John Cook

“ The fifth disciple chosen was John E. Cook, a man destined to play the most important role in the new divine mission with the poorest qualification for the task. Born of a well-to-do family in Haddon, Connecticut, he had studied law in Brooklyn and New York. He dropped his studies against the protest of his people in 1855, and, driven by the spirit of adventure, found his way into Kansas and at last led his band of twenty guerrillas into John Brown's camp. Brown's attention was riveted on him from the day they met. He was a man of pleasing personality and the finest rifle shot in Kansas. ”

“ On 5th May, at a Council Meeting of the Royal Society, Captain John Campbell, R.N., proposed that Cook, who was in attendance, and had been appointed by the Admiralty to the command of the Endeavour, was a fit and proper person to be one of the observers for the Society in the Southern Seas. Cook was called in, and accepted the position in consideration of such a gratuity as the Society should think proper, and an allowance of 120 pounds per year "for victualling himself and another observer in every particular." ”

“ It will easily be supposed, that the lovers of science would, in general, be peculiarly attentive to the effects resulting from Captain Cook's discoveries. The additions he had made to the knowledge of geography, navigation, and astronomy, and the new views he had opened of the diversified state of human life and manners, could not avoid commanding their esteem, and exciting their admiration. With many persons of philosophic literature he was in the habits of intimacy and friendship; he was particularly acquainted with Sir John Pringle, at that time president of the Royal Society. ”

“ The tides particularly considered were those in the Endeavour River, on the east coast of New Holland.
A still greater honour was in reserve for Captain Cook, than the election of him to be a common member of the Royal Society. It was resolved by Sir John Pringle and the council of the society, to bestow upon him the estimable prize of the gold medal, for the best experimental paper, of the year; and no determination could be founded to greater wisdom and justice. ”

“ Next to Commander Cook in authority in the Endeavour were her two lieutenants—Zachary Hicks and John Gore; her senior mate was Charles Clerke, who accompanied Cook in each of his subsequent voyages, and succeeded to the command of the third expedition on the death of his beloved captain. He had previously served as midshipman under Lord Byron in his first voyage round the world.
A long sea voyage is almost always felt to be extremely tedious and dull to landsmen ”

“ ACCIDENT TO HAND. After getting the guns and stores on board, and fitting the ship for her new duties, they left St. John's on 4th July for the north. A base line was laid out at Noddy's Harbour, and the latitude of Cape Norman was found to be 51 degrees 39 minutes North; soundings were taken every mile. On 3rd August Cook left the ship in the cutter to continue his work, but having met with a nasty accident he had to return on the 6th. ”

“ Captain Cook, accompanied by an armed force, in which Ledyard was included, went on shore for the purpose of making the king a prisoner, and of keeping him in confinement on board, until certain articles stolen by his subjects should be restored. The savages, with a boldness worthy of admiration, opposed his designs, and compelled him to retreat towards his boats. Here, as the marines were endeavouring to embark, 187a contest took place; stones were thrown by the natives; the English flew to their firearms; and a chief, rushing on with an iron dagger in his hand, stabbed Cook through the body. ”

“ Bridgman, in his press reports, "that Dr. Cook, accompanied by John R. Bradley, Captain Moses Bartlett, and a number of Eskimos, left North Sidney, N. S., early last July on the American Auxiliary Schooner Yacht John R. Bradley, which landed the party at Smith Sound. Mr. Bradley returned to North Sydney on the yacht on October 1. The expedition is provisioned for two years and fully equipped with dogs and sledges for the trip. The party is wintering thirty miles further north than Peary did two years ago." ”

“ Author:Adam Lindsay Gordon, poet John Vandenberg 03:42, 14 August 2007 (UTC)
Nice selection, I think Cook seems like the most obvious choice if we're trying to keep COTW as "famous people from whom we're ashamed to not have more works", you happen to know if anything exists other than his diary/memoir however? If you can find evidence that there's some letters or newspaper articles (&c, &c) out there, even if they're not online - just that they exist, then I fully support making him next week's COTW. Any other opinions/thoughts? ”

“ In a moment of winning frankness he exclaims: "Do you suppose that I think that this audience can be cheated? I do not know where in America there is another weekly audience with as many brains in it; at least, I do not know where in New England I should be so likely to be tripped up, if I were to make an incorrect statement, as here." [34] After this coaxing little dose, Mr. Cook proceeds to show his respect for the learning of his audience in some remarks on bathybius, which, as he condescendingly explains, is a name derived from two Greek words, meaning deep and sea!! ”

“ His constitution was never strong, and he came back to England in an advanced decline. It was under this disadvantage that he assisted in preparing Cook's journal of the third voyage for the press, and wrote the narrative of its conclusion, which formed the third volume. In 1783 the state of his health compelled him to go to Nice, and he died there in October 1784. He was buried at Nice, but there is a tablet to his memory in Clitheroe Church. ”

“ His book was issued in Hartford as 'A Journal of Captain Cook's last Voyage to the Pacific Ocean,' 8vo, 1783, and though it cannot rank with accounts transcribed from strictly contemporary journals, it is of value as the story of events from the point of view of a corporal of marines, and supplies the only account of Cook's death by an eye-witness.
After this Ledyard made a vain endeavour to obtain the support of some capitalist in opening up the trade to the north-west coast of America. He imagined that the furs would find a ready and extremely profitable market at Canton. ”

“ Vancouver was selected for this duty, and, as the Discovery was ready fitted, he was at once appointed to her. His instructions were dated 8 March 1791, and the Discovery finally sailed from Falmouth on 1 April, having in company the Chatham tender, commanded by Lieutenant William Robert Broughton [q. v.] As the route was left to his own judgment, he followed Cook's teaching and went westward, touching at the Cape of Good Hope, surveying the south-west coast of Australia, where he discovered and named King George's Sound, Mount Gardner, Cape Hood, and other points in that neighbourhood. ”

“ This led to Cook's receiving a commission as lieutenant, 25 May 1768, and his being appointed to command the Endeavour for the purposes of the expedition. The Endeavour sailed from Plymouth on 25 Aug. 1768, having on board, besides the officers and ship's company, Mr. (afterwards Sir Joseph) Banks [q. v.] , Dr. Solander, the botanist, Mr. Buchan, a landscape artist, who died on the voyage, and Mr. Sydney Parkinson, a painter of natural history. Cook himself was also a qualified observer. ”

“ The misfortunes of the distinguished navigators, whose success has been recorded, fully equalled their fame. The fate of Cook belongs to a story which mingles with our early remembrance. A child need scarcely be told, that after a career eminently glorious to his country and profession, while attempting to restrain his men who were firing to protect him, he fell by the dagger of a savage. ”

“ John Walker of Whitby, which are to be found in Dr. Young's work. They give a rapid glance at the different places visited, with a few pithy remarks as to their peoples and productions; mention the pleasing reception he had from the king, and he alludes to the probability of being despatched on a second voyage with two ships.
Edgeworth, in his Memoirs, states that about this time Cook was a frequent visitor at Denham Place, the home of Mr. ”

“ The same night the Discovery's cutter, lying at her anchor buoy, was taken away, and so quietly that nothing was known of the loss till the following morning. On its being reported to Cook he went on shore with an escort of marines, intending to bring the native king off as a friendly hostage. The king readily consented to go on board, but his family and the islanders generally prevented him; they began to arm; they assembled in great numbers; and Cook, wishing to avoid a conflict, retreated to the boats. At the waterside the boats and the marines fired on the crowd ”

“ When we read the accounts of the older voyages, those of Anson, of Carteret, or even of Cook himself, and notice that in this second voyage only one man died of disease out of a complement of 118, and that notwithstanding the great length, duration, and hardships of the several cruises, we shall the more fully realise the value of Cook's discovery. ”

“ Then we started on. I told Perry to ride my horse, and Jim Harvey and I walked along together. As darkness was approaching we were nearing the Casa Amarilla, when Perry, who was always in the rear, dismounted, and my horse wandered away from him, and I [Pg 322] never heard of him or the saddle again. But Perry did get to camp. Now, Cook, you know the rest."
Yes, the author feels that he knows something of the entire proceedings of the ninety days we were in that sun-baked region. And I then felt I was in the company of a brave man.
Reader, he is to-day a living example of human fortitude. ”

“ Then passing on to New Zealand, he examined the recesses of Dusky Bay, and where Cook had marked on the chart ‘Nobody knows what,’ he substituted a correct coast-line and the name ‘Somebody knows what.’ He reached Tahiti on 30 Dec. ”

“ He had injured one of his eyes, and wanted me to do the principal killing. He said he was going to Griffin, then to take the western cow trail, that crossed the North Fork of Red river, in a gap of the Wichita mountains; also the South Canadian at the Antelope hills, and on to Commission creek, where the Fort Dodge and Fort Elliott trail struck it. And would I give him an answer in Griffin?
I told him I would.
I told Charlie of my talk with Cook; and that I believed [Pg 155] I would go with him. He replied that he always said that he never wanted to go partner in any kind of business ”

“ A small map, which sketched the form of the coast with considerable exactness, accompanied the account of this voyage, and tended to awaken the French to the importance of these seas.
The next visit was accidental, but most important: Captain Cook, in 1772, left Great Britain to explore the icy region near the Pole. There the vessels separated in a [Pg 8] fog: they were unable to rejoin, and while Cook proceeded to New Zealand in the Resolution, Captain Tobias Furneaux, his second in command, touched at Van Diemen's Land in the Adventure. ”

“ What is a great love of books? It is something like a personal introduction to the great and good men of all past times. Books, it is true, are silent as you see them on your shelves; but, silent as they are, when I enter a library I feel almost as if the dead were present, and I know if I put questions to these books they will answer me with all the faithfulness and fullness which has been left in them by the great men who have left the books with us.—John Bright. ”

“ They were playing draw poker, using cartridges to ante with. Each was trying to win the others' [Pg 146] interest in the piles of buffalo-hides they had stacked up around camp. This I learned afterward.
At sight of me, and before I had yet dismounted, through courtesy to a visitor, the game abruptly closed. Arkansaw Jack recognized me instantly; and remembering my name sang out, "Hello, Cook! glad to see you; light and unsaddle."
As I dismounted they all came forward, and Arkansaw introduced me to the other three men. After which I said, "Gentlemen, there is a fresh travois trail ”

“ Reinhold Forster accompanied Cook in his second voyage as naturalist [see Cook, James] , taking George with him as his assistant. On their return in 1775 the two in concert published ‘Characteres Generum Plantarum quas in Itinere ad Insulas Maris Australis collegerunt, descripserunt, delinearunt, annis mdcclxxii-mdcclxxv, Johannes Reinhold Forster et Georgius Forster’ (fol. 1775) . ”

“ He was a man who accepted Truth as God gave it to him, not as he had theorized it ought to be; a man who had climbed from a mud cottage to the position of the greatest navigator in the world—had climbed on top of facts mastered, not {176} of schoolgirl moonshine, or study-closet theories. That man was Captain James Cook.
Cook's life presents all the contrasts of true greatness world over. Like Peter the Great, of Russia, whose word had set in motion the exploration of the northwest coast of America, Cook's character consisted of elements that invariably lead to glory or ruin ”

“ What in all the realm of nature is so worthy to awaken delight and admiration as the astonishing changes which insects undergo? Just think of the sluggish, repulsive caterpillar, dragging its heavy form over clod or bush, or mining in dirt and filth, changed, by the wand of nature's great magician, first into the motionless chrysalis, decked with green and gold, and beautiful as the gem that glitters on the finger of beauty, then bursting forth as the graceful, gorgeous butterfly ”