor was in 1767. We have now briefly traced the career of James Cook from his childhood to the period when he had established his character as an able seaman, a scientific navigator, and a good officer. He was soon to have an opportunity of proving to his country and to the world in general the very high degree in which he possessed these qualities, and which enabled him to accomplish an undertaking which has proved of inestimable benefit to millions of the human race.

By his means, discovery was made of fertile lands of vast extent, previously trodden only by the feet of wandering savages ; and numberless tribes, sunk in the grossest idolatry and human degradation, were made known to the Christian world. And Christians, roused at length to a sense of their responsibility, began to devise means, under the blessing of God, for teaching these, their ignorant brethren of the human family, the knowledge of the only true God, and the way of eternal life. CHAPTEE II. FIF\£T VOYAQE OF DI£COVEF(Y August 176S to July 1771. N the year 1763, on the restoration I of peace, the desire to explore unknown seas and to discover new countries revived among the English, and was warmly encouraged by King George the Third. Two expeditions were at once fitted out to circum navigate the globe, one under Lord Byron, and another under Captains Wallis and Carteret, the former commanding the Dolphin in which Lord Byron had just returned, the latter the Swalloiv.

As, however, Captains Wallis and Carteret accidentally parted company at an early period of their voyage and kept different routes, they are generally considered as having led two separate expeditions. Before the return of these ships, another expedition was de termined od, the immediate object of which was to observe a transit of Venus, which it had been calculated by astronomers would occur in 1769. It was believed that one of the Marquesas, or one of the Friendly Islands, called by Tasman, Amsterdam, Eotterdam, and Middleburg, would be an advantageous spot for making the proposed observation. The king was memorialized by the Eoyal Society, and through his Majesty's intervention the Lords Commissioners of the Ad miralty undertook to furnish a suitable vessel and crew to convey the astronomers and other scientific persons who might be selected to carry out the proposed objects.

The Eoyal Society had fixed on Mr. Alexander Dalrymple to take the direction of the ex pedition, but as he was not in the royal navy, Sir Edward Hawke, then at the head of the Admiralty, would not hear of his being appointed. Mr. Dalrymple, on the other hand, would not consent to go unless he received a brevet commission as captain. It was necessary, therefore, to find some one else, and Mr. (Stephens, the Secretary of the Admiralty, a warm supporter of the expedition, mentioned Cook to the Board, and suggested that Sir Hugh Palliser's opinion should be asked respecting him. This, as may be supposed, was in every respect favourable ; and consequently Lieutenant Cook was directed to hold himself in readiness to take command of the proposed expedition. Sir Hugh Palliser was requested to select a fit ship for the purpose, and with Cook's assistance he fixed on a barque of three hundred and seventy tons, to which the name of the Endeavour was given.

She mounted ten carriage and ten swivel guns; her crew, besides the com mander, consisted of eighty-four persons, and she was provisioned for eighteen months. The well known Sir Joseph Banks, then Mr. Banks, one of the chief promoters of the expedition, volunteered to accompany it. On leaving Oxford he had visited the coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador to obtain information on scientific subjects. Although he suffered no small amount of hardship on that occasion he Preparations for the Expedition. 23 returned home with unabated zeal in the cause he had adopted, and ready again to leave all the advantages which his position afforded him, for the discomforts and clangers of a long voyage in unknown seas. Mr. Banks was however more than a philosopher — he was a large-hearted philanthropist — and he was animated with the hope of diffusing some of the advantages of civilization and Christianity among the people who might be discovered.

He engaged as naturalist to the expedition the services of Dr. Solander, a Swede by birth, educated under Linnæus, from whom he had brought letters of introduction to England. Mr. Banks also, at his own charge, took out a secretary and two artists, one to make drawings from subjects of natural history, the other to take sketches of scenery and the portraits of the natives who might be met with. He had likewise four personal attendants, two of whom were negroes. The Government, on its part, appointed Mr. Charles Green, who had long been assistant to Dr. Bradley at the Eoyal Observatory Greenwich, to assist Lieutenant Cook in the astronomical depart ment of the expedition ; and in every respect the persons engaged in this celebrated expedition were well fitted to attain the objects contemplated.

While these preparations were going forward, Captain Wallis returned from his voyage round the world. He expressed his opinion that a harbour in an island he had discovered, and called King George's Island, since well known as Otaheite or Tahiti, was a fit spot for observing the transit of Venus. That island was accordingly to be the first destination of the Endeavour. After having accomplished the primary object of the voyage, the com mander was directed to proceed in making discoveries through the wide extent of the Great Southern Ocean. Lieutenant Cook received his commission as commander of the Endeavour (which was then in the basin in Deptford Yard), on the 25th of May, 1768. On the 27th he went on board, and immediately began fitting her for sea. The work in dock-yards was not executed so rapidly in those days as it is now ; and it was upwards of two months before the vessel was ready.

On the 30th of July she dropped down the river; but it was not till the 15th of August that she reached Plymouth. On Friday, the 26th of August, the wind becoming fair, the Endeavour finally put to sea, and commenced the first of one of the most memorable series of voyages which have ever been performed by a single vessel. Next to Commander Cook in authority in the Endeavour, were her two lieutenants — Zachary Hicks and John Gore : her senior mate was Charles Clerke, who accompanied Cook in each of his subsequent voyages, and succeeded to the command of the third expedition on the death of his beloved captain. He had previously served as midshipman under Lord Byron in his first voyage round the world. A long sea voyage is almost always felt to be extremely tedious ancl dull to landsmen ; but every change in the atmosphere ; the varied appearance presented by the sea ; the numberless creatures found ih it ; the birds which hovered about the ship, or pitched on the rigging; all afforded matter of interest to the enlightened persons on board the Endeavour.

At Madeira the naturalists of the expedition set to work collecting specimens. The social condition of the people has probably altered little since those days, though the monasteries, which then existed, have long since been abolished. The nuns of the convent of Santa Clara especially amused Mr. Banks and his companions by the simplicity of the questions they put on hearing that they were philosophers. Among others they requested them to ascertain by their art whether a spring of pure water existed within the walls of their convent and also when the next thunder storm would occur. BAY OF FUXCHAL, MADEIRA. A rrives at Rio Janeiro. 27 On leaving Madeira the course was shaped for Bio de Janeiro, which was reached on the 13th of November. The voyagers were not treated by the viceroy with the courtesy which might have been expected.

The object of the voyage was utterly beyond the comprehension of that functionary, who could form no other conception of the matter than that it had something to do with the passing of the North Star through the South Pole. This ignorance and suspicion caused the voyagers a great deal of annoyance during the whole of their stay ; though the viceroy could not refuse them water and other necessaries. When at length these were procured and the Endeavour was going out of the harbour she was fired at from the forts of Santa Cruz. Cook immediately sent on shore to demand the cause of this act. The excuse offered by the commandant of the port was that he had received no orders from the viceroy to allow the ship to pass. It appeared that the letter had been written, but that through neglect it had not been forwarded.

Through the whole of the contest with the viceroy, Cook behaved with equal spirit and dis cretion. Among the remarks which Cook makes in his journal on the Brazils, is one on the fearful expense of life at which the royal gold mines in that country were worked. No less than forty thousand negroes were annually imported to labour in the royal mines. In the year 1766, through an epidemic, the number required falling short, twenty thousand more were drafted from the town of Eio. A very similar account may be given of the silver and other mines on the other side of the continent; while the treacherous system which was organized to supply the demand for labour from among the inhabitants of the Pacific Islands must be looked on with even greater horror and indignation than that which existed for supplying the Brazils with slave labour.

So strictly were the Brazilian gold mines guarded that no stranger was allowed to visit them, and any person found on the roads leading to them was immediately hanged by the guards stationed there. Altogether Cook formed a very unfavourable opinion of the inhabitants of the Brazils, though few parts of the tropics surpass it in beauty of climate, fertility of soil, and power of pro duction. After a stay of three weeks in the harbour of Eio, the Endeavour KIO JAXEIUO. put to sea on the 7th of December, ancl stood down the coast of South America. On approaching the latitudes of the Falkland Islands, the crew complaining of cold, received what was called a Magellanic jacket, and pair of trousers made of a thick woollen stuff called Fearnought. Instead of going through the straits of Magellan, as was the custom in those times, the Endeavour was steered from the strait of Le Maire between Helen Island and Cape Horn. 29 Terra del Fuego.