The Life of Captain James Cook Part 1

The Life of Captain James Cook.

by Arthur Kitson.

PREFACE.

In publishing a popular edition of my work, Captain James Cook, R.N., F.R.S., it has, of course, been necessary to condense it, but care has been taken to omit nothing of importance, and at the same time a few slight errors have been corrected, and some new information has been added, chiefly relating to the disposition of doc.u.ments.

I must not omit this opportunity of thanking the Reviewers for the extremely kind manner in which they all received the original work--a manner, indeed, which far exceeded my highest hopes.

ARTHUR KITSON.

LONDON, 1912.

JAMES COOK, R.N., F.R.S.

CHAPTER 1. EARLY YEARS.

James Cook, the Circ.u.mnavigator, was a native of the district of Cleveland, Yorkshire, but of his ancestry there is now very little satisfactory information to be obtained. Nichols, in his Topographer and Genealogist, suggests that "James Cooke, the celebrated mariner, was probably of common origin with the Stockton Cookes." His reason for the suggestion being that a branch of the family possessed a crayon portrait of some relation, which was supposed to resemble the great discoverer. He makes no explanation of the difference in spelling of the two names, and admits that the sailor's family was said to come from Scotland.

Dr. George Young, certainly the most reliable authority on Cook's early years, who published a Life in 1836, went to Whitby as Vicar about 1805, and claims to have obtained much information about his subject "through intercourse with his relatives, friends, and acquaintances, including one or two surviving school companions," and appears to be satisfied that Cook was of Scotch extraction. Dr. George Johnston, a very careful writer, states in his Natural History of the Eastern Borders, that in 1692 the father of James Thomson, the author of The Seasons, was minister of Ednam, Roxburghshire, and a man named John Cook was one of the Elders of the Kirk. This John Cook married, on the 19th January 1693, a woman named Jean Duncan, by whom he had a son, James, baptised 4th March 1694, and this child, Johnston positively a.s.serts, was afterwards the father of the future Captain Cook. The dates of the marriage and baptism have been verified by the Reverend John Burleigh, minister of Ednam, and they agree with the probable date of the birth of Cook's father, for he died in 1778 at the age of eighty-five. Owing to the loss of the church records for some years after 1698, Mr. Burleigh is unable to trace when this James Cook left Ednam to "better himself," but he would take with him a "testificate of church membership" which might possibly, but not probably, still exist. Attracted, perhaps, by the number of Scotch people who flocked into the north of Yorkshire to follow the alum trade, then at its height, James Cook settled down and married; and the first positive information to be obtained is that he and his wife Grace (her maiden name has so far escaped identification, though she is known to have been a native of Cleveland) resided for some time at Morton, in the parish of Ormsby, and here their eldest child, John, was born in January 1727. Dr.

Young says that James Cook had a superst.i.tion that his mother's farewell was prophetic of his marriage, for her words were "G.o.d send you Grace."

BIRTH-PLACE.

Shortly after the birth of John, the Cooks left Morton for Marton, a village a few miles away, and the similarity of the two names has caused some confusion. At Marton the father worked for a Mr. Mewburn, living in a small cottage built of mud, called in the district a clay biggin. This cottage was pulled down in 1786, when Major Rudd erected a mansion near the spot. Afterwards, when the mansion was burned to the ground, the site of the cottage was planted with trees, and was popularly known as Cook's Garth. Dr. Young was shown the spot by an old shoemaker whose wife's mother was present at Captain Cook's birth, and he says there was a willow-tree occupying the site, but no vestige of the walls was left. Mr.

Bolckow, the present owner of Marton Hall, says: "The cottage was found destroyed when my uncle bought Marton in 1854, but we came across the foundations of it when the grounds were laid out." A granite vase has been erected on the spot. The pump which Besant says still exists, and was made by Cook's father to supply his house with water, was "put there after Cook's time," and has disappeared.

In this humble clay biggin James Cook, the Circ.u.mnavigator, was born on 27th October 1728, and was registered as baptised on 3rd November in the Marton church records, being entered as "ye son of a day labourer." He was one of several children, most of whom died young; John, the eldest, who lived till he was twenty-three, and Margaret, who married a Redcar fisherman named James Fleck, being the only two that came to maturity.

The Cooks remained at Marton for some years, during which time they removed to another cottage, and young James received some instruction from a Mistress Mary Walker, who taught him his letters and a little reading. Dr. Young and Kippis call her the village schoolmistress, but Ord, who was a descendant on his mother's side, says:

"she was the daughter of the wealthiest farmer in the neighbourhood, and wife of William Walker, a respectable yeoman of the first cla.s.s residing at Marton Grange."

Young James, a lad of less than eight years old, worked for Mr. Walker:

"tended the stock, took the horses to water, and ran errands for the family, and in return for such services the good lady, finding him an intelligent, active youth, was pleased to teach him his alphabet and reading."

In 1736 Cook's father was appointed to the position of hind or bailiff by Mr. Skottowe, and removed with his family to Airy Holme Farm, near Ayton.

According to Besant, a hind was one who, residing on a farm, was paid a regular wage for carrying on the work, and handed over the proceeds to the landlord. Young James, now eight years of age, was sent to the school on the High Green kept by a Mr. Pullen, where he was instructed in writing and arithmetic as far as the first few rules--"reading having apparently been acquired before." He is said to have shown a special apt.i.tude for arithmetic, and it is believed that owing to the good reports of his progress, Mr. Skottowe paid for his schooling. According to Dr. Young, his schoolfellows gave him the character of being fond of his own way, and, when any project was on foot for birds-nesting or other boyish amus.e.m.e.nt, and discussion arose as to the method to be pursued, he would propound his own plans, and insist on their superiority; should his views not meet with approval, he would pertinaciously adhere to them, even at the risk of being abandoned by his companions.

STAITHES.

Most authorities say that Cook was bound apprentice to Mr. Saunderson, a grocer and haberdasher of Staithes, at the age of thirteen; but Mrs.

Dodds, Saunderson's daughter, told Dr. Young that, after leaving school, he remained on the farm, helping his father, till 1745, when he was seventeen years old and then went to Staithes to her father on a verbal agreement without indentures, and would thus be free to leave or be discharged at any time.

The shop and house where he was engaged was situated about three hundred yards from the present slipway, and close to the sea, in fact so close that in 1812 it was threatened by the water, and was pulled down by Saunderson's successor, Mr. John Smailey, and the materials, as far as possible, were used in erecting the building in Church Street which is now pointed out as Cook's Shop. The late Mr. Waddington of Grosmont, near Whitby, says he visited Staithes in 1887 and found the original site covered by deep water. He was informed by an old man, who, as a boy, had a.s.sisted in removing the stock from the old shop, that not only were the stones used again in Church Street, but also most of the woodwork, including the present door with its iron knocker, at which, probably, Cook himself had knocked many a time.

At Staithes Cook remained as Saunderson's a.s.sistant for about eighteen months, and it may easily be imagined how this growing lad listened with all his ears to the tales of the old sailors recalling brave deeds and strange experiences in storm and shine on that element which for so many years was to be his home, and at length, impelled by some instinctive feeling that on it lay the path ready at his feet to lead him on to future distinction, he vowed to himself that he would not bind down his life to the petty round of a country storekeeper.

At length the opportunity came, which is related, in a breezy and life-like manner, by Besant as follows. After painting Saunderson's character in colours of a rather disagreeable hue, as one too fond of his grog for himself and his stick for his apprentices, he says that Cook stole a shilling out of the till, packed up his luggage in a single pocket-handkerchief, ran away across the moors to Whitby, found a ship on the point of sailing, jumped on board, offered his services as cabin boy, was at once accepted, showed himself so smart and attentive that he completely won the heart of the sour-visaged mate, and through his good graces was eventually bound apprentice to the owners of the ship, and thus laid the foundation of his fortunes. This account does not explain how it was that the dishonest runaway apprentice it depicts continued to retain the friendship and esteem of his master and Mrs. Dodds.

APPRENTICED TO THE SEA.

There undoubtedly was a difficulty about a shilling, and Dr. Young's version, gathered from those who knew Cook personally and lived in Staithes and Whitby at the time, is more probable. He says that Cook had noticed a South Sea shilling, and being struck by the unusual design (it was only coined in 1723), changed it for one of his own. Saunderson had also noticed it, and when he missed it, enquired for it perhaps in somewhat unmeasured terms, but, on the matter being explained, was fully satisfied. Afterwards, seeing that the boy was bent upon a sea life, he obtained the father's permission, and took young James to Whitby himself, where he introduced him to Mr. John Walker, a member of a shipping firm of repute, to whom he was bound apprentice (not to the firm), and with whom he never lost touch till the end of his life. The period of apprenticeship was, on the authority of Messrs. John and Henry Walker, three years, and not either seven or nine as is usually stated, and the difficulty about being apprenticed to both Saunderson and Walker is, of course, set at rest by Mrs. Dodd's explanation.

Whitby was at the time a very important centre of the coasting trade, and possessed several shipbuilding yards of good reputation, and it was in a Whitby-built ship, the Freelove, that Cook made his first voyage. She was a vessel of about 450 tons (some 80 tons larger than the celebrated Bark Endeavour), was employed in the coal trade up and down the east coast, and no doubt Cook picked up many a wrinkle of seamanship and many a lesson of the value of prompt.i.tude in the time of danger which would prove of service when he came to the days of independent command: for the North Sea has, from time immemorial, been reckoned a grand school from which to obtain true sailormen for the Royal Service.

As usual in those days, Cook stayed in his employer's house in the intervals between his trips, and his time ash.o.r.e was longer during the winter months as the ships were generally laid up. The house in Grape Street, at present occupied by Mr. Braithwaite, is pointed out as the one where he lived whilst with Mr. Walker; but this is incorrect, for Mr.

Waddington ascertained from the rate books that Mr. Walker's mother was living there at that time, and Mr. Walker lived in Haggargate from 1734 to 1751, removing thence to the north side of Bakehouse Yard in that year, and to Grape Street in 1752, after his mother's death. That is, he did not reside in Grape Street till three years after Cook's apprenticeship was ended, when, following the usual custom, he would have to fend for himself. During these periods of leisure between his voyages, Cook endeavoured to improve his store of knowledge, and it is believed he received some instruction in elementary navigation. He made great friends with Mr. Walker's housekeeper, Mary Prowd, from whom he obtained the concession of a table and a light in a quiet corner away from the others, where he might read and write in peace. That he worked hard to improve himself is evident from the fact that Mr. Walker pushed him on at every opportunity, and gave him as varied an experience of things nautical as lay in his power.

After several voyages in the Freelove (which is stated by the Yorkshire Gazette to have been "lost, together with one hundred and fifty pa.s.sengers and the winter's supply of gingerbread for Whitby, off either the French or Dutch coast" one stormy Christmas, the date not given) Cook was sent to a.s.sist in rigging and fitting for sea a vessel, called the Three Brothers, some 600 tons burden, which was still in existence towards the close of last century. When she was completed, Cook made two or three trips in her with coals, and then she was employed for some months as a transport for troops from Middleburg to Dublin and Liverpool.

She was paid off by the Government at Deptford in the spring of 1749, and then traded to Norway, during which time Cook completed his apprenticeship, that is, in July 1749. Cook told the naturalist of the second South Sea voyage, Mr. Forster, that on one of his trips to Norway the rigging of the ship was completely covered with birds that had been driven off the land by a heavy gale, and amongst them were several hawks who made the best of their opportunities with the small birds.

OFFERED COMMAND.

When his apprenticeship had expired he went before the mast for about three years. In 1750 he was in the Baltic trade on the Maria, owned by Mr. John Wilkinson of Whitby, and commanded by Mr. Gaskin, a relative of the Walkers. The following year he was in a Stockton ship, and in 1752 he was appointed mate of Messrs. Walker's new vessel, the Friendship, on board of which he continued for three years, and of which, on the authority of Mr. Samwell, the surgeon of the Discovery on the third voyage, who paid a visit to Whitby on his return and received his information from the Walkers, he would have been given the command had he remained longer in the mercantile marine. This was rapid promotion for a youth with nothing to back him up but his own exertions and strict attention to duty, and tends to prove that he had taken full advantage of the opportunities that fell in his way, and had even then displayed a power of acquiring knowledge of his profession beyond the average.

About this time Cook's father seems to have given up his position at Airy Holme Farm and turned his attention to building. A house in Ayton is still pointed out as his work, but has apparently been partially rebuilt, for Dr. Young speaks of it as a stone house, and it is now partly brick, but the stone doorway still remains, with the initials J.G.C., for James and Grace Cook, and the date 1755. The old man has been represented as completely uneducated, but this cannot have been true. Colman in his Random Recollections, writing of a visit he paid to Redcar about 1773, relates how a venerable old man was pointed out who:

"only two or three years previously had learnt to read that he might gratify a parent's pride and love by perusing his son's first voyage round the world. He was the father of Captain Cook."

If it is true that he was the son of an Elder of the Scottish Church, it is extremely improbable that he was entirely uneducated, and the position he held as hind to Mr. Skottowe would necessitate at any rate some knowledge of keeping farming accounts. More convincing information still is to be found in the Leeds Mercury of 27th October 1883, where Mr.

George Markham Tweddell, of Stokesley, writes:

"I may mention that Captain Cook's father was not the illiterate man he has been represented; and I have, lying on my study table as I write, a deed bearing his signature, dated 1755; and the father's signature bears a resemblance to that of his distinguished son."

Reading is invariably learnt before writing, and as in 1755 the old man was sixty-one, it is evident he did not wait till he was eighty to learn to read.

FATHER'S GRAVE.

He claimed to have carved the inscription on the family tombstone in Great Ayton churchyard, and after spending the last years of his life under the roof of his son-in-law, James Fleck of Redcar, he died on 1st April 1778, aged eighty-four years. He was buried in Marske churchyard, but there was nothing to mark his grave, and its place has long been forgotten. His death is registered as that of a "day labourer."

CHAPTER 2. 1755 TO 1757. H.M.S. EAGLE.

Notwithstanding the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, 1748, troubles were constantly arising between the French and English in which the American Colonies of both nations took a conspicuous part, and ultimately led to open war. The first shot was fired on 10th June 1755, although war was not formally declared till May 1756. In June 1755 the Friendship was in the Thames, and it is said that to avoid the hot press which had been ordered Cook first went into hiding for some time and then decided to volunteer. This is untrue, for, as has been shown, he had already made up his mind and had refused Messrs. Walker's offer of the command of one of their ships, the acceptance of which would have saved him from the press as Masters were exempt. He now saw his opportunity had come. He knew that experienced men were difficult to obtain, that men of a certain amount of nautical knowledge and of good character could soon raise themselves above the rank of ordinary seamen, and had doubtless in his mind many cases of those who entering as seamen found their way to the quarterdeck, and knowing he had only to ask the Walkers for letters of recommendation for them to be at his service, he determined to take the important step and volunteer into the Royal Navy. It must be remembered that this act of leaving employment which, to most men of his position, would have seemed most satisfactory, was not the act of hot-headed youth, no step taken in mere spirit of adventure, but the calmly reasoned act of a man of twenty-seven years and some eight or nine years experience of both the rough and smooth sides of maritime life.

Several letters were written to Mr. Walker, one or two of which relating to a later period were seen and copied by Dr. Young, but they fell into the hand of a niece, who unfortunately, not recognising their value, destroyed them shortly before her death, which occurred some years ago.

However, it is certain that he wrote one about this time and evidently received a favourable reply, for he shortly afterwards wrote again acknowledging the service done him.

ENTERS NAVY.

Having made up his mind how to proceed, Cook went to a rendezvous at Wapping and volunteered into H.M.S. Eagle, a fourth-rate, 60-gun ship, with a complement of 400 men and 56 marines, at that time moored in Portsmouth Harbour. On the Muster Roll, preserved in the Records Office, the following entry occurs: "161 from London rendezvous, James Cook, A.B., entry, June 17th 1755, first appearance June 25th 1755." On the 24th July, that is, thirty-seven days after the date of entry into the Navy, he is rated as Master's mate, a position he held till 30th June 1757, when he quitted H.M.S. Eagle.