The Life of Captain James Cook Part 20

Edgar, seeing Cook and King running along the sh.o.r.e, thought it right to detain the second canoe, which unfortunately belonged to Parea, who at the time of the theft was in Clerke's cabin and, promising to obtain the tongs, had immediately left for the sh.o.r.e. He tried to regain possession of his canoe, but was knocked down by a sailor, and then some of the natives, who before this had been quietly looking on, began to throw stones, and so roughly handled the sailors in the pinnace that, being unarmed, they beat a retreat, swimming to some rocks out of reach of the missiles. Edgar and Vancouver remained ash.o.r.e and fared badly, till Parea, who had recovered from his blow and apparently forgotten it, ordered his countrymen to stay their hands, and managed to save the pinnace from being broken up. He wanted the boats to go back to the ships, but as the oars had been taken away this was impossible. He then started to find them, and as soon as his back was turned the throwing began again. Edgar wished to go to the camp to find Cook, but some of the natives advised him to follow them and they would take him to Parea. He soon met him carrying one oar, followed by a man with a broken one, so they were able to make shift in the boats to the camp, being overtaken on the way by Parea in his canoe bringing Vancouver's cap, which had been lost in the scuffle.

Owing to his pursuit of the thief Cook did not hear of all this trouble till after dark, too late to take any further steps, but King says he appeared very disturbed by the news, and remarked: "I am afraid these people will oblige me to use some violent measures, for they must not be left to imagine that they have gained an advantage over us." He then went on board his ship and ordered all natives ash.o.r.e, whilst King returned to the camp, and doubling his sentries, gave orders he was to be called if any natives were seen about. At eleven, five were seen hovering near, but when they found they were observed they made off, and later one got close to the observatory, but ran when the sentry fired over his head. When on his way to the ship the next morning for the chronometer, King was informed that the Discovery's cutter had been stolen; it had been moored to the anchor buoy. On board the Resolution he found Cook busy loading his double-barreled gun and a landing party of marines being prepared.

Cook said he was going ash.o.r.e to try to gain possession of some of the princ.i.p.al chiefs in order to keep them prisoners till the boat was returned, and that he had already sent out boats to prevent any one leaving the bay, with the intention of destroying their canoes if he could not recover the cutter by more peaceable means. The Resolution's great cutter was sent after a large sailing canoe that was making off, the small cutter was guarding the western point of the bay, and Cook, with the pinnace and launch, were going to Kowrowa to try and get Terreeoboo on board the ship. He, and in fact every one else, were confident the natives would offer no resistance if they heard the sound of but one musket.

A little before eight o'clock Captain Cook, Lieutenant Phillips, a sergeant, corporal, and seven marines left the ship for Kowrowa, and King returned to his camp after being ordered to try and a.s.sure the natives near the observatory that they would not be hurt, to keep his men together, and to be prepared to meet any outbreak. Having seen his men were on the alert, King visited the priests and satisfied them that Terreeoboo would receive neither injury nor insult.

COOK LANDS.

Having picked up the Resolution's launch, under the command of Lieutenant Williamson, on his way, Cook landed the marines, and marched into the village, where he received the usual marks of respect. He asked to see the king and his two young sons. The two boys came forward and conducted him to the hut where their father was, and after a short conversation he felt a.s.sured that Terreeoboo knew nothing about the stealing of the boat.

He invited the three to accompany him to the Resolution, and the king at once consented and got up to go. However, the boys' mother came up with a few chiefs and tried to persuade him not to go, and then they caught hold of him and forced him to sit down. Meanwhile a large crowd had gathered round, and Phillips, who seems to have acted with coolness and judgment throughout the affair, drew up his men in line on some rocks near the water, about thirty yards away. After trying for some time to persuade the natives to allow their chief to go with him, Cook gave up the attempt, observing to Phillips that it would be impossible to compel them to do so without great risk of bloodshed. Unfortunately, just at this time news arrived that a chief of the first rank had been killed at the other side of the bay. The shots had been heard soon after the landing of Cook's party.

It was now recognised that matters had become very serious; the natives were seen to be donning their war mats, and one man, armed with a stone in one hand and a large iron spike in the other, threatened Cook in a very insulting manner. He was told to keep quiet, but only became more furious, so Cook fired a charge of small shot into him, but his mats saved him from injury. Stones were thrown at the marines, and a chief attempted to stab Phillips, but was promptly knocked down with the b.u.t.t of the latter's musket. Cook now fired his second barrel loaded with ball and killed one of the natives, but Sergeant Gibson told him it was the wrong man, so he received orders to kill the right one, and did so. The stone-throwing became heavier, and the marines responded with a volley, but before they had time to reload the natives rushed them, killing four out of the seven and wounding the rest, Phillips being stabbed between the shoulders, but, before the blow could be repeated he managed to shoot his a.s.sailant.

COOK'S DEATH.

Cook was now close to the water's edge, and had turned round to order the boats' crews to cease firing and pull in. This is believed to have caused his death, for, whilst he faced the natives, none of them, except the one shot by Gibson, had offered him actual violence, but when he turned to give orders he was struck on the head and stabbed in the back, falling with his face in a pool of water. As soon as he fell a great shout arose; he was dragged ash.o.r.e, and the natives, s.n.a.t.c.hing the dagger from each other, showed savage eagerness to share in his destruction. Phillips and his wounded marines plunged into the water and, covered by musketry fire, gained the boats; their officer, though wounded, jumping out again to the a.s.sistance of the last man who, severely injured by a blow on the face, was in great danger of being captured. The boats, seeing there was no possibility of recovering the bodies of the five who were killed, were ordered to return at once to the ships from which they had only been absent an hour. Nine stand of arms, Cook's double-barreled gun and his hanger fell into the hands of the natives. As soon as this was reported, the boats were recalled from the bay, and a strong reinforcement was sent to Mr. King with orders to strike his camp and get the Resolution's foremast off to the ship. The Indians were seen to be a.s.sembling to the right of the tents, so the guns were turned on them, and a party was posted on the Morai to cover the place where the mast lay. About one o'clock everything was got away from the sh.o.r.e, only a few stones being thrown by natives who thought their mats were proof against bullets, and only found out their mistake too late.

Notwithstanding what had occurred, one of the priests, whom Burney calls Kerriakair, remained with the English till everything had been removed, and supplied the men with food and water. King, about four o'clock, was sent to try to recover the bodies of the Captain and marines. He was at first received with a volley of stones, which fortunately fell short; he displayed a white flag and pulled insh.o.r.e, whilst the remaining boats lay off to cover him with their fire if needed, but the stone-throwing was stopped, and the natives also showed the white flag. In answer to King's demand some of the chiefs promised that the bodies should be delivered the next day, and Koah, swimming off to one of the boats, explained that they could not be given up at once as they had already been taken some distance up country. Burney, however, says that they gathered, from signs made by some other Indians, that the bodies had already been cut to pieces, and one man came down into the water flourishing Cook's hanger "with many tokens of exultation and defiance."

KOAH FRIENDLY.

On the 15th Captain Clerke formally took over the command of the Resolution, and appointed Lieutenant Gore to the Discovery. During the day Koah visited the ship several times, and in vain tried to persuade Clerke or King to go ash.o.r.e, but it was thought inadvisable to run any further risks. In the evening Kerriakair and a friend came off in a small canoe bringing a bundle containing the flesh of Cook's thighs, saying that the body had been burned and the limbs distributed amongst the chiefs. They had brought all they could get unknown to the others, and Kerriakair strongly advised Clerke not to trust too much to Koah; he said that the inhabitants of the island were not inclined for peace except those in the immediate neighbourhood, who would of course, in case of hostilities, be the chief sufferers. He gave the number of natives killed as twenty-six, with a large number of wounded.

On the 17th the ships were warped insh.o.r.e so as to command the watering place, the launches were sent in for water, with the other boats fully armed, in support. They were received with showers of stones from the houses, and from behind stone walls, notwithstanding guns fired from the ships and musketry from the boats at any of the natives who exposed themselves. Meanwhile Koah again visited the ships, offering a pig as a present, and asking for someone to be sent ash.o.r.e for the bodies; but he was sent away, and was soon afterwards seen amongst the stone-throwers.

In the afternoon the boats went again for water, but as the natives recommenced hostilities they were ordered to keep clear, whilst the ships' guns were worked for a quarter of an hour; then the boats' crews landed and burned all the houses between the watering place and the Morai, killing some six or seven of the natives. In the evening, about five o'clock, some dozen natives bearing white flags and sugar-cane marched down to the beach headed by Kerriakair carrying a small pig. He said he came as an envoy from Terreeoboo to make peace, and was accordingly taken on board the Resolution. It was ascertained from him that the boat had been stolen by some of Parea's people and had been broken up after Cook's death. During the night some canoes came out and did a little trading; and the next morning the bay was seen to be planted with white flags in different directions, and the waterers were allowed to work unmolested, whilst Kerriakair asked permission, at once granted, to make an offering to one of the images on the Morai. Soon after Koah came off with a pig, but was not admitted to either ship; he then went off to the waterers, who sent him away. So he amused himself by throwing stones at a small party of sailors on the Morai, and drew a couple of shots from them, but escaped unhurt. Soon after a party of natives marched down to the beach with bread-fruit, etc., which they left on the beach and was afterwards taken on board. A chief, Eapoo, carried a message on board from Terreeoboo, and next day brought presents of food.

On the 20th the foremast of the Resolution was stepped and rigging commenced, and in the middle of the day a large body of natives marched in procession to the watering place, beating drums, yelling, carrying white flags, sugar-cane, etc., with Eapoo at their head bearing a parcel wrapped in cloth containing some of Cook's bones. He went off to the Resolution with Clerke, and soon after a boat was sent ash.o.r.e for a present of food from Terreeoboo. The next day, with the same ceremonial, Eapoo again appeared with all the remaining bones it was possible to recover, and was this time accompanied by Karowa, Terreeoboo's youngest son.

"The 21st February. At sunset the Resolution fired ten minute guns, with the colours half staff up, when the remains of our late Commander were committed to the deep."

Lieutenant Williamson was severely blamed by his brother officers for not going to the a.s.sistance of the pinnace at the time of the attack on his Captain, and it is said that had it not been for Clerke's ill health he would have been tried by court-martial. He was afterwards, when in command of the Agincourt, tried for "disaffection, cowardice, disobedience to signals, and not having done his duty in rendering all a.s.sistance possible." He was found guilty on the last two counts only, and was "placed at the bottom of the list of Post-Captains, and rendered incapable of ever serving on board of any of His Majesty's ships."

COOK'S REMAINS.

Ellis, in his Tour through Hawaii, says that King's account of Cook's death, from which the above has been largely drawn, agrees in a remarkable manner with that given by the natives. They in no way blamed their visitors for what occurred, and even after his death appear to have looked upon Cook as a man of a superior race to themselves. His breastbone and ribs were long preserved as relics, and in 1832 Ellis states there were many living who remembered the occasion, and all agreed that Cook's conduct to their countrymen was humane.

Captain Clerke says:

"Upon examining the remains of my late honoured and much lamented friend, I found all his bones, excepting those of the back, jaw, and feet--the two latter articles Earpo brought me in the morning--the former, he declared, had been reduced to ashes with the trunk of the body. As Carnacare (Kerriakair) had told us, the flesh was taken from all the bones, excepting those of the hands, the skin of which they had cut through in many places, and salted, with the intention, no doubt, of preserving them; Earpo likewise brought with him the two barrels of Captain Cook's gun--the one beat flat with the intention of making a cutting instrument of it; the other a good deal bent and bruised, together with a present of thirteen hogs from Terreaboo."

The hands, as has been mentioned before, were identified by the scar left by the explosion of his powder flask in Newfoundland, which almost severed the thumb from the fingers.

On 22nd February they were able to sail from this unlucky place, and touching at one or two of the islands worked their way northwards to Kamtschatka, the Resolution reaching Owatska Bay on 29th April, followed by the discovery on 1st May. They were very handsomely treated by Major Behm, the Governor of Bolcheretsk, a place about 135 miles from the town of St. Peter and St. Paul in Awatska Bay, notwithstanding Mr. Ismailoff's letters of introduction were on somewhat unsatisfactory lines. Mr. Webber was fortunately able to converse in German, which the Russian officers understood; and he ascertained that Ismailoff had represented the two vessels as very small, and hinted that he believed them to be little better than pirates. The Governor provided the ships with what he could give them, and promised to obtain further stores from Okotsk for them against their return. For these kindnesses the English could make but little return, and even then it was with difficulty that the Russians could be persuaded to receive anything, for they said they were only acting up to the wishes of their Empress, who desired all her allies should be treated with courtesy. One return, however, they were able to make which was of great service. At the time of the visit of the ships a large number of the soldiers and inhabitants were suffering very seriously from scurvy, and Clerke at once put them under the care of his medical officers, who, by the use of sour kraut and sweet wort made from the ship's stock of malt, soon caused "a surprising alteration in the figures of most of them and their speedy recovery was chiefly attributed to the effects of the sweet wort."

They were informed by the Major that on the day of the arrival of the English party at Bolcheretsk he had received a letter from the most northerly outpost on the Sea of Okotsk, stating that the tribe of Tschutski, which had been long at feud with the Russians, had sent in an emba.s.sy offering friendship and tribute, giving as a reason that they had been visited by two large vessels in the preceding summer, and had been received on board with great kindness, and had entered into a league of friendship with their visitors: they therefore thought it their duty to ratify this treaty formally. These two ships could have been none other than the Resolution and Discovery, though evidently the Tschutski thought they were Russian.

DEATH OF CLERKE.

Leaving on 13th June, the Asiatic coast was followed up, and 1st July they were off the Gulf of Anadyr, where fogs and ice began seriously to interfere with their progress, so they abandoned the Asiatic for the American side, but with no better luck. They reached the lat.i.tude of 70 degrees 33 minutes North, about five leagues short of the point reached the previous year, and at length, realising further efforts were useless and resulting in serious damage to the ships from continual contact with the loose ice, Clerke determined to return to Awatska Bay and refit and then return to England. On 22nd August, the day before they reached the Bay, Captain Clerke, who had long been suffering from serious ill health, died, and was buried under a tree a little to the north of the post of St. Peter and St. Paul; the crews of both ships and the Russian garrison taking part in the funeral ceremony, and the Russian priest reading the service at the grave. Clerke had been all three voyages with Cook, and was only thirty-eight years of age.

Gore now took command of the Resolution, Burney, Rickman, and Lanyon being his lieutenants, whilst King was the new Captain of the Discovery, and Williamson and Hervey his lieutenants; Bayley going with Gore in charge of the astronomical observations. On 9th October they left Awatska and were off Cape Nambu, j.a.pan, on the 26th, but were driven off the coast by bad weather, and anch.o.r.ed in Macao Roads on 1st December. Here, after considerable delay, stores were obtained from Canton, and the seaman managed to dispose of most of the furs they had obtained in the north. King estimates that the two ships received, in money and goods, as much as 2000 pounds for the skins, and says that the men were so anxious to return for more that they were almost in a state of mutiny.

On 11th April the ships reached the Cape, where the officers were cordially received by Governor Plattenberg, who expressed the deepest regret to hear of the loss of Cook, and requested that he should be sent a portrait of the Captain to place in a blank s.p.a.ce he pointed out between two portraits of De Ruyter and Van Tromp--a gracious compliment.

Sailing from Simon's Bay on 9th May, the trades were picked up on the 14th, and on 13th June the line was crossed in longitude 26 degrees 16 minutes West. The coast of Ireland was sighted on 12th August, and an attempt was made to get into Galway Bay, but strong southerly winds drove them to the north, and at length, rounding the north of Scotland, they put into Stromness, whence Captain King was despatched overland to the Admiralty. The ships arrived off the Nore on 4th October, after an absence of "four years, two months, and twenty-two days."

KING MEETS KING.

On 14th February 1781, the second anniversary of Cook's death, King, accompanied by Mr. Banks, was presented to His Majesty, who was pleased to accept the Journals of the Resolution and Discovery kept during this eventful voyage.

CHAPTER 19. APPRECIATION AND CHARACTER.

Of course as nothing had been heard of the expedition for a considerable time, a certain amount of anxiety was felt, which at length found vent in paragraphs in the public press, and on 11th January 1780 the London Gazette contained the following:

"Captain Clerke of His Majesty's Sloop the Resolution, in a letter to Mr.

Stephens, dated the 8th of June 1779, in the harbour of St. Peter and St.

Paul, Kampschatka, which was received yesterday, gives the melancholy account of the celebrated Captain Cook, late Commander of that Sloop, with four of his private Marines having been killed on the 14th of February last at the island of Owhyhe, one of a Group of new-discovered Islands in the 22nd degree of North Lat.i.tude, in an affray with a numerous and tumultuous Body of the Natives."

"Captain Clerke adds, that he received every friendly supply from the Russian Government; and that as the Companies of the Resolution and her Consort, the Discovery, were in perfect Health, and the two Sloops had twelve months Stores and Provisions on board, he was preparing to make another Attempt to explore a Northern Pa.s.sage to Europe."

THE EMPRESS OF RUSSIA.

The London Gazette of 8th February says:

"The Empress of Russia expressed a most deep concern at the Loss of Captain Cook. She was the more sensibly affected from her very partial regard to his merits; and when she was informed of the hospitality shown by the Russian Government at Kamschatka to Captain Clerke, she said no Subject in her Dominions could show too much Friendship to the Survivors of Captain Cook."

The letter written by Clerke was sent by express through Petersburg; that is to say, it was written in the extreme east of Asia in June, and was sent overland across Siberia to Petersburg, and thence via Berlin to London, and was there published in under the six months. A wonderful journey when the difficulties of transit are taken into consideration.

In the numerous appreciative notices that appeared in the press relating to Cook and his work, the Morning Chronicle alone strikes a jarring string, which is at once met by a reply; and a day or two after the same paper publishes a long letter signed Colombus (the style suggests the pen of Sir Joseph Banks) in which the character and methods of Cook are most strenuously defended, the writer claiming to have obtained his knowledge of the man "through long intercourse with him."

The Gazetter of 24th January says:

"His Majesty, who had always the highest opinion of Captain Cook, shed tears when Lord Sandwich informed him of his death, and immediately ordered a pension of 300 pounds a year for his widow."

The amount really granted to Mrs. Cook was 200 pounds per annum, and the Admiralty in addition gave her half the proceeds of the Journal of the Third Voyage, a share in the Journal of the Second Voyage, and a share of the plates used in ill.u.s.trating the two publications: a very considerable addition to her income. A Coat of Arms was also granted to the family by order of the King, and Sir W. Besant records his belief that it was the last one ever granted as a direct "recognition of Service." His description of it is:

"Azure, between the two polar stars Or, a sphere on the plane of the meridian, showing the Pacific Ocean, his track thereon marked by red lines. And for a crest, on a wreath of the colours, is an arm bowed, in the uniform of a Captain of the Royal Navy. In the hand is the Union Jack on a staff proper. The arm is encircled by a wreath of palm and laurel. A very n.o.ble shield indeed."

The notes of appreciation of his talents and services came from all parts of the world, and none more kindly than from the series of brilliant Frenchmen who followed in his footsteps. De Crozet did not hesitate to throw away his own charts when he recognised the superiority of Cook's; and Dumont d'Urville calls him "the most ill.u.s.trious navigator of both the past and future ages whose name will for ever remain at the head of the list of sailors of all nations."

MRS. COOK'S LETTER.

The Royal Society was naturally amongst the first to recognise the great worth of its late Fellow, and the loss the Society had suffered from his death. It had already granted him one of its highest honours in the form of the Copley Gold Medal for his successful contest with the scurvy, and it now decided to mark its appreciation by striking a special gold medal in his honour. This was forwarded by Sir Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society, to Mrs. Cook, and acknowledged by her in the following touching letter:

Mile End,

16th August 1784.

Sir,