James Cook

“ In this hard school Cook learnt his sailor duties. No better training could have been found for his future responsibilities. Here he learnt to endure the utmost rigours of the sea. Constant fighting with North Sea gales, bad food, and cramped accommodation, taught him to regard with the indifference that afterwards distinguished him, all the hardships that he had to encounter, and led him to endure and persevere where others, less determined or more easily daunted by difficulties, would have hurried on, and left their work incomplete. ”

“ The prevailing winds and currents in each part of the ocean are well known to us: the exact distance and bearing from one point to another are laid down in the chart; steam bridges over calm areas, and in many cases conducts us on our entire journey at a speed but little inferior to that of land travelling by railroad; modern science preserves fresh and palatable food for an indefinite period ”

“ STRANGE it must appear that the account of perhaps the most celebrated and, certainly to the English nation, the most momentous voyage of discovery that has ever taken place--for it practically gave birth to the great Australasian Colonies--has never before been given to the world in the very words of its great leader. ”

“ Whatever the feelings of others on board were, Cook never flinched from every effort to get south, penetrating in one place to 71° S., where he was stopped by dense pack, until he found himself nearly in the longitude of Tierra del Fuego, when, satisfied that no Southern Continent existed in the Pacific, he, on February 6th, steered north, to continue exploration in more genial weather and more profitable latitudes. All this time there was no scurvy, and very little sickness of any kind; an indisputable proof of the untiring supervision Cook exercised over the health of his men. ”

“ It was not therefore strange that the imagination of geographers ran riot amongst the great unknown areas. They were impressed, as they looked at the globes of the day, with the fact that, while the northern hemisphere contained much land, the southern showed either water or blank spaces; and starting with the ill-founded idea that the solid land in either hemisphere should balance, they conceived that there must be a great unknown continent in the southern part of the Pacific to make up the deficiency. ”

“ Never has a coast been so well laid down by a first explorer, and it must have required unceasing vigilance and continual observation, in fair weather and foul, to arrive at such a satisfactory conclusion; and with such a dull sailer as the Endeavour was, the six and a half months occupied in the work must be counted as a short interval in which to do it. ”

“ The charms of Tahiti, the paradise of the sailor, were no charms for him; he hardly notices the attractive ladies of that island; the attractions of the place to him were the abundance of provisions, as a means of fitting his expedition for further exploration and hardship. The strongest proof of his capacity as a commander is the devotion of his officers. Those who know the Navy know how difficult it is for any man who rises from the ranks to be successful in command. But Cook was a gentleman born ”

“ Of Cook's private life during his brief intervals at home we know nothing. A man rising from the ranks, and of his reserved character, would have but few friends, when he had such short time to make them in his new sphere. He lived at Mile End when at home, but after his death his widow removed to Clapham, living there for forty years, at first with her cousin, Isaac Smith, who had served with Cook in the Endeavour and Resolution. ”

“ As we have advanced to the Northward the land hath increased in height, in so much that in this Latitude it may be called a hilly Country; but between this and Botany Bay it is diversified with an agreeable variety of Hills, Ridges, and Valleys, and large plains all Cloathed with wood, which to all appearance is the same as I have before mentioned, as we could discover no Visible alteration in the Soil. Near the shore the land is in general low and Sandy, except the points which are rocky, and over many of them are pretty high hills, which at first rising out of the Water appear like a Island. ”

“ It was only in Cook's ships, and in the Discovery, commanded and officered by men who had sailed with Cook, and seen his methods, that exemption occurred.
Cook did more, incomparably more, than any other navigator to discover new lands. This was only accomplished by dint of hard work; and yet his men suffered less than in any ships, British or foreign, on similar expeditions. Though his tracks were in new and unknown waters, we never hear of starvation; he always manages to have an abundant supply of water.
The completeness and accuracy of his accounts and charts are no less remarkable. ”

“ Take one element alone in long voyages—the time required. The average progress of a ship in the eighteenth century was not more than fifty miles a day. Nowadays we may expect as much as four hundred miles in a full powered steamer, and not less than one hundred and fifty in a well-fitted sailing ship.
But navigation, and more especially the navigation of the unknown Pacific, was very different in Cook's days, when all the obstacles above mentioned impeded the explorers, and impelled them to follow a common track. ”

“ In most of their dances they appear like mad men, Jumping and Stamping with their feet, making strange Contorsions with every part of the body, and a hideous noise at the same time; and if they happen to be in their Canoes they flourish with great Agility their Paddles, Pattoo Pattoos, various ways, in the doing of which, if there are ever so many boats and People, they all keep time and Motion together to a surprizing degree. ”

“ I am told, and that from undoubted Authority, that there is Yearly thrown up upon the Coast of Ireland and Scotland a sort of Beans called Oxe Eyes, which are known to grow no where but in the West Indies; and yet these 2 places are not less than 1200 Leagues asunder. Was such things found floating upon the Water in the South Seas one would hardly be perswaided that one was even out of sight of Land, so apt are we to Catch at everything that may at least point out to us the favourite Object we are in persuit of; and yet experiance shews that we may be as far from it as ever. ”

“ Sunday, 21st.—P.M., a Gentle breeze of Wind Southerly, the remainder light Airs and Calm with clear, settled weather. P.M., the people employ'd as usual, and at 8 o'Clock we return'd on board the Pinnace from surveying the bay, in the doing of which I met with an Excellent Harbour, but saw no inhabitants or any Cultivated land. In the A.M. after hauling the Sean for fish, I gave every body leave to go ashore at the Watering place to amuse themselves as they thought proper. ”

“ The hardships of the sea press much on certain natures, and the allurements of the easy and careless life of a tropical island offered such a contrast, that it scarcely required the desire of the natives to get white men with their superior knowledge, and above all superior arms, to remain with them, to induce them to desert. This last, however, made desertion more easy, and had not Cook taken strong measures, no doubt the epidemic would have spread.
After visiting Bolabola, Cook sailed north, to prosecute the main object of his voyage, the exploration of the north-west coast of America. ”

“ From this I form my judgment of the direction of this Coast, which is nearly South-South-East 3/4 East and North-North-West 3/4 West, and must be nearly a Strait Shore. In about the Latitude 35 degrees 45 minutes is some high land adjoining to the Sea; to the Southward of that the land is of a moderate heigth, and wears a most desolate and inhospitable aspect. Nothing is to be seen but long sand Hills, with hardly any Green thing upon them, and the great Sea which the prevailing Westerly winds impell upon the Shore must render this a very Dangerous Coast. ”

“ The Women Wear a Piece of Skin over their Privy Parts, but the Men observe no such decency. Their Hutts are made like a behive, and open on one side where they have their fires; they are made of small Sticks and covered with branches of trees, long Grass, etc, in such a manner that they are neither Proof against Wind, Hail, rain or Snow, a sufficient proof that these People must be a very hardy race. They live chiefly on shell fish, such as Muscels, which they gather from off the Rocks along the Sea Shore, and this seems to be the Work of the Women. ”

“ Thus far Cook's enthusiasm in adventure and desire to explore had been fully shared by his companions; but it is apparent that at this point they fell short of his high standard. Cook, having secured his direct passage to Batavia, and having still a little provision left, was anxious to do still more in the way of discovery, and stood over to the little-known New Guinea shore. It is evident, however, from Cook's expressions, though he does not complain, that his people were pining for fresh food and civilisation. Australia had produced them little but occasional fish and a few turtle. ”

“ This, be it remembered, without a prospect of news from home or contact with civilisation, for Cook's design was to pass again through the breadth of the Pacific searching for islands as far as Quiros' discovery of Espiritu Santo, which lay due north of New Zealand, and then to return through the tempestuous regions they were now quitting to Cape Horn. Perhaps the charms of Tahiti reconciled them. ”

“ We afterwards went a little way into the Country, and had some of the Natives along with us; we met with a good deal of Cultivated land, planted mostly with sweet potatoes. The face of the Country appear'd Green and pleasant, and the soil seem'd to be pretty rich and proper for Cultivation. The land is every where about this Bay of a moderate height, but full of small Hills and Vallies, and not much incumbered with wood. We met with about 1⁄2 a dozen Cloth plants, being the same as the inhabitants of the Islands lying within the Tropics make their finest Cloth on. ”

“ While we lay at Anchor 2 Boats came off to us, and so near as to take up some things we throw'd them out of the Ship, but would not come alongside. At 5 a.m. a breeze springing northerly we weigh'd and steer'd in for the Land. The shore here forms a very large Bay, of which Portland is the North-East Point, and the Bay above mentioned is an Arm of it. I would gladly have examin'd this Arm, because there appear'd to be safe Anchorage in it, but as I was not certain of this, and the wind being right an End, I did not care to spend time in Turning up to it. ”

“ Having given the best account I can of the manners and Customs of these people, it will be expected that I should give some account of their religion, which is a thing I have learned so little of that I hardly dare to touch upon it, and should have passed it over in silence, was it not my duty as well as inclination to insert in this Journal every and the least knowledge I may obtain of a People, who for many Centuries have been shut up from almost every other part of the world. ”

“ Other accounts of their Voyage says not a word about this; but supposing this to be true, hanging Clouds and a thick Horizon are certainly no signs of a Continent,—I have had many proofs to the Contrary in the Course of this Voyage; neither do I believe that Quiros looked upon such things as known signs of land, for if he had he certainly would have stood to the Southward, in order to have satisfied himself before he had gone to the Northward, for no man seems to have had discoveries more at heart than he had. ”