A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels Volume Xv Part 27

The Honourable Mr Daines Barrington had the goodness to interest himself, with his usual zeal for every work of public utility, in procuring some necessary information, and suggesting some valuable hints, which were adopted.

It would be great injustice not to express acknowledgements to Mr Pennant, who, besides enriching the third volume with references to his _Arctic Zoology_, the publication of which is an important accession to natural history, also communicated some very authentic and satisfactory ma.n.u.script accounts of the Russian discoveries.

The vocabularies of the Friendly and Sandwich Islands, and of the natives of Nootka, had been furnished to Captain Cook, by his most useful a.s.sociate in the voyage, Mr Anderson; and a fourth, in which the language of the Esquimaux is compared with that of the Americans on the opposite side of the continent, had been prepared by the captain himself. But the comparative Table of Numerals was very obligingly drawn up, at the request of the editor, by Mr Bryant, who, in his study, followed Captain Cook, and, indeed, every traveller and historian, of every age, into every part of the globe. The public will consider this table as a very striking ill.u.s.tration of the wonderful migrations of a nation, about whom so much additional information has been gained by our voyages, and be ready to acknowledge it as a very useful communication.

One more communication remains to be not only acknowledged, but to be inserted at the close of this Introduction. The testimonies of learned contemporaries, in commendation of a deceased author, are frequently displayed in the front of his book. It is with the greatest propriety, therefore, that we prefix to this posthumous work of Captain Cook, the testimony of one of his own profession, not more distinguished by the elevation of rank, than by the dignity of private virtues. As he wishes to remain concealed, perhaps this allusion, for which we entreat his indulgence, may have given too exact direction to the eyes of the public where to look for such a character.[66] Let us, however, rest satisfied with the intrinsic merit of a composition, conveyed under the injunction of secrecy; and conclude our long preliminary dissertation with expressing a wish, or rather a well-grounded hope, that this volume may not be the only place where posterity can meet with a monumental inscription, commemorative of a man, in recounting and applauding whose services, the whole of enlightened Europe will equally concur with Great Britain.

[Footnote 66: This is understood to be spoken of the Honourable Admiral Forbes, Admiral of the Fleet, and General of the Marines, to whom, on the authority of Sir Hugh Palliser, the eulogium is ascribed in the Biog. Brit. He is said to have known Cook only by his eminent merit and extraordinary actions. The testimony, therefore, is the more to be prized, as it cannot be charged with the partiality of friendship.--E.]

TO THE MEMORY OF

CAPTAIN JAMES COOK,

_The ablest and most renowned Navigator this or any other country hath produced_.

He raised himself, solely by his merit, from a very obscure birth, to the rank of Post Captain in the royal navy, and was, unfortunately, killed by the savages of the island Owhyhee, on the 14th of February, 1779; which island he had, not long before, discovered, when prosecuting his third voyage round the globe.

He possessed, in an eminent degree, all the qualifications requisite for his profession and great undertakings; together with the amiable and worthy qualities of the best men.

Cool and deliberate in judging; sagacious in determining; active in executing; steady and persevering in enterprising vigilance and unremitting caution; unsubdued by labour, difficulties, and disappointments; fertile in expedients; never wanting presence of mind; always possessing himself, and the full use of a sound understanding.

Mild, just, but exact in discipline: He was a father to his people, who were attached to him from affection, and obedient from confidence.

His knowledge, his experience, his sagacity, rendered him so entirely master of his subject, that the greatest obstacles were surmounted, and the most dangerous navigations became easy, and almost safe, under his direction.

He explored the southern hemisphere to a much higher lat.i.tude than had ever been reached, and with fewer accidents than frequently befal those who navigate the coasts of this island.

By his benevolent and unabating attention to the welfare of his ship's company, he discovered and introduced a system for the preservation of the health of seamen in long voyages, which has proved wonderfully efficacious; for in his second voyage round the world, which continued upwards of three years, he lost only one man by distemper, of one hundred and eighteen, of which his company consisted.

The death of this eminent and valuable man was a loss to mankind in general; and particularly to be deplored by every nation that respects useful accomplishments, that honours science, and loves the benevolent and amiable affections of the heart. It is still more to be deplored by this country, which may justly boast of having produced a man hitherto unequalled for nautical talents; and that sorrow is farther aggravated by the reflection, that his country was deprived of this ornament by the enmity of a people, from whom, indeed, it might have been dreaded, but from whom it was not deserved. For, actuated always by the most attentive care and tender compa.s.sion for the savages in general, this excellent man was ever a.s.siduously endeavouring, by kind treatment, to dissipate their fears, and court their friendship; overlooking their thefts and treacheries, and frequently interposing, at the hazard of his life, to protect them from the sudden resentment of his own injured people.

The object of his last mission was to discover and ascertain the boundaries of Asia and America, and to penetrate into the northern ocean by the north-east Cape of Asia.

Traveller! contemplate, admire, revere, and emulate this great master in his profession; whose skill and labours have enlarged natural philosophy; have extended nautical science; and have disclosed the long-concealed and admirable arrangements of the Almighty in the formation of this globe, and, at the same time, the arrogance of mortals, in presuming to account, by their speculations, for the laws by which he was pleased to create it. It is now discovered, beyond all doubt, that the same Great Being who created the universe by his _fiat_, by the same ordained our earth to keep a just poise, without a corresponding southern continent--and it does so! "He stretches out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing."--Job, xxvi. 7.

If the arduous but exact researches of this extraordinary man have not discovered a new world, they have discovered seas unnavigated and unknown before. They have made us acquainted with islands, people and productions, of which we had no conception. And if he has not been so fortunate as Americus to give his name to a continent, his pretensions to such a distinction remain unrivalled; and he will be revered, while there remains a page of his own modest account of his voyages, and as long as mariners and geographers shall be instructed, by his new map of the southern hemisphere, to trace the various courses and discoveries he has made.

If public services merit public acknowledgments; if the man who adorned and raised the fame of his country is deserving of honours, then Captain Cook deserves to have a monument raised to his memory, by a generous and grateful nation.

Virtutis uberrimum alimentum est honos.

VAL. MAXIMUS, lib. ii. cap. 6.

COOK'S VOYAGE TO THE PACIFIC OCEAN.

CHAPTER I.

TRANSACTIONS FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE VOYAGE TILL OUR DEPARTURE FROM NEW ZEALAND.

SECTION I.

_Various Preparations for the Voyage.--Omais Behaviour on embarking.--Observations for determining the Longitude of Sheerness, and the North Foreland.--Pa.s.sage of the Resolution from Deptford to Plymouth.--Employments there.--Complements of the Crews of both Ships, and Names of the Officers.--Observations to fix the Longitude of Plymouth.--Departure of the Resolution._

Having, on the 9th day of February, 1776, received a commission to command his majesty's sloop the Resolution, I went on board the next day, hoisted the pendant, and began to enter men. At the same time, the Discovery, of three hundred tons burthen, was purchased into the service, and the command of her given to Captain Clerke, who had been my second lieutenant on board the Resolution, in my second voyage round the world, from which we had lately returned.

These two ships were, at this time, in the dock at Deptford, under the hands of the shipwrights; being ordered to be equipped to make farther discoveries in the Pacific Ocean, under my direction.

On the 9th of March, the Resolution was hauled out of dock into the river; where we completed her rigging, and took on board the stores and provisions requisite for a voyage of such duration. Both ships, indeed, were supplied with as much of every necessary article as we could conveniently stow, and with the best of every kind that could be procured. And, besides this, every thing that had been found, by the experience acquired during our former extensive voyages, to be of any utility in preserving the health of seamen, was supplied in abundance.

It was our intention to have sailed to Long Reach on the 6th of May, when a pilot came on board to carry us thither; but it was the 29th before the wind would permit us to move, and the 30th before we arrived at that station, where our artillery, powder, shot, and other ordnance stores were received.

While we lay in Long Reach, thus employed, the Earl of Sandwich, Sir Hugh Palliser, and others of the Board of Admiralty, as the last mark of the very great attention they had all along shewn to this equipment, paid us a visit on the 8th of June, to examine whether every thing had been completed conformably to their intentions and orders, and to the satisfaction of all who were to embark in the voyage. They, and several other n.o.blemen and gentlemen their friends, honoured me with their company at dinner on that day; and, on their coming on board, and also on their going ash.o.r.e, we saluted them with seventeen guns, and three cheers.

With the benevolent view of conveying some permanent benefit to the inhabitants of Otaheite, and of the other islands in the Pacific Ocean, whom we might happen to visit, his majesty having commanded some useful animals to be carried out, we took on board, on the 10th, a bull, two cows with their calves, and some sheep, with hay and corn for their subsistence; intending to add to these other useful animals, when I should arrive at the Cape of Good Hope.

I was also, from the same laudable motives, furnished with a sufficient quant.i.ty of such of our European garden-seeds, as could not fail to be a valuable present to our newly discovered islands, by adding fresh supplies of food to their own vegetable productions.

Many other articles, calculated to improve the condition of our friends in the other hemisphere in various ways, were, at the same time, delivered to us by order of the Board of Admiralty. And both ships were provided with a proper a.s.sortment of iron tools and trinkets, as the means of enabling us to traffic, and to cultivate a friendly intercourse with the inhabitants of such new countries as we might be fortunate enough to meet with.

The same humane attention was extended to our own wants. Some additional clothing, adapted to a cold climate, was ordered for our crews; and nothing was denied to us that could be supposed in the least conducive to health, or even to convenience.

Nor did the extraordinary care of those at the head of the naval department stop here. They were equally solicitous to afford us every a.s.sistance towards rendering our voyage of public utility. Accordingly, we received on board, next day, several astronomical and nautical instruments, which the Board of Longitude entrusted to me, and to Mr King, my second lieutenant; we having engaged to that board to make all the necessary observations, during the voyage, for the improvement of astronomy and navigation; and, by our joint labours, to supply the place of a professed observator. Such a person had been originally intended to be sent out in my ship.

The board, likewise, put into our possession the same watch, or time-keeper, which I had carried out in my last voyage, and had performed its part so well. It was a copy of Mr Harrison's, constructed by Mr Kendall. This day, at noon, it was found to be too slow for mean time at Greenwich, by 3' 31" 89; and by its rate of going, it lost, on mean time, 1", 209 per day.

Another time-keeper, and the same number and sort of instruments for making observations, were put on board the Discovery, under the care of Mr William Bayly; who, having already given satisfactory proofs of his skill and diligence as an observator, while employed in Captain Furneaux's ship, during the late voyage, was engaged a second time, in that capacity, to embark with Captain Clerke.

Mr Anderson, my surgeon, who, to skill in his immediate profession, added great proficiency in natural history, was as willing as he was well qualified, to describe every thing in that branch of science which should occur worthy of notice. As he had already visited the South Sea islands in the same ship, and been of singular service, by enabling me to enrich my relation of that voyage with various useful remarks on men and things,[67] I reasonably expected to derive considerable a.s.sistance from him, in recording our new proceedings.

[Footnote 67: The very copious vocabulary of the language of Otaheite, and the comparative specimen of the languages of the several other islands visited during the former voyage, and published in Captain Cook's account of it, were furnished by Mr Anderson.--D.]

I had several young men amongst my sea-officers, who, under my direction, could be usefully employed in constructing charts, in taking views of the coasts and headlands near which we should pa.s.s, and in drawing plans of the bays and harbours in which we should anchor. A constant attention to this I knew to be highly requisite, if we would render our discoveries profitable to future navigators.

And that we might go out with every help that could serve to make the result of our voyage entertaining to the generality of readers, as well as instructive to the sailor and scholar, Mr Webber was pitched upon, and engaged to embark with me, for the express purpose of supplying the unavoidable imperfections of written accounts, by enabling us to preserve, and to bring home, such drawings of the most memorable scenes of our transactions, as could only be executed by a professed and skilful artist.

Every preparation being now completed, I received an order to proceed to Plymouth, and to take the Discovery under my command. I accordingly gave Captain Clerke two orders, one to put himself under my command, and the other, to carry his ship round to Plymouth.