CAPTAIN COOK

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 123, 26 May 1928, Page 17

CAPTAIN COOK

; , HIS THIRD VOYAGE 1, CEREMONY AT HAWAII ;i£ELJCS IN NEW ZEALAND Extcnsivp preparations have .'been .;made by.the American authorities for "the Oaptain'j'Cook' 'memorial ceremonies .' which are to take.place,at thcllawaii.an Islands in August. Cook discovered . tha: islands, in December, 1777, and met his death there on the lllli February, " 177& Many countries ■will- be reprc- . sented. at the ' ceremonies, including Great: Britain, Japan, Canada, Austra.- ---: lia," and Neiv Zealand.- ■•; "•■Whilst the celebration is being held at Hawaii, it might oven more properly be. licjd.in New Zealand. Cook's Stay . in.New-Z.ea-l.and extended over a con- ' sldcrable period. - "He: was first hero .'.from. Slh: October;. 17097 to. the 31st March, 1770; his second- visit was ...from 2fHh March, 1773,. -to the 7th June, 1773;': Ms: third from 21st. October to 26th November, 1773; his fourth from 19th October to 10th November, 17.74; and his fifth from 12th February to 25th February, 1777. . .It will be seen that hisSvisits to: ■ New-Zealand during his-three voyages were;frequent,; and.the .first ones were prolonged. During that time lie made Niiw Zealand known' to the-world,.and laid down a char.t which was not even improved on until about the year 1849, when Admiralty surveys of the coast were taken in hand, arid these surveys showed how remarkably accurate were those made-.by Cook on his early voyages to New Zealand.', ' 'Contrasted with. Hie above periods, .. .ifc'may ; be mentioned "that Cook spent "-only; ; abo'ut three-months in Hawaii; Lthat is, from, the date of his discovering •the islands on 22nd December, 1777, untir 7th-March, 1778, when he left .for the coasts of America, proceeding •.on his way to explore the possibilities ■of a passage to England by way of Behring Strait and North America. He 'was in the. islands only a few clays •on his return, entering-Karakakoa, Bay, ...Hawaii, onl7th January, 1779, and ■ remaining there for about a fortnight, ..during which time he and his people • werOViwdl received.by. the natives. On • the 4th of February the ships put to sea, "but, getting into bad weather, they. were conijielled to -return and anchor, in the" same.bay on the .11th. Now the' demeanour of the natives ■•seemed to. have quite changed; they were surly and •insolent; their robbofie.s were bolder. ■" muT more persistent.' '.One. native thief was pursued, but the people refused to .give"Kirn up! The.same night the Dis-covery's-cutter was.stolen, but so quietly that'nothing was known.of it until -the following morning. On its being" , reported to Cook, ho went on shore, : with an escort of marines, intending ■to bring the native king, or chief, for 'U.friendly hostage. The chief consented to. go on board,-but his family and the people generally prevented it;.-they began io'arm,. and assembled in great, jnumbers; firid Cook.' wishing to a void, a conflict,,retreated with his escort to the . "boats.\.iit.,the -Waterside, the men in the -boats.-.and the- marines, owing to the ihr-eate.ning:.beliaviour of the natives, fired on the-crowd. 1 Cook called out to ecase-'firing, and ordered the boats to close-in.' One only obeyed, the order; but the marines, . having, discharged their muskets, were driven into the ."sea'before■■tlieyy.cpuUT" reload, and four ■of them wera "killed.' Cook, left alone on ■.•the. shore, attempted also to make for the boat. As his back was.turned ■a native; stunned him by a Wow on the head. 'He < sank to his knees. Another stabbed' him with a dagger, and. : "he fell into the water, where, lie was held; by the seething.'.crowd. Having struggled to land, ho was again beaten .over: the. head with clubs a fid staiibed. :.repeatedly—his...death being one'of the -tragedies of-tiio Pacific." .. GREAT BRITISH NAVIGATOR. .His character i.-i depicted in the fpl- " lowing way b.v liie editor of the account of ./his third "voyage— 177G-1780:—" He was , tlie ablest and ■ most■• renowned navigator, this-or any country has produced/ He raised himself solely by his merit :frbin a very obscure' birth to. the i-nnk of post-captain in the TRoyal INavy. ;;He ppssekscd 5n- an'eminent degree all the. .'qualifications requisite for his. pro-" ..fession find gi'eat undertakings, togcthef(witlr the amiable and worthy qualities of the best men. Cool and deliberate in judgment; sagacious in determination; active in executing; steadyand persevering in enterprise; mild arid .just, but exact in discipline.. He was a father" fo his people, who werc^ attached to him from' affection, and ..obedient from,, "confidence. „. By his .benevolent and. unabating attention to the welfare of his ship's company, he discovered and introduced a system for . the preservation of the health of seamen in long 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 out of 118 of .which his company consisted. The. death of this eminent and valuable man was a^Joss to. mankind in general, and •is particularly- to.be deplored by every nation that respects useful accomplish■inent, that honours science, and loves the benevolent and amiable affections Of the heart. It is still more to be deplored by this country, which may justly boast, having produced a man hitherto unequalled for nautical attainments." ..RELICS IN TUENBULL LIBRARY. ■•■■; A note may be made of a. few of ,tho:" ■-relies^ of this ■ famous- navigator that -:havb found their resting place in the .iCurnbull Library, Wellington. .- ,: . First, there is the original log kept . by-. Cook on the Eagle, of1: the""'Royal Navy, in 1755-50, when ho was master's mate..,,lt was the excellent work ho '-. did. whilst in the Navy that caused him to be given command of the cx--pedition that was first sent to the ■Pacific in 17G8. :- ['■'■ "Jk1 the library is the manuscript log .'Kept 011 the "Endeavour, during the first expedition, from 1768 to 1770. -This was not kept by Cook himself, but by one of the officers on board, probably : Hicks. This log is of extraordinaryinterest, as it gives short entries pf the happenings during their stay on ,tb,e coasts of New Zealand. ,'. . " .The library also has the manuscript . journals of Bayly, who was the astron-, omer on board during the second and third voyages. , There is a manuscript copy of : Banks's journal, 1768-1771—Banks-be-ing the naturalist accompanying the expedition.' This manuscript copy originally belonged to Phipps, a botanist and.Arctic explorer. ' In 1787 was published in London, a book describing the bark clothing of the Pacific islanders. . With a few of these books were bound up actual speei-1 .mens of -this cloth, collected by Cook ■'during liis voyage. In-the library is oho' of •'• thess ; books, the specimens of ■' "cloth numbering upwards of 100. EXTENSIVE COLLECTION. .....In.-.1593 there was published a com-.-ipJctp copy -of Cook's own journal. . There "'was-a large edition limited to ■ iiftyv-in" number,; and ,of this; number /two; are.in tlic; library;-. Those copies have a closer association with Cook, for'they-are bound with polished elm boards cut from n tree planted by Cook, the tree in Clapham Common

having been- blown down during a st.orm while, the books were beingprinted. For the second voyage, the Admiralty engaged William Hodges, a landscape ■painter, to make drawings during the voyage.. On't> of his original sketchbooks was recently secured, and is in the library* - During tho same voyage, the Lords of tho Admiralty, caused a number of medals to be struck—one side representing "His Majesty King George 111., and, on the other side, the two ships: These medals were to bo given, to the natives oil tlie newly discovered countries and left there as testimony of the English being (he first discoverers. Some of these medals wore brought to Now Zealand. They were mostly in bronze, but a few were in gold. One of these, gold medals was found in the possession of the Natives at Queen Charlotte Sound in IS7S. This must have been "given to them by Cook in November, -177-1. It passed into the. possession of Mr. W. B. I). Mantoll, and is now in. the library in the Mantell collection. A bronze medal was also, struck, with the head of Cook on one s'ido and the figure of Britannia on the other, side. One of these also came to. the.library;with the Mautell collection. .: "... ... ' THE DEATH SCENE. . On the. third voyage, one of the officers'was James Clcvolcy. He was an. artist, and made several sketches dining the voyage which were, on his ieturn, worked up by his brother, also an arftst. 'Oiie of his original oils, depicting,the death of Cook, is in the lib rary; "also four pictures showing dif forent islands, in -tho' Pacific, which"' were later :,published as a set of col-. oure,d. lithographs. ■ . . The- -voyage created great interest in all countries and not only in Great Britain, and there are translations of "the account of the voyage in most of i [them. .The library possesses trarnsla- I I tions in Dutch, French, German, Italian, and Russian. Sufficient reference ■has already,been made in "The Post" to the excellent account of the third voyage. published by Zimmermann at Manhcim in 17S1, a translation of which into French was published at Berne iv 1782; copies of both of which books are in the library. Almost every edition of tho voyages that has been published, cither in English or in other languages, also many,lives of Cook, arc in the collection. The Turnbull Library possesses not only a rare collection of Cook relics, but ■ tho publications it contains connected with tho -voyages of the great navigator are as extensive as any to bo found outside the British Museum. ■ The suggestion has been made that"a selection from tho relies in the TurnKull Library, particularly the original oil painting of the death of Captain Cook, might be loaned to the American authorities, for tho ceremonies in Aug ; list.' .- --. -.-■•"