Captain Cook's Endeavour

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 286, 2 December 1936, Page 22

Captain Cook's Endeavour

"Two cats called the Valentine and the Earl of Pembroke to be surveyed and report which is the properest to be purchased."

So runs the entry in the Warrant Entry Book of the Board of Trade, Deptford, under the date March 23, 1708. The survey having b'een duly carried out the ship Earl of Pembroke was purchased .for £2800. She was then "sheathed, filled, and fitted for voyage to the southward'' at a further cost of £2294. This cat-built boat was soon to make a voyage which was to bring immortal fume to her master, Captain James Cook. Rile was to be called the Endeavour Bark. The reason for this official name was that there was at that time another Endeavour in the I British Navy. I

Many of you will perhaps be perplexed by the term "cat built" boat, but it is one that has a round bluff bow and a wide deep waist from which point it tapers towards the stern. The name was derived from the Norwegian, "kati," a ship. The Endeavour was 386 tons burden and was built by Messrs. Fishburn, of Whitby, in 1704. She was nearly 100 feet ill length, 30 feet Ijeam and 13J feet draught. The sheathing carried out by the Admiralty must have been of wood, as there is no mention of copper in the surveyor's books, not at th time of her being repaired at the Endeavour River. Points that will impress* as you view the illustration of the model of the Endeavour built by Major Burton, of Nelson, are the blunt bow and square stern, also the fact that the foremast is quite close to the bow. Thesoftfeatures with the tall masts and numerous ropes and yards recall the time when Britain's sea power was all dependent on sailing vessels. It must be remembered that this ship was purchased by the Admiralty and accordingly should probably be referred to as H.M.S. Endeavour.

The main objeet of Cook's first voyage was to observe the transit of the planet Venus across the disc of the sun from the island of Tahiti.

The decision to make the voyage resulted from a memorial addressed by the Royal Society to King George 111. who was graciously pleased to order the sum of £4000 clear of fees to defray expenses. The Endeavour left Plymouth on August 25, 17(>S, and after a voyage round the world, in the course of which Now Zealand was visited and charted, returned to England on July 12, 1771.

After this she made some trips to the Falkland Islands and was then sold.