CAPTAIN COOK’S SHIP

Evening Star, Issue 20316, 26 October 1929, Page 15

CAPTAIN COOK’S SHIP

DISCOVERY OF FIGUREHEAD m STATE OF DECAY Press Association —By Telegraph—Copyright. LONDON, October 24. The figurehead of Captain Cook’s ship, the Endeavour, in which he explored the Australian Coast, the South Seas, and New Zealand, is said to have, been discovered in a summerhouse at a littie Derbyshire village near Chesterfield. The figurehead, is a wooden one caived h the form of a woman. It is nine feet in height and was covered with many coats of whitewash, which, when removed, disclosed a white robe, a flowing bfue sash, and a string of red beads round the throat.

It appears that Sir Hugh Palliser was First Lord of the Admiralty when Captain Gook first set out, and later, when the Endeavour was broken up, the figurehead caiii© into the possession of his family. Finally it passed to his niece, who, at the end of the eighteenth century, married a Derbyshire gentleman who was an ancestor of the man who owned the figurehead, which is now in an antique shop at Sheffield. Inquiries showed that Mr Charles S. Clarke, who left England in 1863. and resides at North Auckland, wrote to Sir James Parr (High Commissioner for New Zealand) stating that ho was a descendant of Sir Hugh Palliser, and he stated that the figurehead was in -the summerhouse, but gave the name of the ship as the Industry'. Captain Cook never had a ship of this name. Sir James Parr made inquiries and found the figurehead, but it was in a bad state, dry rot having set in, and It was not worth acquiring. Australia House doubts the authenticity of thoi figurehead.—Australian Press Association. STILL VALUABLE. LONDON, October 25 (Received October 26, at 10,25 a;m.) The inquiries of Mr M. Jarvis, an antique dealer, of Sheffield, at present the possessor of the figurehead, indicate its authenticity. The head was found in a summer house, and the body was discovered lying in another corner. Mr Jarvis says that an Auckland gentle man made a bid tor the figurehead some years age with a view to presenting it to the Auckland Museum, but the negotiations were not completed. At the end of the eighteenth century a niece of Su Hugh Palliser, the owner of the figurehead, married an ancestor of the Derbyshire farmer upon whose farm it was found. Mr Jarvis cannot fix the price but it is valuable despite the d r y rot.—Australian Press Association.