CAPTAIN COOK

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 8736, 19 May 1914, Page 5

CAPTAIN COOK

INTERESTING LETTERS REFERENCE TO ANTARCTICA. “NOT WORTH DISCOVERY.” By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright ’’Timea" and Sydnay ‘’Sun*’ SerrJofis, (Received May 18, 5.55 p.m.) LONDON, May 1S - Captain Cook's letters, which arc to bo offered by auction at Sotheby s describe bis first voyage. They wen? written to Mr John Walker, a partner in tho firm of Whitby, shipowners to whom Captain Cook was apprenticed. ' . ’ The leters also gave graphic descriptions of Cook’s second voyage., including a reference to Antarctica, saying: —“We are now sure that no southern continent exists there, unless it is so near the Polo that the coast cannot be navigated for the ice, and it is. therefore, not worth discovery.” Ralph Clarke’s diary was written during a voyage to Botany Bay. It is prefaced by a list of the names of convicts aboard the transport Friendship, with full particulars of each. There are horrible entries describing the lashings of boy convicts.

It was stated yesterday that four or Captain Cook's letters detailing his visit to the South Seas, New Zealand, and New South Wales in 1770 are to be be auctioned' at Sotheby’s in July, Also an unpublished diary of Ralph Clarke, Lieutenant of Marines in the ship Eriendehip, covering the period 1787-1792., with a fe~. of two years, and dealing with the question of transportation. The diary includes an unofficial account of Major Rose's rule In Norfolk Island.