Captain Cook’s Ship “Endeavour”

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 264, 7 November 1936, Page 12

Captain Cook’s Ship “Endeavour”

THE EARL OF PEMBROKE BECOMES THE H.M.S. ENDEAVOUR “Two cats called the Valentine and the Earl of Pembroke to be surveyed an i report which is the properest t > be. purchased." So run., ll'.e entry in the Warrant 'Entry Loo., o. the Board of Trade. Depl.or.l, u.itier the date March 23, 1768. The survey having been duly carried out the ship Earl of Pembroke was purchased for £2BOO. She was then “sheathed, filled, and fitted for voyage to the southward ’ at a further cost of £2294. This cat-built boat was soon to make a voyage which was to bring immortal fame to her master, Captain James Cook. She was to be called the Endeavour Bark. The reason -for this official name was that there was at that time another Endeavour in tile British Navy. Many of you will perhaps be purplexed by the term “cat built” boat, but it is one that has a round bluff bow and a wide deep waist from which point it tapers towards the stern. The name was derived from the Norwegian, “kali,” a ship. The Endeavour was 368 tons burden and was built by Messrs. Fishburn, of Whitby, in 1764. She was nearly 100 feet in length, 30 feet beam and 131 feet draught. The sheathing carried out by the Admiralty must have been of wood, as there is no mention of

copper in the surveyor's books, nor al the time of her being repaired at the Endeavour River. Points that will impress, as you view the illustration of the model of the Endeavour built by Major Burton, of Nelson, are the blunt bow and square stern, also the fact that the foremast is quite close to the bow. These features with the tall masts and numerous ropes and yards recall the time when Britain’s sea power was all dependent on sailing vessels. It must he remembered that this ship was purchased by the Admiralty and accordingly should properly be referred to ’s H.M.S. Endeavour.

Main Object of Captain Cock’s First Voyage. The main ob„’c 4 o" Cook', fir I voyage was to observe tiie transit of the plam t Y eniis across the disc of the sun from the island of Tahiti. The decision to make the voyage resulted from a memorial addresse l by the Royal Society to King George HI who was graciously pleased to order the sum of £4OOO clear of fee; to defray expenses. The Endeavour left Plymouth on August 25, 1765, an ! after a voyage round lhe world, in lhe

course of which New Zealand was \isiteil and charted, returned to England f>n July 12, 1771. R:-named La Liberte and Left to Rot to Pieces. Alter this she mafic some trips lo lhe Falkland Islands and was then sold. Her next work was that of a collier in the North Sea. Finally she was rcchristencfl La Liberie and sent with a cargo of oil 1 o Newport, Rhode Island, in trying lo leave this port she ran aground, and she was allowed to remain where she was and rot. lo pieces.