No Room In Exhibition For Capt. Cook’s Chest

Press, Volume C, Issue 29672, 16 November 1961, Page 18

No Room In Exhibition For Capt. Cook’s Chest

(From Our Own Reporter)

TIMARU, November 14. There is no room for Captain Cook’s sea-chest in the South Canterbury art loan exhibition, according to the owner of the chest, Mi s A. E. Woodhouse, of Blue Cliffs Station. Mrs Woodhouse said the sea-chest was obtained in England in 1920 when she and her mother (Mrs R. H. Rhodes) were there. It belonged to the Rev. F. G. Copeland, rector of Madras Field near Malvern. The saa-chest had been in Mrs Copeland’s possession for 28 years. It was bought from persons named Cook, descended from the explorer's nephew. This, with other pieces of furniture, was handed to Cook’s next-of-kin i by the Admiralty on the re- ( turn of H.M.S. Resolution j after Cook’s death at Hawaii. The chest is made of cedar wood and covered with old , green leather. It is brass ; bound and studded with brass ’ nails. The chest is 44in long | and 28in high. It stands on I claw feet. 1 Mrs Woodhouse said that J

its “mate,” a "fiddle-top” chest, was now in the Dominion Museum, Wellington. Tsiis chest was made to fit into the corner of Cook’s cabin. It was built by a ship’s carpenter from wood procured by Cook on one of his voyages. Mrs Woodhouse said that she and her mother saw both chests when in England in 1920, but bought only one piece. The other one came to New Zealand a few years ago for preservation in the Dominion Museum.