COOK’S JOURNAL OF THE SECOND VOYAGE: A GIFT FROM HER MAJESTY
AMONG Lord Freyberg’s last duties as GovernorGeneral was to present to the Government on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen a copy of Captain Cook’s Journal of the Resolution. The presentation was made at the
Alexander Turnbull Library, where the gift is deposited. It was accepted on behalf of the Government by Mr. A. G. Harper, Secretary for Internal Affairs. Though made by Her present Majesty, it is understood that the donation was the inception of His late Majesty, who intended that it should be made in person by Princess Elizabeth, as she then was, in the course of a projected Australasian tour.
It consists of a large volume, specially and handsomely bound, containing photostat copies of a MS. which is now in the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich. This MS. is a “fair copy” in another hand of an actual journal written by Cook himself. The latter is in the British Museum, together with another copy made by Cook himself, apparently for purposes of publication. The MS. now at Greenwich was transferred by His late Majesty to the National Maritime Museum in 1937 from the Royal Library at Windsor. It was originally given by Cook to Augustus John Hervey, third Earl of Bristol, who was one of the Lords of the Admiralty under Lord Sandwich. When and under what circumstances it came to the Boyal Library is not known.
This journal records the voyage of H.M.S. Resolution from 28 November 1771 to 30 July 1775; a voyage notable for an extensive survey of the Antarctic, the discovery of many oceanic islands, especially in the Western Pacific, and an extended sojourn in Dusky Sound. Its possession provides the Alexander Turnbull Library with its best first-hand record of Cook’s second voyage. In the Library, apart from printed records, the only original MS. of the second voyage is the journal of William Bayly the astronomer.
It may be added that another fair copy of the Greenwich MS. was sent forward by Cook from Capetown; this, known as the “Admiralty” copy, is now in the Public Records Office, London, where there are twenty-seven journals and logs written by members of the crews of the two ships.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/TLR19531101.2.4
Bibliographic details
Turnbull Library Record, Volume XI, 1 November 1953, Page 7
Word Count
374COOK’S JOURNAL OF THE SECOND VOYAGE: A GIFT FROM HER MAJESTY Turnbull Library Record, Volume XI, 1 November 1953, Page 7
Using This Item
The majority of this journal is licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) licence. The exceptions to this, as of June 2018, are the following three articles, which are believed to be out of copyright in New Zealand.
• David Blackwood Paul, “The Second Walpole Memorial Lecture”. Turnbull Library Record 12: (September 1954) pp.3-20
• Eric Ramsden, “The Journal of John B. Williams”. Turnbull Library Record 11: (November 1953), pp.3-7
• Arnold Wall, “Sir Hugh Walpole and his writings”. Turnbull Library Record 6: (1946), pp.1-12
Copyright in other articles will expire over time and therefore will also no longer be licensed under the CC BY-NC 4.0 licence.
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