THE COOK MEMORIAL.

Colonist, Volume LV, Issue 13653, 19 February 1913, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE COOK MEMORIAL.

/.From '"Tk'.vCpipnist,', 1 Foh- ' V.->

-. The ]iistoHc ; otuemouy at Ship Cove, on Tuesday, when His Jsxeelloncy_Lprd Tavorpool unveiled the 'memorial of Captain Cook, was t]ie occasion of .they ramov.il of tlic Icgitiniato rcproaciriibat New. Zealand, which owes; si> Inrdoh^to :the iambii's: navigator^ possessed [no pub-;

lie monument to his memoiy. Few men who served their country as well as Captain Cook have boon so little commemorated. Until recently no monument existed in England to keep green tho memory of his daring voyages into the unknown .world in the south, except in his native town, whiekhad not been so neglectful. About the same time; that tlio movement to erect monuments "■ overlooking the strait bearing his name took shape in New Zealand, found ready support in England to repair tho omission, and a suitable project has since been carried out. Tho movement in the Dominion owes much to the enthusiasm of Mr. Robert McNab, whoa couple of years ago toured New Zealand in furtherance of it, lecturing on a subject few are more qualified to. deal with, namely, tho early history of the country. Tho monument unveiled: by the Governor on Tuesday is erected on the most appropriate spot that could ■have been selected —indeed, tho only wholly appropriate spot. It was there, On the 31st of January, 1770. Cook erected a- post upon which he inscribed tho particulars of his expedition. As Lord Liverpool recalled in tho course, of his admirable, address, tho Endeavour, fitted out at the instance of the Royal Society, with Cok in command, left England in 1768." At the end of the following year the. si} ores of New Zealand were sighted, somewhere near where Gisbonve now 'is. Sailing north, tho Endeavour passed the North Cape, and voyaged down the western cost, past Cape Egmont, and across the Strait into Queen Charlotte Sound, and came to anchor at the placo to which Cook gave the name of Ship .Cove, and declared British sovereignty over tho South Island. After leaving Ship Cove the Endeavour proceeded down the eastern coast of the South Island and round Stewart Island, then believed to be a portion of the South Island. Cook proceeded all along tho western coast, and finally cast anchor in a small cove i l D'Urvillo Island, where, after temporarily refitting his ship, he sailed for the Australian coast and carefully ex amihed its eastern shores. Sailing by way of tho Capo of Good. Hope he anchored in the Downs.in June, 1771. His t'.ip had-boon at sea for a very long period, ::nd out of a complement of eighty-live she lir.d lost by death—principally through scurvy—nearly thirty. Cook paid another vis'"t to Ship Cove a few y-curs later. He landed in New Zealand in 1774, setting out'from it in tho hope of/ finding a great- southern continent. ■.Returning- to England by way of the Cape in 1775, he was immediately placed in command of another expedition, the object of which was to search for a passage round the north of America. He landed at Ship Cove on February 25th, 1777. Ho left Ship Cove on tile ,25th February, and after cruising in the South Sea Islands and discovering the Sandwich Islands and making tho west coast ,of America, .in 1778, he reurncd once more to tho Sandwich Islands :to -Aviu-tcr, ;..vh.erc ha was murdered on February l3th, 1779. Tho unveiling of tho memorial does not complete the proposals of tho committee which has directed the undertaking. It hopes shortly to be able to 'erect.-a-, much inoro'x'ommanding momi-. ment on Motuara Island, in the /vicinity of Ship Cove, the spot upon which Cook made the actual declaration of British

sovereignty