Character of Captain Cook.--Effects of his Voyages.--Testimonies of
Applause.--Commemorations of his Services--Regard paid to his
Family.--Conclusion.
From the relation that has been given of Captain Cook's course of
life, and of the important events in which he was engaged, my readers
cannot be strangers to his general character. This, therefore, might
be left to be collected from his actions, which are the best
exhibitions of the great qualities of his mind. But, perhaps, were I
not to endeavour to afford a summary view of him in these respects, I
might be thought to fail in that duty which I owe to the public on the
present occasion.
It cannot, I think, be denied, that genius belonged to Captain Cook in
an eminent degree. By genius, I do not here understand imagination
merely, or that power of culling the flowers of fancy which poetry,
delights in; but an inventive mind; a mind full of resources; and,
which, by its own native vigour, can suggest noble objects of pursuit
and the most effectual methods of attaining them. This faculty was
possessed by our navigator in its full energy, as is evident from the
uncommon sagacity and penetration which he discovered in a vast
variety of critical and difficult situations.
To genius Captain Cook added application, without which nothing very
valuable or permanent can be accomplished, even by the brightest
capacity. For an unremitting attention to whatever related to his
profession, he was distinguished in early life. In every affair that
was undertaken by him, his assiduity was without interruption, and
without abatement. Whereever he came, he suffered nothing, which was
fit for a seaman to know or to practise, to pass unnoticed, or to
escape his diligence.
The genius and application of Captain Cook were followed by a large
extent of knowledge; a knowledge which, besides a consummate
acquaintance with navigation, comprehended a number of other sciences.
In this respect the ardour of his mind rose above the disadvantages of
a very confined education. His progress in the different branches of
the mathematics, and particularly in astronomy, became so eminent,
that, at length, he was able to take the lead in making the necessary
observations of this kind, in the course of his voyages. He attained
likewise to such a degree of proficiency in general learning, and the
art of composition, as to be able to express himself with a manly
clearness and propriety, and to become respectable as the narrator, as
well as the performer, of great actions.
Another thing, strikingly conspicuous in Captain Cook, was the
perseverance with which he pursued the noble objects to which his life
was devoted. This, indeed, was a most distinguished feature in his
character: in this he scarcely ever had an equal, and never a
superior. Nothing could divert him from the points he aimed at; and he
persisted in the prosecution of them, through difficulties and
obstructions, which would have deterred minds of very considerable
strength and firmness.
What enabled him to persevere in all his mighty undertakings was the
invincible fortitude of his spirits. Of this, instances without number
occur in the accounts of his expeditions; two of which I shall take
the liberty of retailing to the attention of my readers. The first is,
the undaunted magnanimity with which he prosecuted his discoveries
along the whole southeast coast of New Holland. Surrounded as he was
with the greatest possible dangers, arising from the perpetual
succession of rocks, shoals, and breakers, and having a ship that was
almost shaken to pieces by repeated perils, his vigorous mind had a
regard to nothing but what he thought was required of him by his duty
to the public. It will not be easy to find, in the history of
navigation, a parallel example of courageous exertion. The other
circumstance I would refer to, is the boldness with which, in his
second voyage after he left the Cape of Good Hope, he pushed forward
into unknown seas, and penetrated through innumerable mountains and
islands of ice, in the search of a southern continent. It was like
launching into chaos: all was obscurity, all was darkness before him;
and no event can be compared with it, excepting the sailing of
Magelhaens, from the straits which bear his name into the Pacific
Ocean.
The fortitude of Captain Cook, being founded upon reason, and not upon
instinct, was not an impetuous valour, but accompanied with complete
self-possession. He was master of himself on every trying occasion,
and seemed to be the more calm and collected, the greater was the
exigence of the case. In the most perilous situations, when our
commander had given the proper directions concerning what was to be
done while he went to rest, he could sleep, during the hours he had
allotted to himself, with perfect composure and soundness. Nothing
could be a surer indication of an elevated mind; of a mind that was
entirely satisfied with itself, and the measures it had taken.
To all these great qualities Captain Cook added the most amiable
virtues. That it was impossible for any one to excel him in humanity,
is apparent from his treatment of his men through all his voyages, and
from his behaviour to the natives of the countries which were
discovered by him. The health, the convenience, and, as far as it
could be admitted, the enjoyment of the seamen, were the constant
objects of his attention; and he was anxiously solicitous to
ameliorate the condition of the inhabitants of the several islands and
places which he visited. With regard to their thieveries, he candidly
apologized for, and overlooked many offences which others would have
sharply punished; and when he was laid under an indispensable
necessity of proceeding to any acts of severity, he never exerted
them without feeling much reluctance and concern.
In the private relations of life, Captain Cook was entitled to high
commendation. He was excellent as a husband and a father, and sincere
and steady in his friendships: and to this it may be added, that he
possessed that general sobriety and virtue of character, which will
always be found to constitute the best security and ornament of every
other moral qualification.
With the greatest benevolence and humanity of disposition, Captain
Cook was occasionally subject to a hastiness of temper. This, which
has been exaggerated by the few (and they are indeed few) who are
unfavourable to his memory, is acknowledged by his friends. It is
mentioned both by Captain King and Mr. Samwell, in their delineations
of his character. Mr. Hayley, in one of his poems, calls him the
_mild Cook_; but, perhaps, that is not the happiest epithet which
could have been applied to him. Mere mildness can scarcely be
considered as the most prominent and distinctive feature in the mind
of a man, whose powers of understanding and of action were so strong
and elevated, who had such immense difficulties to struggle with, and
who must frequently have been called to the firmest exertions of
authority and command.
Lastly, Captain Cook was distinguished by a property which is almost
universally the concomitant of truly great men, and that is, a
simplicity of manners. In conversation he was unaffected and
unassuming; rather backward in pushing discourse; but obliging and
communicative in his answers to those who addressed him for the
purposes of information. It was not possible that, in a mind
constituted like his, such a paltry quality as vanity could find an
existence.
In this imperfect delineation of Captain Cook's character, I have
spoken of him in a manner which is fully justified by the whole course
of his life and actions, and which is perfectly agreeable to the
sentiments of those who were the most nearly connected with him in the
habits of intimacy and friendship. The pictures which some of them
have drawn of him, though they have already been presented to the
public, cannot here with propriety be omitted. Captain King has
expressed himself concerning him in the following terms: 'The
constitution of his body was robust, inured to labour, and capable of
undergoing the severest hardships. His stomach bore, without
difficulty, the coarsest and most ungrateful food:--Great was the
indifference with which he submitted to every kind of self-denial. The
qualities of his mind were of the same hardy vigorous kind with those
of his body. His understanding was strong and perspicacious. His
judgment, in whatever related to the services he was engaged in, quick
and sure. His designs were bold and manly; and both in the conception,
and in the mode of execution, bore evident marks of a great original
genius. His courage was cool and determined, and accompanied with an
admirable presence of mind in the moment of danger. His temper might
perhaps have been justly blamed, as subject to hastiness and passion,
had not these been disarmed by a disposition the most benevolent and
humane.
'Such were the outlines of Captain Cook's character; but its most
distinguishing feature was that unremitting perseverance in the
pursuit of his object, which was not only superior to the opposition
of dangers, and the pressure of hardships, but even exempt from the
want of ordinary relaxation. During the long and tedious voyages in
which he was engaged, his eagerness and activity were never in the
least abated. No incidental temptation could detain him for a moment:
even those intervals of recreation, which sometimes unavoidably
occurred, and were looked for by us with a longing, that persons who
have experienced the fatigues of service will readily excuse, were
submitted to by him with a certain impatience, whenever they could not
be employed in making a farther provision for the more effectual
prosecution of his designs.'
'The character of Captain Cook,' says Mr. Samwell, 'will be best
exemplified by the services he has performed, which are universally
known, and have ranked his name above that of any navigator of ancient
or of modern times. Nature had endowed him with a mind vigorous and
comprehensive, which in his riper years he had cultivated with care
and industry. His general knowledge was extensive and various: in that
of his own profession he was unequalled. With a clear judgment, strong
masculine sense, and the most determined resolution; with a genius
peculiarly turned for enterprise, he pursued his object with unshaken
perseverance:--vigilant and active in an eminent degree:--cool and
intrepid among dangers; patient and firm under difficulties and
distress; fertile in expedients; great and original in all his
designs; active and resolved in carrying them into execution. These
qualities rendered him the animating spirit of the expedition: in
every situation he stood unrivalled and alone; on him all eyes were
turned; he was our leading star, which, at its setting, left us
involved in darkness and despair.
'His constitution was strong, his mode of living temperate.--He was a
modest man, and rather bashful; of an agreeable lively conversation,
sensible and intelligent. In his temper he was somewhat hasty, but of
a disposition the most friendly, benevolent, and humane. His person
was about six feet high, and, though a good looking man, he was plain
both in address and appearance. His head was small; his hair, which
was a dark brown, he wore tied behind. His face was full of
expression; his nose exceedingly well shaped; his eyes, which were
small and of a brown cast, were quick and piercing; his eyebrows
prominent, which gave his countenance altogether an air of austerity.
'He was beloved by his people, who looked up to him as to a father,
and obeyed his commands with alacrity. The confidence we placed in him
was unremitting; our admiration of his great talents, unbounded; our
esteem for his good qualities, affectionate and sincere.----
'He was remarkably distinguished for the activity of his mind: it was
that which enabled him to pay an unwearied attention to every object
of the service. The strict economy he observed in the expenditure of
the ship's stores, and the unremitting care he employed for the
preservation of the health of his people, were the causes that enabled
him to prosecute discoveries in remote parts of the globe, for such a
length of time, as had been deemed impracticable by former navigators.
The method he discovered for preserving the health of seamen in long
voyages will transmit his name to posterity as the friend and
benefactor of mankind: the success which attended it afforded this
truly great man more satisfaction than the distinguished fame that
attended his discoveries.
'England has been unanimous in her tribute of applause to his virtues,
and all Europe has borne testimony to his merit. There is hardly a
corner of the earth, however remote and savage, that will not long
remember his benevolence and humanity. The grateful Indian, in time to
come, pointing to the herds grazing his fertile plains, will relate to
his children how the first stock of them was introduced into the
country; and the name of Cook will be remembered among those benign
spirits, whom they worship as the source of every good, and the
fountain of every blessing.'
At the conclusion of the Introduction to the Voyage to the Pacific
Ocean is an eulogium on Captain Cook, drawn up by one of his own
profession, of whom it is said, that he is not more distinguished by
the elevation of rank, than by the dignity of private virtues. Though
this excellent eulogium must be known to many, and perhaps to most of
my readers, they will not be displeased at having the greater part of
it brought to their recollection.
'Captain James Cook possessed,' says the writer, '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, from 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.
'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.
'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 compassion for the savages in
general, this excellent man was ever assiduously 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.----
'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 to 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.'
The last character I shall here insert of Captain Cook comes from a
learned writer, who, in consequence of some disagreements which are
understood to have subsisted between him and our great navigator,
cannot be suspected of intending to celebrate him in the language of
flattery. Dr. Reinhold Forster, having given a short account of the
captain's death, adds as follows: 'Thus fell this truly glorious and
justly admired navigator. If we consider his extreme abilities both
natural and acquired, the firmness and constancy of his mind, his
truly paternal care for the crew intrusted to him, the amiable manner
with which he knew how to gain the friendship of all the savage and
uncultivated nations, and even his conduct towards his friends and
acquaintance, we must acknowledge him to have been one of the greatest
men of his age, and that reason justifies the tear which friendship
pays to his memory.' After such an encomium on Captain Cook, less
regard may justly be paid to the deductions from it, which are added
by Dr. Forster. What he hath said concerning the captain's temper
seems to have received a tincture of exaggeration, from prejudice and
personal animosity; and the Doctor's insinuation, that our navigator
obstructed Lieutenant Pickersgill's promotion, is, I have good reason
to believe, wholly groundless. There is another error which must not
pass unnoticed. Dr. Forster puts in his caveat against giving the name
of Cook's Straits to the Straits between Asia and America, discovered
by Beering. But if the Doctor had read the Voyage to the Pacific
Ocean, published by authority, he would have seen, that there was no
design of robbing Beering of the honour to which he was entitled.
From a survey of Captain Cook's character, it is natural to extend our
reflections to the effects of the several expeditions in which he was
engaged. These, indeed, must have largely appeared in the general
history of his Life; and they have finely been displayed by Dr.
Douglas, in his admirable Introduction to the Voyage to the Pacific
Ocean. Under the conduct of so able a guide, I shall subjoin a short
view of the subject.
It must, however, be observed, that, with regard to the three
principal consequences of our great navigator's transactions, I have
nothing further to offer. These are, his having dispelled the illusion
of a _Terra Australis Incognita_; his demonstration of the
impracticability of a northern passage from the Pacific to the
Atlantic Ocean; and his having established a sure method of preserving
the health of seamen in the longest voyages, and through every variety
of latitude and climate. Concerning each of these capital objects, I
have already so fully spoken, that it is not in my power to add to the
impression of their importance, and of Captain Cook's merits in
relation to them, which, I trust, is firmly fixed on the mind of every
reader.
It is justly remarked, by Dr. Douglas, that one great advantage
accruing to the world from our late surveys of the globe, is, that
they have confuted fanciful theories, too likely to give birth to
impracticable undertakings. The ingenious reveries of speculative
philosophers, which have so long amused the learned, and raised the
most sanguine expectations, are now obliged to submit, perhaps with
reluctance, to the sober dictates of truth and experience. Nor will it
be only by discouraging future unprofitable searches, that the late
voyages will be of service to mankind, but also by lessening the
dangers and distresses formerly experienced in those seas which are
within the actual line of commerce and navigation. From the British
discoveries many commercial improvements may be expected to arise in
our own times: but, in future ages, such improvements may be extended
to a degree, of which, at present, we have no conception. In the long
chain of causes and effects, no one can tell how widely and
beneficially the mutual intercourse of the various inhabitants of the
earth may hereafter be carried on, in consequence of the means of
facilitating it, which have been explored and pointed out by Captain
Cook.
The interests of science, as well as of commerce, stand highly
indebted to this illustrious navigator. That a knowledge of the globe
on which we live is a very desirable object, no one can call in
question. This is an object which, while it is ardently pursued by the
most enlightened philosophers, is sought for with avidity, even by
those whose studies do not carry them beyond the lowest rudiments of
learning. It need not be said what gratification Captain Cook hath
provided for the world in this respect. Before the voyages of the
present reign took place, nearly half the surface of the earth was
hidden in obscurity and confusion. From the discoveries of our
navigator, geography has assumed a new face, and become, in a great
measure, a new science; having attained to such a completion, as to
leave only some less important parts of the globe to be explored by
future voyagers.[17]
[Footnote 17: Lieutenant Roberts's admirable chart will set this
matter in the strongest light.]
Happily for the advancement of knowledge, acquisitions cannot be
obtained in any one branch, without leading to acquisitions in other
branches, of equal, and perhaps of superior consequence. New oceans
cannot be traversed, or new countries visited, without presenting
fresh objects of speculation and inquiry, and carrying the practice,
as well as the theory, of philosophy to a higher degree of perfection.
_Nautical astronomy_, in particular, was in its infancy, when the
late voyages were first undertaken; but, during the prosecution of
them, and especially in Captain Cook's last expedition, even many of
the petty officers could observe the distance of the moon from the
sun, or a star, the most delicate of all observations, with sufficient
accuracy. As for the officers of superior rank, they would have felt
themselves ashamed to have it thought that they did not know how to
observe for, and compute the time at sea; though such a thing had, a
little before, scarcely been heard of among seamen. Nay, first-rate
philosophers had doubted the possibility of doing it with the
exactness that could be wished. It must, however, be remembered, that
a large share of praise is due to the Board of Longitude, for the
proficiency of the gentlemen of the navy in taking observations at
sea. In consequence of the attention of that board to this important
object, liberal rewards have been given to mathematicians for
perfecting the lunar tables, and facilitating calculations; and
artists have been amply encouraged in the construction of instruments
and watches, much more accurately and completely adapted to the
purposes of navigation than formerly existed.
It is needless to mention what a quantity of additional information
has been gained with respect to the rise and times of the flowing of
the tides; the direction and force of currents at sea; and the cause
and nature of the polarity of the needle, and the theory of its
variations. Natural knowledge has been increased by experiments on the
effects of gravity in different and very distant places; and from
Captain Cook's having penetrated so far into the Southern Ocean, it is
now ascertained, that the phenomenon, usually called the _Aurora
Borealis_, is not peculiar to high northern latitudes, but belongs
equally to all cold climates, whether they be north or south.
Amidst the different branches of science that have been promoted by
the late expeditions, there is none, perhaps, that stands so highly
indebted to them as the science of botany. At least twelve hundred new
plants have been added to the known system; and large accessions of
intelligence have accrued with regard to every other part of natural
history. This point has already been evinced by the writings of Dr.
Sparrman, of the two Forsters, father and son, and of Mr. Pennant; and
this point will illustriously be manifested, when the great work of
Sir Joseph Banks shall be accomplished, and given to the world.
It is not to the enlargement of natural knowledge only, that the
effects arising from Captain Cook's voyages are to be confined.
Another important object of study has been opened by them; and that
is, the study of human nature, in situations various, interesting, and
uncommon. The islands visited in the centre of the south Pacific
Ocean, and the principal scenes of the operations of our discoverers,
were untrodden ground. As the inhabitants, so far as could be
observed, had continued, from their original settlement unmixed with
any different tribe; as they had been left entirely to their own
powers for every art of life, and to their own remote traditions for
every political or religious custom or institution; as they were
uninformed by science, and unimproved by education, they could not but
afford many subjects of speculation to an inquisitive and
philosophical mind. Hence may be collected a variety of important
facts with respect to the state of man; with respect to his
attainments and deficiences, his virtue and vices, his employments and
diversions, his feelings, manners, and customs, in a certain period of
society. Even the curiosities which have been brought from the
discovered islands, and which enrich the British Museum, and the late
Sir Ashton Lever's repository, may be considered as a valuable
acquisition to this country; as supplying no small fund of information
and entertainment.
Few inquiries are more interesting than those which relate to the
migrations of the various families or tribes that have peopled the
earth. It was known in general, that the Asiatic nation, called
Malayans, possessed, in former times, much the greatest trade in the
Indies; and that they frequented, with their merchant ships, not only
all the coasts of Asia, but ventured over even to the coasts of
Africa, and particularly to the great island of Madagascar. But that,
from Madagascar to the Marquesas and Easter Island, that is, nearly
from the east side of Africa, till we approach towards the west side
of America, a space including above half the circumference of the
globe, the same nation of the oriental world should have made their
settlements, and founded colonies throughout almost every intermediate
stage of this immense tract, in islands at amazing distances from the
mother continent, and the natives of which were ignorant of each
other's existence--is an historical fact, that, before Captain Cook's
voyages, could be but very imperfectly known. He it is who hath
discovered a vast number of new spots of land lurking in the bosom of
the South Pacific Ocean, all the inhabitants of which display striking
evidences of their having derived their descent from one common
Asiatic original. Nor is this apparent solely from a similarity of
customs and institutions, but is established by a proof which conveys
irresistible conviction to the mind, and that is, the affinity of
language. The collections that have been made of the words which are
used in the widely diffused islands and countries that have lately
been visited cannot fail, in the hands of such men as a Bryant and a
Marsden, to throw much light on the origin of nations, and the
peopling of the globe.--From Mr. Marsden, in particular, who has
devoted his attention, time, and study to this curious subject, the
literary world may hereafter expect to be highly instructed and
entertained.
There is another family of the earth, concerning which new information
has been derived from the voyages of our British navigators. That the
Esquimaux, who had hitherto only been found seated on the coasts of
Labradore and Hudson's Bay, agreed with the Greenlanders in every
circumstance of customs, manners, and language, which could
demonstrate an original identity of nation, had already been
ascertained. But that the same tribe now actually inhabit the islands
and coasts on the west side of North America, opposite Kamtschatka,
was a discovery, the completion of which was reserved for Captain
Cook. From his account it appears that these people have extended
their migrations to Norton Sound, Oonalashka, and Prince William's
Sound; that is, to nearly the distance of fifteen hundred leagues from
their stations in Greenland, and the coast of Labradore. Nor does this
curious fact rest merely on the evidence arising from similitude of
manners: for it stands confirmed by a table of words, exhibiting such
an affinity of language as will remove every doubt from the mind of
the most scrupulous inquirer.
Other questions there are, of a very important nature, the solution of
which will now be rendered more easy than hath heretofore been
apprehended. From the full confirmation of the vicinity of the two
continents of Asia and America, it can no longer be represented as
ridiculous to believe, that the former furnished inhabitants to the
latter. By the facts recently discovered, a credibility is added to
the Mosaic account of the peopling of the earth. That account will, I
doubt not, stand the test of the most learned and rigorous
investigation. Indeed, I have long been convinced, after the closest
meditation of which I am capable, that sound philosophy and genuine
revelation never militate against each other. The rational friends of
religion are so far from dreading the spirit of inquiry, that they
wish for nothing more than a candid, calm, and impartial examination
of the subject according to all the lights which the improved reason
and the enlarged science of man can afford.
One great effect of the voyages made under the conduct of Captain Cook
is their having excited a zeal for similar undertakings. Other princes
and other nations are engaged in expeditions of navigation and
discovery. By order of the French government, Mess. de la Perouse and
de Langle sailed from Brest, in August, 1785, in the frigates Boussole
and Astroloobe, on an enterprise, the express purpose of which was the
improvement of geography, astronomy, natural history, and philosophy,
and to collect accounts of customs and manners. For the more effectual
prosecution of the design, several gentlemen were appointed to go out
upon the voyage, who were known to excel in different departments of
science and literature. Mr. Dagelet went as astronomer; M. de la
Martinière, P. Recevour, and M. de la Fresne, as naturalists; and the
Chevalier de Lamanon and M. Monges, junior, as natural philosophers.
The officers of the Boussole were men of the best information, and the
firmest resolution: and the crew contained a number of artificers in
various kinds of mechanic employments. Marine watches, and other
instruments, were provided; and M. Dagelet was particularly directed
to make observations with M. Condamine's invariable pendulum, to
determine the differences in gravity, and to ascertain the true
proportion of the equatorial to the polar diameter of the earth. From
some accounts which have already been received of these voyages, it
appears, that they have explored the coast of California; have
adjusted the situation of more than fifty places, almost wholly
unknown; and have visited Owhyhee, and the rest of the Sandwich
Islands. When the expedition shall be completed, the whole result of
it will doubtless be laid before the public.[18]
[Footnote 18: An account of this voyage during the years 1785,
1786, 1787, and 1788, has been published in France, from papers
transmitted at different times by La Perouse; but nothing since
the year 1788 has been received relative to the progress of the
voyage, or the fate of the voyagers, who are all supposed to have
perished by shipwreck.]
Although Captain Cook has made such vast discoveries in the Northern
Ocean, on and between the east of Asia and the west coast of America,
Mr. Coxe has well shewn that there is still room for a farther
investigation of that part of the world. Accordingly, the object has
been taken up by the Empress of Russia, who has committed the conduct
of the enterprise to Captain Billings, an Englishman in her majesty's
service. As Captain Billings was with Captain Cook in his last voyage,
he may reasonably be supposed to be properly qualified for the
business he has undertaken. The design, with the execution of which he
is entrusted, appears to be very extensive and important; and, if it
should be crowned with success, cannot fail of making considerable
additions to the knowledge of geography and navigation.
There is one event at home, which has evidently resulted from Captain
Cook's discoveries, and which, therefore, must not be omitted. What I
refer to is the settlement at Botany Bay. With the general policy of
this measure the present narrative has not any concern. The plan, I
doubt not, has been adopted with the best intentions, after the
maturest deliberation, and perhaps with consummate wisdom. One evident
advantage arising from it is, that it will effectually prevent a
number of unhappy wretches from returning to their former scenes of
temptations and guilt, and may open to them the means of industrious
subsistence and moral reformation. If it be wisely and prudently begun
and conducted, who can tell what beneficial consequences may spring
from it, in future ages? Immortal Rome is said to have risen from the
refuse of mankind.
While we are considering the advantages the _discoverers_ have
derived from the late navigations, a question naturally occurs, which
is, What benefits have hence accrued to the _discovered_? It
would be a source of the highest pleasure to be able to answer the
question to complete satisfaction. But it must be acknowledged, that
the subject is not wholly free from doubts and difficulties; and these
doubts and difficulties might be enlarged upon, and exaggerated, by an
imagination which is rather disposed to contemplate and represent the
dark than the luminous aspect of human affairs. In one respect, Mr.
Samwell has endeavoured to shew, that the natives of the lately
explored parts of the world, and especially so far as relates to the
Sandwich Islands, were not injured by our people; and it was the
constant solicitude and care of Captain Cook, that evil might not be
communicated in any one place to which he came. If he was universally
successful, the good which, in various cases, he was instrumental in
producing, will be reflected upon with the more peculiar satisfaction.
There is an essential difference between the voyages that have lately
been undertaken, and many which have been carried on in former times.
None of my readers can be ignorant of the horrid cruelties that were
exercised by the conquerors of Mexico and Peru; cruelties which can
never be remembered, without blushing for religion and human nature.
But to undertake expeditions with a design of civilizing the world,
and meliorating its condition, is a noble object. The recesses of the
globe were investigated by Captain Cook, not to enlarge private
dominion, but to promote general knowledge; the new tribes of the
earth were visited as friends; and an acquaintance with their
existence was sought for, in order to bring them within the pale of
the offices of humanity, and to relieve the wants of their imperfect
state of society. Such were the benevolent views which our navigator
was commissioned by his majesty to carry into execution; and there is
reason to hope that they will not be wholly unsuccessful. From the
long continued intercourse with the natives of the Friendly, Society,
and Sandwich Islands, some rays of light must have darted on their
infant minds. The uncommon objects which have been presented to their
observation, and excited their surprise, will naturally tend to
enlarge their stock of ideas, and to furnish new materials for the
exercise of their reasonable faculties. It is no small addition to
their comforts of life, and their immediate enjoyments, that will be
derived from the introduction of our useful animals and vegetables;
and if the only benefit they should ever receive from the visits of
the English should be the having obtained fresh means of subsistence,
that must be considered as a great acquisition.
But may not our hopes be extended to still nobler objects? The
connexion which has been opened with these remote inhabitants of the
world is the first step toward their improvement; and consequences may
flow from it, which are far beyond our present conceptions. Perhaps,
our late voyages may be the means appointed by Providence, of
spreading, in due time, the blessings of civilization among the
numerous tribes of the South Pacific Ocean, and preparing them for
holding an honourable rank among the nations of the earth. There
cannot be a more laudable attempt, than that of endeavouring to rescue
millions of our fellow-creatures from that state of humiliation in
which they now exist. Nothing can more essentially contribute to the
attainment of this great end, than a wise and rational introduction of
the Christian religion; an introduction of it in its genuine
simplicity; as holding out the worship of one God, inculcating the
purest morality, and promising eternal life as the reward of
obedience. These are views of things which are adapted to general
comprehension, and calculated to produce the noblest effects.
Considering the eminent abilities displayed by Captain Cook, and the
mighty actions performed by him, it is not surprising that his memory
should be held in the highest estimation, both at home and abroad.
Perhaps, indeed, greater honour is paid to his name abroad than at
home. Foreigners, I am informed, look up to him with an admiration
which is not equalled in this country. A remarkable proof of it
occurs, in the eulogy of our navigator, by Michael Angelo Gianetti,
which was read at the royal Florentine academy, on the 9th of June,
1785, and published at Florence, in the same year. Not having seen it,
I am deprived of the power of doing justice to its merit. If I am not
mistaken in my recollection, one of the French literary academies has
proposed a prize for the best eulogium on Captain Cook; and there can
be no doubt but that several candidates will appear upon the occasion,
and exert the whole force of their eloquence on so interesting a
subject.
To the applauses of our navigator, which have already been inserted, I
cannot avoid adding some poetical testimonies concerning him. The
first I shall produce is from a foreign poet, M. l'Abbé Lisle. This
gentleman has concluded his 'Les Jardins' with an encomium on Captain
Cook, of which the following lines are a translation:
"Give, give me flowers: with garlands of renown
Those glorious exiles' brows my hands shall crown,
Who nobly sought on distant coasts to find,
Or thither bore those arts that bless mankind:
Thee chief, brave Cook, o'er whom, to nature dear,
With Britain, Gallia drops the pitying tear.
To foreign climes and rude, where nought before
Announced our vessels but their cannons' roar,
Far other gifts thy better mind decreed,
The sheep, the heifer, and the stately steed;
The plough, and all thy country's arts; the crimes
Atoning thus of earlier savage times.
With peace each land thy bark was wont to hail,
And tears and blessings fill'd thy parting sail.
Receive a stranger's praise; nor, Britain, thou
Forbid these wreaths to grace thy Hero's brow,
Nor scorn the tribute of a foreign song,
For Virtue's sons to every land belong:
And shall the Gallic Muse disdain to pay
The meed of worth, when Louis leads the way?
But what avail'd, that twice thou daredst to try
The frost-bound sea, and twice the burning sky,
That by winds, waves, and every realm revered,
Safe, only safe, thy sacred vessel steer'd;
That war for thee forgot its dire commands
The world's great friend, ah! bleeds by savage hands."
There have not been wanting elegant writers of our own country, who
have embraced with pleasure the opportunities that have offered of
paying a tribute of praise to Captain Cook. The ingenious and amiable
Miss Hannah More has lately seized an occasion of celebrating the
humane intentions of the captain's discoveries.
"Had those advent'rous spirits, who explore
Through ocean's trackless wastes, the far-sought shore
Whether of wealth insatiate, or of power,
Conquerors who waste, or ruffians who devour:
Had these possess'd, O Cook! thy gentle mind,
Thy love of arts, thy love of humankind;
Had these pursu'd thy mild and lib'ral plan,
_Discoverers_ had not been a curse to man!
Then, bless'd Philanthropy! thy social hands
Had link'd dissever'd worlds in brothers' bands;
Careless, if colour, or if clime divide;
Then lov'd and loving, man had liv'd, and died."
Soon after the account arrived in England of Captain Cook's decease,
two poems were published in celebration of his memory; one of which
was an Ode, by a Mr. Fitzgerald, of Gray's Inn. But the first, both in
order of time and of merit, was an Elegy, by Miss Seward, whose
poetical talents have been displayed in many beautiful instances to
the public. This lady, in the beginning of her poem, has admirably
represented the principal of humanity by which the captain was
actuated in his undertakings.
"Ye, who ere while for Cook's illustrious brow
Pluck'd the green laurel and the oaken bough,
Hung the gay garlands on the trophied oars,
And pour'd his fame along a thousand shores.
Strike the slow death-bell!--weave the sacred verse,
And strew the cypress o'er his honour'd hearse;
In sad procession wander round the shrine,
And weep him mortal, whom ye sung divine!
"Say first, what Pow'r inspir'd his dauntless breast
With scorn of danger, and inglorious rest,
To quit imperial London's gorgeous plains,
Where, rob'd in thousand tints, bright Pleasure reigns!
What Pow'r inspir'd his dauntless breast to brave
The scorch'd Equator, and th' Antarctic wave?
Climes, where fierce suns in cloudless ardours shine,
And pour the dazzling deluge round the Line;
The realms of frost, where icy mountains rise,
'Mid the pale summer of the polar skies?--
_It was Humanity!_--on coasts unknown,
The shiv'ring natives of the frozen zone,
And the swart Indian, as he faintly strays
'Where Cancer reddens in the solar blaze,'
She bade him seek;--on each inclement shore
Plant the rich seeds of her exhaustless store;
Unite the savage hearts, and hostile hands,
In the firm compact of her gentle bands;
Strew her soft comforts o'er the barren plain,
Sing her sweet lays, and consecrate her fane.
"_It was Humanity!_--O Nymph divine!
I see thy light step print the burning Line!
There thy bright eye the dubious pilot guides,
The faint oar struggling with the scalding tides--
On as thou lead'st the bold, the glorious prow,
Mild, and more mild, the sloping sunbeams glow;
Now weak and pale the lessen'd lustres play,
As round th' horizon rolls the timid day;
Barb'd with the sleeted snow, the driving hail,
Rush the fierce arrows of the polar gale;
And through the dim, unvaried, ling'ring hours,
Wide o'er the waves incumbent horror lours."
Captain Cook's endeavours to serve the inhabitants of New Zealand, by
the vegetables and animals he left among them, are thus described:
"To these the hero leads his living store,
And pours new wonders on th' uncultur'd shore;
The silky fleece, fair fruit, and golden grain;
And future herds and harvests bless the plain,
O'er the green soil his kids exulting play,
And sounds his clarion loud the bird of day;
The downy goose her ruffled bosom laves,
Trims her white wing, and wantons in the waves;
Stern moves the bull along th' affrighted shores,
And countless nations tremble as he roars."
I shall only add the pathetic and animated conclusion of this fine
poem:
"But ah!--aloft on Albion's rocky steep,
That frowns incumbent o'er the boiling deep,
Solicitous, and sad, a softer form
Eyes the lone flood, and deprecates the storm.--
Ill fated matron!--for, alas! in vain
Thy eager glances wander o'er the main!
Tis the vex'd billows, that insurgent rave,
Their white foam silvers yonder distant wave,
Tis not his sails! thy husband comes no more!
His bones now whiten an accursed shore!--
Retire,--for hark! the seagull shrieking soars,
The lurid atmosphere portentous lours;
Night's sullen spirit groans in every gale,
And o'er the waters draws the darkling veil,
Sighs in thy hair, and chills thy throbbing breast--
Go wretched mourner!--weep thy griefs to rest!
"Yet, though through life is lost each fond delight,
Though set thy earthly sun in dreary night,
Oh! raise thy thoughts to yonder starry plain,
And own thy sorrow selfish, weak, and vain:
Since, while Britannia, to his virtues just,
Twines the bright wreath, and rears th' immortal bust;
While on each wind of heaven his fame shall rise,
In endless incense to the smiling skies;
_The attendant Power_, that bade his sails expand,
And waft her blessings to each barren land,
Now raptur'd bears him to th' immortal plains,
Where Mercy hails him with congenial strains;
Where soars, on Joy's white plume, his spirit free,
And angels choir him, while he waits for _Thee_."
Captain Cook's discoveries, among other effects, have opened new
scenes for a poetical fancy to range in, and presented new images to
the selection of genius and taste. The morals, in particular, of the
inhabitants of the South Sea Islands, afford a fine subject for the
exercise of a plaintive Muse. Such a Muse hath seized upon the
subject; and, at the same time, has added another wreath to the memory
of our navigator. I refer to a lady, who hath already, in many
passages of her 'Peru,' in her 'Ode on the Peace.' and, above all, in
her 'Irregular Fragment,' amply proved to the world, that she
possesses not only the talent of elegant and harmonious versification,
but the spirit of true poetry. The poem, which I have now the pleasure
of giving for the first time to the public, and which was written at
my request, will be found in the Appendix. It is some what remarkable,
that female poets have hitherto been the chief celebrators of Captain
Cook in this country. Perhaps a subject which would furnish materials
for as rich a production as Camoen's Lusiad, and which would adorn the
pen of a Hayley or a Cowper, may hereafter call forth the genius of
some poet of the stronger sex.
The Royal Society of London could not lose such a member of their body
as Captain Cook, without being anxious to honour his name and memory
by a particular mark of respect. Accordingly, it was resolved to do
this by a medal; and a voluntary subscription was opened for the
purpose. To such of the fellows of the society as subscribed twenty
guineas, a gold medal was appropriated: silver medals were assigned to
those who contributed a smaller sum; and to each of the other members
one in bronze was given. The subscribers of twenty guineas were, Sir
Joseph Banks, president; the Prince of Anspach, the Duke of Montague,
Lord Mulgrave and Mr. Cavendish, Mr. Peachy, Mr. Perrin, Mr. Poli, and
Mr. Shuttleworth. Many designs, as might be expected, were proposed on
the occasion. The medal which was actually struck contains, on one
side, the head of Captain Cook in profile, and round it, JAC. COOK
OCEANI INVESTIGATOR ACERRIMUS; and on the exergue, REG. SOC. LOND.
SOCIO SUO. On the reverse is a representation of Britannia holding a
globe. Round her is inscribed NIL INTENTATUM NOSTRI LIQUERE: and on
the exergue, AUSPICIIS GEORGII III.
Of the gold medals which were struck on this occasion, one was
presented to His Majesty, another to the Queen, and a third to the
Prince of Wales. Two were sent abroad: the first to the French king on
account of the protection he had granted to the ships under the
command of Captain Cook; and a second to the Empress of Russia, in
whose dominions the same ships had been received and treated with
every degree of friendship and kindness. Both these presents were
highly acceptable to the great personages to whom they were
transmitted. The French king expressed his satisfaction in a very
handsome letter to the Royal Society, signed by himself, and
undersigned by the Marquis de Vergennes; and the Empress of Russia
commissioned Count Osterman to signify to Mr. Fitzherbert the sense
she entertained of the value of the present, and that she had caused
it to be forthwith deposited in the Museum of the Imperial Academy of
Sciences. As a farther testimony of the pleasure she derived from it,
the Empress presented to the Royal Society a large and beautiful gold
medal, containing on one side the effigies of herself, and on the
reverse a representation of the statue of Peter the Great.
After the general assignment of the medals (which took place in the
spring of the year 1784), there being a surplus of money still
remaining, the president and council resolved, that an additional
number should be struck off in gold, to be disposed of as presents to
Mrs. Cook, the Earl of Sandwich, Dr. Benjamin Franklin, Dr. Cooke,
provost of King's College, Cambridge, and Mr. Planta. About the same
time it was agreed, that Mr. Aubert should be allowed to have a gold
medal of Captain Cook, on his paying for the gold, and the expense of
striking it: in consideration of his intention to present it to the
King of Poland.
During the two visits of the Resolution and Discovery at Kamtschatka,
it was from Colonel Behm, the commandant of that province, that the
ships, and the officers and men belonging to them, had received every
kind of assistance which it was in his power to bestow. His liberal
and hospitable behaviour to the English navigators is related at large
in Captain King's Voyage. Such was the sense entertained of it by the
Lords of the Admiralty, that they determined to make a present to the
colonel, of a magnificent piece of plate, with an inscription
expressive of his humane and generous disposition and conduct. The
elegant pen of Dr. Cooke was employed in drawing up the inscription,
which, after it had been subjected to the opinion and correction of
some gentlemen of the first eminence in classical taste, was as
follows:
'VIRO EGREGIO MANGO DE BEHM; qui Imperatricis Augustissimae Catherinæ
auspiciis, summaque animi benignitate, saeva, quibus praeerat,
Kamtschatkae littora, navibus nautisque Britannicis, hospita praebuit;
eosque, in terminis, si qui essent Imperio Russico frustra,
explorandis, mala multa perpessos, iterata, vice excepit, refecit,
recreavit, et commeatu omni cumulate auctos dimisit; REI NAVALIS
BRITANNICAE SEPTEMVIRI in aliquam benevolentiae tam insignis memoriam,
amicissimo, gratissimoque animo, suo, patriaeque nomine, D. D. D. M.
DCC. LXXXI.'
Sir Hugh Palliser, who through life manifested an invariable regard
and friendship for Captain Cook, has displayed a signal instance,
since the Captain's decease, of the affection and esteem in which he
holds his memory. At his estate in Buckinghamshire Sir Hugh hath
constructed a small building, on which he has erected a pillar,
containing the fine character of our great navigator that is given at
the end of the Introduction to the last Voyage, and the principal part
of which has been inserted in the present work. This character was
drawn up by a most respectable gentleman, who has long been at the
head of the naval profession, the honourable Admiral Forbes, admiral
of the fleet, and general of marines; to whom Captain Cook was only
known by his eminent merit and his extraordinary actions.
Amidst the numerous testimonies of regard that have been paid to
Captain Cook's merits and memory, the important object of providing
for his family hath not been forgotten. Soon after the intelligence
arrived of his unfortunate decease, this matter was taken up by the
lords of the Admiralty, with a zeal and an effect, which the following
authentic document will fully display:
'At the Court at St. James's, the 2nd of February, 1780;
'(L. S.) 'Present,
'The KING's Most Excellent Majesty in Council.
'Whereas there was this day read, at the Board, a memorial from the
Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, dated the
27th of last month, in the words following: viz.
'Having received an authentic account of the death of that great
Navigator, Captain James Cook, who has had the honour of being
employed by Your Majesty, in three different voyages, for the
discovery of unknown countries in the most distant parts of the globe;
we think it our duty humbly to represent to Your Majesty, that this
meritorious officer, after having received from Your Majesty's
gracious benevolence, as a reward for his public services in two
successful circumnavigations, a comfortable and honourable retreat,
where he might have lived many years to benefit his family, he
voluntarily relinquished that ease and emolument to undertake another
of these voyages of discovery, in which the life of a commander, who
does his duty, must always be particularly exposed, and in which, in
the execution of that duty, he fell, leaving his family, whom his
public spirit had led him to abandon, as a legacy to his country. We
do therefore humbly propose, that Your Majesty will be graciously
pleased to order a pension of two hundred pounds a year to be settled
on the widow, and twenty-five pounds a year upon each of the three
sons of the said Captain James Cook, and that the same be placed on
the ordinary estimate of the navy.
'His Majesty, taking the said memorial into his Royal consideration,
was pleased, with the advice of His Privy Council, to order, as it is
hereby ordered, that a pension of two hundred pounds a year be settled
on the widow, and twenty-five pounds a year upon each of the three
sons of the said Captain James Cook, and that the same be placed on
the ordinary estimate of His Majesty's navy; and the Lords
Commissioners of the Admiralty are to give the necessary directions
herein accordingly.
W. FAWKENER.'
The preceding memorial to the king was signed by the Earl of Sandwich.
Mr. Buller, the Earl of Lisburne, Mr. Penton, Lord Mulgrave, and Mr.
Mann; and the several officers of the Board of Admiralty seconded the
ardour of their superiors, by the speed and generosity with which his
majesty's royal grant to Captain Cook's widow and children passed
through the usual forms.
Another occasion was afterwards seized of conferring a substantial
benefit on the captain's family. The charts and plates belonging to
the Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, were provided at the expense of
government; the consequence of which was, that a large profit accrued
from the sale of the publication. Of this profit, half was consigned,
in trust, to Sir Hugh Palliser and Mr. Stephens, to be applied to the
use of Mrs. Cook, during her natural life, and afterwards to be
divided between her children.
Honour as well as emolument, hath graciously been conferred by his
majesty upon the descendants of Captain Cook. On the 3rd of September,
1785, a coat of arms was granted to the family, of which a description
will be given below.[19]
[Footnote 19: Azure, between the two polar stars Or, a sphere on
the plane of the meridian, north pole elevated, circles of
latitude for every ten degrees, and of longitude for every
fifteen, shewing the Pacific Ocean between sixty and two hundred
and forty west, bounded on one side by America, on the other by
Asia and New Holland, in memory of the discoveries made by him in
that ocean, so very far beyond all former navigators. His track
thereon is marked with red lines. And for crest, on a wreath of
the colours, is an arm imbowed, vested 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.]
Our navigator had six children; James, Nathaniel, Elizabeth, Joseph,
George, and Hugh. Of these, Joseph and George died soon after their
birth, and Elizabeth in the fifth year of her age. James, the eldest
son, who was born at St. Paul's, Shadwell, on the 13th of October,
1763. is now a lieutenant in his majesty's navy. In a letter, written
by Admiral Sir Richard Hughes, in 1785, from Grenada, to Mrs. Cook, he
is spoken of in terms of high approbation. Nathaniel, who was born on
the 14th of December, 1764, at Mile-End Old Town, was brought up
likewise in the naval service, and was unfortunately lost on board his
majesty's ship Thunderer, Commodore Walsingham, in the hurricane which
happened at Jamaica, on the 3rd of October, 1730. He is said to have
been a most promising youth. Hugh, the youngest, was born on the 22nd
of May, 1776; and was so called after the name of his father's great
friend, Sir Hugh Palliser.
It hath often been mentioned, in terms of no small regret, that a
monument hath not yet been erected to the memory of Captain Cook, in
Westminster Abbey.
The wish and the hope of such a monument are hinted at in the close of
Dr. Douglas's Introduction to the government edition of the last
voyage; and the same sentiment is expressed by the author of the
Eulogium, at the end of that Introduction. Sir Hugh Palliser has also
spoken to the like purpose, in a communication I received from him. It
would certainly redound to the honour of the nation, to order a
magnificent memorial of the abilities and services of our illustrious
navigator; on which account, a tribute of that kind may be regarded as
a desirable thing. But a monument in Westminster Abbey would be of
little consequence to the reputation of Captain Cook. His fame stands
upon a wider base, and will survive the comparatively perishing
materials of brass, or stone, or marble. The name of Cook will be held
in honour, and recited with applause, so long as the records of human
events shall continue in the earth; nor is it possible to say, what
may be the influence and rewards, which, in other worlds, shall be
found to attend upon eminent examples of wisdom and of virtue.
APPENDIX.
After the death of Captain Cook, and the events immediately succeeding
it, Captain Clerke, upon whom the command of the expedition had
devolved, proceeded from Owhyhee, and coasted several of the other
islands of the group. The ships anchored at Atooi to procure water; in
doing this our voyagers experienced some interruption from the
natives, and a slight conflict took place, in which one of the
islanders was wounded by a musket-shot. They were here told, that, at
their preceding visit, they had left a disorder amongst the women, of
which several persons of both sexes had died; and as there was not the
slightest appearance of the disorder amongst the natives, at the first
arrival of the vessels, there is too much reason to believe that some
of the crew were the authors of that irreparable mischief. Atooi was
in a state of internal warfare; the quarrel had arisen about the goats
Captain Cook had left at Oneeheow the year before, the property of
which was contested by two different chiefs. The goats, which had
increased to the number of six, and would probably in a few years have
stocked all these islands, were destroyed in the contest.
Our voyagers left the Sandwich Islands finally on the 15th of March:
and stood to the south-west, in hopes of falling in with the island of
Modoopapappa, which they were told by the natives lay in that
direction, about five hours' sail from Taohora; but though the two
vessels stretched asunder several miles, they did not discover it. It
is possible it might have been passed in the night, as the islanders
described it to be small, sandy, and almost even with the surface of
the sea.
The harbour of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, in Awatska Bay, was
appointed for the next rendezvous of the two vessels, in case of
separation. In the course of their navigation towards Kamtschatka,
they traversed that part of the Northern Pacific, in which some
islands and lands were laid down in the charts, such as the island of
Reia de Plata in De l'Isle's chart, and the land said to have been
seen by John de Gama, in a voyage from China to New Spain, first
delineated in a chart published by Texeira, a Portuguese geographer,
in 1649; but though at sundry times they had various indications of
land, they discovered none, and those islands and lands must therefore
either be of trifling extent, or wholly imaginary.
A leak, under the larboard bow of the Resolution, which had kept the
people almost constantly at the pumps, ever since their leaving the
Sandwich Islands, occasioned a great alarm on the 13th of April. The
water, which had lodged in the coal-hole, not finding a sufficient
vent into the well, had forced up the platforms over it, and in a
moment deluged the whole space between decks. The coals would very
soon choke up a pump, and the number of bulky materials that were
washed out of the gunner's store room, and which, by the ship's
motion, were tossed violently from side to side, rendered it
impracticable to bale the water out. No other method was therefore
left, than to cut a hole through the bulk-head, that separated the
coal-hole from the fore-hold. As soon as the passage was made, the
greatest part of the water was emptied into the well: but the leak was
now so much increased, that it was necessary to keep one half of the
people constantly pumping and baling, till the noon of the 15th.
On the 23rd, at six in the morning, on the fog clearing away, the land
of Kamtschatka appeared, in mountains covered with snow. The weather
was most severe: the ship appeared to be a complete mass of ice, and
the shrouds were so incrusted with it, as to measure in circumference
more than double their usual size. The crews suffered very severely
from the cold, particularly from having lately left the tropical
climates; and, but for the foresight and care of their officers, would
indeed have been in a deplorable state. It was natural to expect, that
their experience, during their voyage to the north the year before,
would have made them sensible of the necessity of paying some
attention to their clothing; as it was generally known in both ships,
that they were to make another voyage towards the pole; but, with the
thoughtlessness of infants, upon their return to a warm climate, their
fur jackets and the rest of their cold-country clothes, were kicked
about the decks, as things of no value. They were of course picked up
by the officers, and being put into casks, were, in due season,
restored to their owners.
On the 25th, when off the entrance of Awatska Bay, the Resolution lost
sight of the Discovery, and on the 28th entered the Bay. The officers
of the Resolution examined every corner of it, with their glasses, in
search of the town of St. Peter and St. Paul, which they had conceived
to be a place of some strength and consideration. At length they
discovered, on a narrow point of land a few miserable loghouses, and
some conical huts raised on poles, amounting in all to about thirty,
which, from the situation, they were under the necessity of concluding
to be Petropaulowska. 'However,' says Captain King, 'in justice to the
generous and hospitable treatment we found here, I shall beg leave to
anticipate the reader's curiosity, by assuring him that our
disappointment proved to be more of a laughable than a serious nature;
for, in this wretched extremity of the earth, situated beyond every
thing that we conceived to be most barbarous and inhospitable, and, as
it were, out of the very reach of civilization, barricadoed with ice,
and covered with summer snow, in a poor miserable port, far inferior
to the meanest of our fishing-towns, we met with feelings of humanity,
joined to a greatness of mind, an elevation of sentiment, which would
have done honour to any nation or climate.'
In the morning of the 29th, Captain, then Lieutenant King was sent on
shore; and after experiencing much difficulty from the broken ice that
extended nearly half a mile, across which he was obliged to make the
best of his way on foot, was received by the commander of the garrison
at the head of his men consisting of about thirty soldiers. They had
not seen the ship the preceding day, nor indeed that morning, till the
boats were pretty near the ice. Much panic ensued; the garrison was
put under arms, and two field piece placed at the entrance of the
commander's house. All, however, soon wore a friendly aspect, and
nothing could exceed the kindness and hospitality of the officer, a
serjeant, who commanded in the ostrog, and at whose house they were
entertained. He furnished Lieutenant King, who bad fallen in between
the disjointed ice, with a complete suit of clothes of his own; the
dinner that was served up consisted of four courses; but the
conversation, from the want of an interpreter, no other language being
understood there but Russian and Kamtschatdale, was confined to a few
bows and other signs of mutual respect. The serjeant sent of an
express to Bolcheretsk, where the governor of the province usually
resided, and whence he had to look for orders what to do, as to the
procurement of the supplies of provisions, and naval stores, which our
people wanted.
On their return, a sledge drawn by five dogs, with a driver, was
provided for each of the party. The sailors were highly delighted with
this mode of conveyance, and, what diverted them most was, that the
two boat-hooks which they had brought, had also a sledge to
themselves.
On the 1st of May, the Discovery entered the bay. On the day after,
early in the morning, an answer was received from Bolcheretsk. The
dispatches had been sent off on the 29th, about noon, by a sledge
drawn by dogs, so that they were only a little more than three days
and a half in performing a journey of two hundred and seventy miles;
Bolcheretsk being about one hundred and thirty-five rules from St.
Peter and St. Paul.
As the whole stock of live cattle which the country about the bay
could afford, amounted only to two heifers, Captain Clerke found it
necessary to send to Bolcheretsk, and Captain Gore and Lieutenant King
were fixed on for the excursion. They proceeded by boats up the
Awatska river, then across part of the country in sledges, and then
down the Bolchoireka in canoes.
Major Behm, the governor of Kamtschatka, received them, not only with
the utmost politeness, but with the most engaging cordiality; and all
the principal people of the town vied with each other who should shew
the most civility to strangers from the other extremity of the globe.
A list of the naval stores, the number of cattle, and the quantity of
flour wanted by the navigators, was given to Major Behm, who insisted
upon supplying all their wants; and when they desired to be made
acquainted with the price of the articles, with which they were to be
supplied, and proposed, that Captain Clerke should give bills to the
amount on the Victualling-office in London, the major positively
refused, and whenever it was afterward urged, stopped them short by
saying, he was certain he could not oblige his mistress, the empress,
more than in giving every assistance in his power to her good friends
and allies, the English; and that it would be a particular
satisfaction to her, to hear, that, in so remote a part of the world,
her dominions had afforded any relief to ships engaged in such
services; that he could not therefore act so contrary to the character
of his empress, as to accept of any bills; but that, to accommodate
the matter, he would take a bare attestatation of the particulars with
which we might be furnished, and that this he would transmit to his
court, as a certificate of having performed his duty.
The town of Bolcheretsk consists of several rows of low buildings,
barracks for the Russian soldiers and Cossacks, a good looking church,
and a court-room, with a great number of balagans (summer habitations)
belonging to the Kamtschatdales, at the end of the town. The
inhabitants amount to between five and six hundred.
It would exceed the bounds to which this sketch must necessarily be
confined, to enumerate one half of the instances of civility and
attention which Major Behm, his lady, the officers of the garrison,
and the inhabitants of the town bestowed upon the English travellers.
One generous present cannot, however, be passed over in silence, both
because it consisted of the greatest part of their small store of the
article, and because it called forth from the British seamen a
corresponding generosity. Being informed of the privations the sailors
had suffered from the want of tobacco, Major Behm sent four bags of
it, weighing upwards of one hundred pounds each, which he begged might
be presented, in the name of himself and the garrison under his
command, to our sailors. When the seamen were told of it, the crews of
both ships desired, entirely of their own accord, that their grog
might be stopped, and their allowance of spirits, presented, on their
part, to the garrison of Bolcheretsk, as they had reason to conclude,
that brandy was scarce in the country and would be very acceptable,
since the soldiers on shore had offered four roubles a bottle for it.
When it is considered how much the sailors would feel from the
stoppage of their allowance of grog, and that this offer would deprive
them of it during the inclement season they had to expect on their
ensuing expedition to the north, the sacrifice must be looked upon as
generous and extraordinary; and, that they might not suffer by it,
Captain Clerke substituted, in the room of the very small quantity the
major could be prevailed on to accept, the same quantity of rum.
When the party returned to Petropaulowska, Major Behm accompanied
them, and visited the ships. He had resigned the command of
Kamtschatka, and was in a short time to return to St. Petersburgh; our
navigators therefore committed to his care dispatches for England,
with the journals and charts of the voyage so far.
They got about twenty head of cattle, about nine thousand weight of
rye flour, and a variety of other provisions and refreshments here,
especially fish, with which they were absolutely overpowered from
every quarter; and, having completed their water, they weighed anchor
on the 13th of June, and on the 16th cleared the bay. The volcano,
situated to the north of the harbour, was in a state of eruption at
the time.
On the 5th of July, our navigators passed through Beering's Straits,
having run along the Asiatic coast; they then stretched over to that
of America, with a view of exploring it between the latitudes of 68°
and 69°. But in this attempt they were disappointed, being stopped, on
the 7th, by a large and compact field of ice connected with the land.
On the 9th, they had sailed nearly forty leagues to the westward,
along the edge of the ice, without seeing any opening, and had
therefore no prospect of advancing farther north.--Until the 27th,
however, they continued to seek a passage, first on the American, and
then on the Asiatic side; but were never able to penetrate farther
north than 70° 33', which was five leagues short of the point to which
they had advanced the season before.
At one time, in attempting to penetrate to the northwestward, the
Discovery was in a very dangerous situation. She became so entangled
by several large pieces of ice, that her way was stopped, and
immediately dropping bodily to leeward, she fell broadside foremost on
the edge of a considerable body of ice, and having at the same time an
open sea to windward the surf caused her to strike violently upon it.
This mass at length either so far moved or broke, as to set them at
liberty to make another trial to escape; but, before the ship gathered
way enough to be under command, she again fell to leeward on
another fragment; and the swell making it unsafe to lie to windward,
and finding no chance of getting clear, they pushed into a small
opening, furled their sails, and made fast with ice-hooks. A change of
wind, however, taking place in the afternoon, the ice began to
separate, and, setting all their sails, they forced a passage through
it. The vessel had rubbed off a great deal of the sheathing from her
bows, and became very leaky from the strokes she received when she
fell on the edge of the ice.
In these high latitudes, our navigators killed several sea-horses, and
also two white bears; the flesh of the latter afforded a few excellent
meals of fresh meat. It had indeed a strong fishy taste, but was in
every respect superior to that of the sea-horse, which nevertheless,
the sailors were again persuaded, without much difficulty, to prefer
to their salted provisions.
Finding a farther advance to the northward, as well as a nearer
approach to either continent, obstructed by a sea blocked up with ice,
Captain Clerke at length determined to lose no more time in the
pursuit of what seemed utterly unattainable, and to sail for Awatska
Bay, to repair their damages, and before the winter should set in, to
explore the coast of Japan on their way towards Europe. To the great
joy, therefore, of every individual on board both ships, they turned
their faces towards home; and the delight and satisfaction they
experienced on the occasion, notwithstanding the tedious voyage they
had to make, and the immense distance they had to run, were as freely
entertained, and perhaps as fully enjoyed, as if they had been already
in sight of the land's End.
On the 31st, they repassed Beering's Straits. With respect to the
practicability of a north-east or north-west passage into the Pacific
Ocean, through those straits, from the result of their attempts it
appears, that the north of the straits is clearer of ice in August
than in July, and perhaps in a part of September it may be still more
free. But, after the equinox, the days shorten so fast, that no
farther thaw can be expected, and so great an effect cannot rationally
be allowed to the warm weather in the first half of September as to
imagine it capable of dispersing the ice from the most northern parts
of the American coast. But admitting this to be possible, it would be
madness to attempt to run from the Icy Cape to the known parts of
Baffin's Bay (a distance of four hundred and twenty leagues) in so
short a time as that passage can be supposed to remain open. Upon the
Asiatic side, there appears still less probability of success; for,
though Deshneff, a Russian navigator, about a century and a half ago,
passed round the north-east point of Asia, no voyager has yet been
able to double Cape Taimura beyond the mouth of the Lena, which
stretches to the 78° of latitude.
Captain Clerke's health now rapidly declined, and, on the 17th of
August he was no longer able to get out of his bed. On the 21st, they
made the coast of Kamtschatka; and on the following day, at nine in
the morning. Captain Clerke died.[19] His disease was a consumption,
which had evidently commenced before he left England, and of which he
had lingered during the whole voyage.
[Footnote 19: Captain Clerke departed this life in the thirty-eighth
year of his age. He was brought up to the navy from his earliest
youth, and had been in several actions during the war which began in
1756. In the action between the Bellona and the Courageux, being
stationed in the mizen-top, he was carried over-board with the mast;
but was taken up without having received any hurt. He was a midshipman
in the Dolphin, commanded by Captain Byron, in her voyage round the
world: after which he served on the American station. In 1768, he made
his second voyage round the world, in the Endeavour, as master's mate:
and, in consequence of the death of Mr. Hicks, which happened on the
23rd of May, 1771, he returned home a lieutenant. His third
circumnavigation of the globe was in the Resolution, of which he was
appointed the second lieutenant; and he continued in that situation
till his return in 1775; soon after which he was promoted to the rank
of master and commander. In what capacity he sailed with Captain Cook
in this last expedition, need not be added. The consumption, of which
Captain Clerke died, had evidently commenced before he left England,
and he lingered under it during the whole voyage. Though his very
gradual decay had long made him a melancholy object to his friends,
nevertheless, they derived some consolation from the equanimity with
which he bore his disorder, from the constant flow of good spirits
maintained by him to his latest hour, and from his submitting to his
fate with cheerful resignation. 'It was, however, impossible,' says
Mr. King, 'not to feel a more than common degree of compassion for a
person, whose life had been a continued scene of those difficulties
and hardships, to which a seaman's occupation is subject, and under
which he at last sunk.'
_King's Voyage_, p. 280, 281.]
On the 24th, the vessels anchored in the harbour of St Peter, and St.
Paul, where the gentlemen on board were received by their Russian
friends, with the same cordiality as before. Captain Gore, upon whom
the command of the expedition now devolved, removed himself to the
Resolution, and appointed Mr. King to the command of the Discovery. He
sent off an express to the commander at Bolcheretsk, in which he
requested to have sixteen head of black cattle. The eruption of the
volcano, which had taken place at the time of the late departure of
the vessels from Awatska, had done no damage, notwithstanding stones
had fallen at the ostrog of the size of a goose's egg.
Attempts were now made to repair, as far as was practicable, the
damage the Discovery had sustained in the ice, and in removing the
sheathing, eight feet of a plank in the wale were found to be so very
rotten as to make it necessary to shift it. The carpenters were sent
on shore in search of a tree large enough for the purpose: luckily
they found a birch, which was the only one of sufficient size in the
whole neighbourhood of the bay. The crews were employed in various
necessary occupations: amongst which, four men were set apart to haul
the seine for salmon, which were caught in great abundance, and of
excellent quality. After supplying the immediate wants of both ships,
they salted down near a hogshead a day. The seahorse blubber, with
which they had stored themselves, during their expedition to the
north, was boiled down for oil, now become a necessary article, their
candles having been long since all used.
The body of Captain Clerke was interred on Sunday the 29th, with all
the solemnity and honours they could bestow, under a tree, in the
valley on the north side of the harbour; a spot, which the priest of
Paratounea said, would be, as near as he could guess, in the centre of
the new church intended to be erected.
On the 3rd of September, arrived an ensign from Bolcheretsk, with a
letter from Captain Shmalelf, the present commander, who promised the
cattle required and that he would himself pay them a visit immediately
on the arrival of a sloop, which was daily expected from Okotzk.
On the morning of the 10th, a Russian galliot, from Okotzk, was towed
into the harbour. She had been thirty-five days on her passage, and
had been seen from the lighthouse a fortnight before, beating up
towards the mouth of the bay. There were fifty soldiers in her, with
their wives and children, and several other passengers; a
sub-lieutenant, who came in her, now took the command of the garrison,
and from some cause or other, which the English could not learn, their
old friend, the serjeant, the late commander of the place, fell into
disgrace, and was no longer suffered to sit down in the company of his
own officers.
From the galliot, our navigators got a small quantity of pitch, tar,
cordage, and twine, and a hundred and forty skins of flour, containing
13,782 lbs. English.
The Hospodin Ivaskin from Verchnei had been desired by Mayor Behm to
attend the English officers on their return to the harbour, in order
to be their interpreter. He now came. He was an exile; and was of a
considerable family in Russia; his father was a general, and he
himself, after having received his education partly in France and
partly in Germany, had been page to the Empress Elizabeth, and ensign
in her guards. At the age of sixteen, he was _knowted_, had his
nose slit, and was banished, first to Siberia, end afterward to
Kamtschatka, where he had lived thirty-one years. He bore in his whole
figure the strongest marks of old age, though he had scarcely reached
his fifty-fourth year. No one there knew the cause of his banishment,
but they took it for granted, that it must have been for something
very atrocious, as two or three of the commanders of Kamtschatka, had
in vain endeavoured to get him recalled since the present empress's
reign. For the first twenty years he had not tasted bread, nor been
allowed subsistence of any kind, but had lived during that period
among the Kamtschatdales, on what his own activity and toil in the
chase could procure him. Afterward, he had a small pension granted
him. This Major Behm by his intercession had caused to be increased to
one hundred roubles a year, which is the common pay of an ensign in
all parts of the empress's dominions, except in this province, where
the pay of all the officers is double.
This gentleman joined Captains Gore and King on a bear-hunting party
on the 17th, for two days; in which, first from the party being too
large, and the unavoidable noise that was the consequence of it, and
next, from the unfavourable weather after they separated, they were
wholly unsuccessful.
On the 22nd, the anniversary of his majesty's coronation, and when
they were sitting down to as handsome a feast as their situation would
admit of, in honour of the day, the arrival of Captain Shmalelf from
Bolcheretsk was announced. He partook of their festivities, and set
off on his return on the 25th. Before his departure, he reinstated the
serjeant in the command of the place, and took with him the
sub-lieutenant who had superseded him. Captain King accompanied
Captain Shmalelf to the entrance of Awatska river, and on Sunday, the
26th, attended him to church at Paratounea. The church is of wood, and
by far the best building in the country round about the bay. It is
ornamented by many paintings, particularly with two pictures of St.
Peter and St. Paul, presented by Beering, and which, in the real
richness of their drapery, would carry off the prize from the first of
European performances; for all the principal parts of it are made of
thick plates of solid silver, fastened to the canvass, and fashioned
into the various foldings of the robes.
The next day another hunting party was set on foot, under the
direction of the clerk of the parish, who was a celebrated
bear-hunter. The produce was a female bear, beyond the common size,
which they shot in the water, and found dead the next morning in the
place to which she had been watched. The mode of hunting these animals
by the natives is as follows: When they come to the ground frequented
by the bears, their first step is to look for their tracks: these are
found in the greatest numbers leading from the woods down to the
lakes, and among the long sedgy grass and brakes by the edge of the
water. The place of ambuscade being determined on, the hunters next
fix in the ground the crutches upon which their firelocks are made to
rest, pointing them in the direction they mean to shoot. This done,
they kneel, or lie down, and, with their bear-spears by their side,
wait for the game. These precautions, which are chiefly taken in order
to make sure of their mark, are, on several accounts, highly
expedient. For, in the first place, ammunition is so dear in
Kamtschatka, that the price of a bear will not purchase more of it
than is sufficient to load a musket four or five times; and, what is
more material, if the bear be not rendered incapable of pursuit by the
first shot, the consequences are often fatal. He immediately makes
towards the place whence the noise and smoke issue, and attacks his
adversaries with great fury. It is impossible for them to reload, as
the animal is seldom at more than twelve or fifteen yards' distance
when he is fired at: so that, if he does not fall, they immediately
put themselves in a posture to receive him upon their spears, and
their safety greatly depends on their giving him a mortal stab as he
first comes upon them. If he parries the thrust (which bears, by the
extraordinary strength and agility of their paws, are often enabled to
do) and thereby breaks in upon his adversaries, the conflict becomes
very unequal, and it is well if the life of one of the party alone
suffice to pay the forfeit.
On the 1st of October, the cattle arrived from Verchnei, and the 3rd,
being the nameday of the empress, Captain Gore invited the priest of
Paratounea, Ivaskin, and the serjeant, to dinner, and an entertainment
was also provided for the inferior officers of the garrison, for the
_toions_ of Paratounea and Petropaulowska, and for the better
sort of the Kamtschatdale inhabitants. The rest of the natives of
every description were invited to partake with the ships' companies,
who had a pound of good fat beef served up to each man, and what
remained of their spirits was made into grog, and divided amongst
them.
On the 5th, our navigators received from Bolcheretsk a fresh present
of tea, sugar, and tobacco. They were ready for sea, but the weather
prevented them from leaving the bay till the 9th. Just before they
weighed anchor, the drummer of the marines belonging to the Discovery
deserted, having been last seen with a Kamtschatdale woman, to whom
his messmates knew he had been much attached, and who had often been
observed persuading him to stay behind. This man had been long useless
to them, from a swelling in his knee, which rendered him lame, but
this made them the more unwilling to leave him behind, to become a
burden both to the Russians and himself. Some of the sailors were
therefore sent to a well-known haunt of his in the neighbourhood,
where they found him and his woman. On the return of the party with
the deserter, the vessels weighed, and came out of the bay.
Awatska Bay has within its mouth a noble basin of twenty-five miles in
circuit, with the capacious harbours of Tareinska to the west,
Rakoweena to the east, and the small one of St. Peter and St. Paul to
the north. The last mentioned is a most convenient little harbour. It
will hold with ease half-a-dozen ships moored head and stern, and is
fit for giving them any kind of repairs. The south side is formed by a
low sandy neck, exceedingly narrow, on which the ostrog is built. The
deepest water within is seven fathoms, and in every part over a muddy
bottom. There is a watering-place at the head of the harbour.
The commerce of this country, as far as regards the exports, is
entirely confined to furs and carried on by a company of merchants
instituted by the empress. Besides these, there are many inferior
traders (particularly Cossacks) scattered through the country.
Formerly this commerce was altogether carried on by barter, but lately
every article is bought and sold for ready money only. Our sailors
brought a great number of furs with them from the coast of America,
and were both astonished and delighted with the quantity of silver the
merchants paid down for them; but on finding neither ginshops to
resort to, nor tobacco, nor any thing else that they cared for, to be
had for money, the roubles soon became troublesome companions, and
often to be seen kicked about the decks.
The articles of importation are principally European, several likewise
come from Siberia, Bucharea, the Calmucks, and China. They consist of
course woollen and linen cloths, yarn stockings, bonnets and gloves,
thin Persian silks, cottons and nankeens, handkerchiefs, brass and
copper pans, iron stoves, files, guns, powder and shot, hardware,
looking-glasses, flour, sugar, tanned hides, &c. Though the merchants
have a large profit upon these important goods, they have still a
larger upon the furs of Kiachta, upon the frontiers of China, which is
the great market for them. The best sea-otter skins sell generally in
Kamtschatka for about thirty roubles each. The Chinese merchant at
Kiachta purchases them at more than double that price, and sells them
again at Pekin at a great advance, whence a farther profitable trade
is made with some of them to Japan. If, therefore, a skin is worth
thirty roubles in Kamtchatka, to be transported first to Okotzk,
thence by land to Kiachta, a distance of 1364 miles; thence to Pekin,
760 miles more; and after that to be conveyed to Japan, what a
prodigiously advantageous trade might be carried on direct to Japan,
which is about a fortnight or three weeks' sail from Kamtschatka!
It was now resolved, in consequence of the latitude given by the
instructions of the Board of Admiralty, to run along the Kuriles, and
to survey the eastern coasts of the Japanese islands, previous to
returning homewards; and Captain Gore gave orders for Macao to be the
place of rendezvous in case of separation.
They coasted along the peninsula of Kamtschatka with variable weather,
and on the 12th, at six in the afternoon, they saw, from the mast
head, Cape Lopatka, the southernmost extremity of the peninsula. This
point of land, which is a low flat cape, formed a marked object in the
geography of the eastern coast of Asia, and by an accurate observation
and several good angles, they determined its precise situation to be
in latitude 51° 0', and longitude 156° 45'. At the same time they saw
too the first of the Kurile islands, called Shoomsha, and on the next
day they saw the second, Paramousir; the latter is the largest of the
Kuriles subject to Russia; but the gale increasing from the west, they
were never able to approach it nearer than to observe its general
aspect, which was very high land, almost entirely covered with snow;
and to ascertain its situation; which was found to be 10' west
longitude from Lopatka, and its latitude 50° 46' at the north, and 49°
58' at the south end.
On the 14th and 15th, the wind blowing steadily from the westward,
they were obliged to stand to the southward, and were consequently
hindered from seeing any more of the Kurile islands. In the situation
they then found themselves, they were almost surrounded by the
supposed discoveries of former navigators. To the southward and
south-west were placed, in the French charts, a group of five islands,
called the three Sisters, Zellany, and Zunasher. They were about ten
leagues, according to the same maps, to the westward of the land of De
Gama; and as the Company's Land, Staten Island, and the famous land of
Jesso, were also supposed to lie nearly in the same direction, this
course was deemed to deserve the preference, and they hauled round to
the westward, the wind having shifted to the north. A succession of
gales, however, and now and then a storm, that reduced them to their
courses, drove them too much to the southward, prevented them from
falling in even with the southernmost of the Kurile islands, and
obliged them at last to give up all further thoughts of discovery to
the north of Japan.
On the 22nd, the gale having abated, they let out the reefs of the
topsails and made more sail. At noon they were in latitude 40° 58',
and longitude 148° 17', and two small land birds being taken on board,
plainly indicated they could not be any great distance from the land;
they therefore hauled up to the west-north-west, in which direction
the southernmost islands seen by Spanberg, and said to be inhabited by
hairy men, lay at the distance of about fifty leagues. They saw
several other signs of land; but, on the 24th, the wind shifted to the
north, and blew a fresh gale, so that they finally gave up all further
search for islands to the north of Japan, and shaped their course
west-south-west, for the north part of that island.
On the 26th, at daybreak, they descried high land to the westward,
which proved to be Japan. The country consisted of a double range of
mountains; it abounded with wood, and had a pleasing variety of hills
and dales. They saw the smoke of several towns, and many houses near
the shore, in pleasant and cultivated situations. They stood off and
on, according as the weather permitted them, till the 28th in the
afternoon, when they lost sight of the land, and from its breaking off
so suddenly, they conjectured that what they had before seen was a
cluster of islands, lying off the main land of Japan. The next day
they saw land again, eleven leagues to the southward. The coast
appeared straight and unbroken; towards the sea it was low, but rose
gradually into hills of a moderate height, whose tops were tolerably
even, and covered with wood.
At nine o'clock, the wind shifting to the southward, they tacked and
stood off to the east, and soon after they saw a vessel close in with
the land, standing along shore to the northward, and another in the
offing, coming down before the wind. Objects of any kind, belonging to
a country so famous and yet so little known, excited a general
curiosity, and every soul on board was upon deck in an instant, to
gaze at them. The vessel to windward passed ahead of them at the
distance of about half a mile. It would have been easy to have spoken
with her; but perceiving, by her manoeuvres, that she was much
frightened, Captain Gore was not willing to augment her terrors, and
thinking that they should have many better opportunities of
communicating with the Japanese, suffered her to go off without
interruption. There appeared to be about six men on board, and,
according to the best conjectures that could be formed, the vessel was
about forty tons burden. She had but one mast, on which was hoisted a
square sail, extended by a yard aloft, the braces of which worked
forward. Halfway down the sail came three pieces of black cloth, at
equal distances from each other. The vessel was higher at each end
than in the midship, and from her appearance and form she did not
appear to be able to sail otherwise than large.
Soon after the wind increased so much, that our navigators were
reduced to their courses; and the sea ran as high as any one on board
ever remembered to have seen it. If the Japenese vessels are, as
Kaempfer describes them, open in the stern, it would not have been
possible for those they saw to have survived the fury of the storm;
but as the appearance of the weather, all the preceding part of the
day, foretold its coming, and one of the sloops had, notwithstanding,
stood far out to sea, it was concluded they were perfectly capable of
bearing a gale of wind.
Our navigators were blown off the land by this gale, but on the 30th
they saw it again, at the distance of about fifteen leagues, appearing
in detached parts, but it could not be determined whether they were
small islands, or parts of Japan.
On the 1st of November, they saw a number of Japanese vessels close in
with the land, several seemingly engaged in fishing, and others
standing along shore. They discovered to the westward a remarkably
high mountain, with a round top, rising far inland. As this was the
most remarkable hill on the coast, they wished to have settled its
situation exactly; but only having had a single view, they were
obliged to be contented with such accuracy as their circumstances
would allow.
Its latitude was reckoned to be 35° 20', and its longitude 140° 26'.
As the Dutch charts made the coast of Japan extend about ten leagues
to the south-west of White Paint (supposed to be the southernmost land
then in sight) our navigators stood off to the eastward, to weather
the point. At midnight they again tacked, expecting to fall in with
the land to the southward, but were surprised to find, in the morning,
that during eight hours, in which they supposed they had made a course
of nine leagues to the south-west, they had in reality been carried
eight leagues in a direction diametrically opposite. Whence they
calculated that the current had set to the north-east by north, at the
rate of at least five miles an hour.
On the 3rd of November, they were again blown off the land by a heavy
gale, and found themselves upwards of fifty leagues off, which
circumstances, together with the extraordinary effect of the currents
they had experienced, the late season of the year, the unsettled state
of the weather, and the little likelihood of any change for the
better, made Captain Gore resolve to leave Japan altogether, and
proceed in the voyage for China.
On the 4th and 5th, our navigators, continuing their course to the
south-east, passed great quantities of pumice-stone. These stones
appeared to have been thrown into the sea by eruptions of various
dates, as many of them were covered with barnacles, and others quite
bare.
On the 13th, they had a most violent gale from the northward. In the
morning of the 13th, the wind, shifting to the north-west, brought
with it fair weather; but, though they were, at that time, nearly in
the situation given to the island of San Juan, they saw no appearance
of land. They continued to pass much pumice-stone; indeed the
prodigious quantities of that substance which floated in the sea,
between Japan and the Bashee Islands, seemed to indicate that some
great volcanic convulsion must have happened in that part of the
Pacific Ocean.
On the 14th, they discovered two islands, and on the next day a third;
but Captain Gore, finding that a boat could not land without some
danger, from the great surf that broke on the shore, kept on his
course to the westward. The middle island is about five miles long;
the south point is a high barren hill, presenting an evident volcanic
crater. The earth, rock, or sand, for it was not easy to distinguish
of which its surface was composed, exhibited various colours, and a
considerable part was conjectured to be sulphur, and some of the
officers on board the Resolution thought they saw steams rising from
the top of the hill. From these circumstances, Captain Gore gave it
the name of _Sulphur Island_. A long narrow neck of land connects
the hill with the south end of the island, which spreads out into a
circumference of three or four leagues, and is of moderate height. The
north and south islands appeared to be single mountains of a
considerable height. Sulphur Island is in the latitude 24° 48',
longitude 141° 12'. The north island in latitude 25° 14', longitude
141° 10', and the south island in latitude 24° 22', and longitude 141°
20'.
Hence our navigators proceeded for the Bashee Islands, hoping to
procure at them such a supply of refreshment as would help to shorten
their stay at Macao; but Captain Gore, being guided by the opinions of
Commodore and Captain Wallis, as to the situation of these islands,
which differ materially from Dampier's, they were foiled in their
endeavours to find them, although, in the day time, the ships spread
two or three leagues from each other, and in the night, when under an
easy sail.
On the 27th, being in longitude 118° 30', and having got to the
westward of the Bashees, according to Mr. Byron's account, our
navigators hauled their wind to the north west, hoping to weather the
Prata shoals but at four in the morning of the 28th, the breakers were
close under their lee; at daylight they saw the island of Prata, and
finding they could not weather the shoal, ran to leeward of it. As
they passed the south side, they saw two remarkable patches on the
edge of the breakers, that looked like wrecks. On the south-west side
of the reef, and near the south end of the island, they thought they
saw openings in the reefs which promised safe anchorage.
In the forenoon of the 29th, they passed several Chinese fishing
boats; and the sea was covered with wrecks of boats that had been
lost, as they conjectured, in the late boisterous weather. They were
in latitude 22° 1', having run 110 miles since the preceding noon.
On the 30th, they ran along the Lema Islands, and got a Chinese pilot
on board. In obedience to the instruction given to Captain Cook by the
Admiralty, the captains now required of the officers and men of both
ships to give up their journals, and what other papers they had to
their possession relative to the voyage, which was cheerfully complied
with; and at nine o'clock in the evening of the following day, they
anchored three leagues from Macao.
Here, upon sending on shore to negotiate for supplies of provisions,
&c. they first received intelligence of the occurrences in Europe,
during the protracted period of their absence. On the 4th of December,
they stood into the Typa, and moored with the stream-anchor and cable
to the westward.
Captain King was sent up to Canton to expedite the supplies that were
wanted, and experienced every possible assistance from the
supercargoes and gentlemen of the Company's factory there. The
purchase of the provisions and store wanted was completed on the 26th,
and the whole stock was sent down on the following day by a vessel
which Captain Gore had engaged for the purpose. Twenty sea-otter skins
were sold at Canton, by Captain King, for eight hundred dollars. At
the ships a brisk trade was carried on in the same article, by both
officers and seamen. The sea-otter skins every day rose in value, and
a few prime skins, which were clean and well preserved, were sold for
one hundred and twenty dollars each. The whole amount of the value, in
specie and goods, that was got for the furs in both ships, did not
fall short of two thousand pounds sterling, and it was generally
supposed, that at least two-thirds of the quantity originally obtained
from the Americans were spoiled or worn out, or had been given away or
sold at Kamtschatka. In consequence hereof, the rage with which the
seamen were possessed to return to Cook' River, and by another cargo
of skins to make their fortunes, was, at one time, not far short of
mutiny. The numerous voyages that have since been undertaken for the
prosecution of the trade here suggested, have rendered it familiar to
the merchants both of Britain and of America; and, though it has not
latterly been productive of advantages equal to those which were
realized by the first adventurers, is still a branch of commerce that
is successfully pursued.
The barter which had been carrying on with the Chinese for their
sea-otter skins, produced a very whimsical change in the dress of the
crews. On their arrival in the Typa, nothing could exceed the ragged
appearance both of the younger officers and seamen; almost the whole
of their original stock of European clothes having been long worn out,
or patched up with skins, or the various manufactures they had met
with in the course of their discoveries. These were now again mixed
and eked out with the gaudiest silks and cottons of China.
On the 11th of January, two seamen belonging to the Resolution ran off
with a six oared cutter, and were never after heard of. It was
supposed that they had been seduced by the prevailing notion of making
a fortune by returning to the fur islands.
On account of the war between England and America, with France and
Spain as her allies, of which they received intelligence at Canton,
they put themselves in the best posture of defence, the Resolution
mounting sixteen guns, and the Discovery ten. They had reason,
however, to believe, from the generosity of their enemies, that these
precautions were superfluous: being informed that instructions had
been found on board all the French ships of war captured in Europe,
directing their commanders, in case of falling in with the ships that
sailed under the command of Captain Cook, to suffer them to proceed
without molestation; and the same orders were also said to have been
given by the American Congress to the vessels employed in their
service. In return for these liberal concessions, Captain Gore
resolved to refrain from availing himself of any opportunities of
capture, and to preserve throughout the remainder of the voyage, the
strictest neutrality.
On the 12th of January, 1780, our navigators got under sail from
Macao; on the 19th, they saw Pulo Sapata, and on the 20th, descried
Pulo Condore, and anchored in the harbour at the south-west end of the
island. The town is situated at the east end, and here they procured
eight buffaloes, with other refreshments. From the untractableness and
prodigious strength of the buffaloes, it was both a tedious and
difficult operation to get them on board. The method of conducting
them was by passing ropes through their nostrils and round their
horns; but, having been once enraged at the sight of our men, they
became so furious that they sometimes broke the trees to which they
were often under the necessity of being tied; sometimes they tore
asunder the cartilage of the nostril through which the ropes ran, and
got loose. On these occasions, all the exertions of the men to recover
them would have been ineffectual, without the assistance of some young
boys, whom these animals would permit to approach them, and by whose
little management their rage was soon appeased. A circumstance
respecting these animals, which was thought no less singular than
their gentleness toward, and, as it should seem, affection for, little
children, was, that they had not been twenty-four hours on board,
before they became the tamest of all creatures. Captain King kept two
of them, a male and a female, for a considerable time, which became
great favourites with the sailors; and thinking that a breed of
animals of such strength and size, some of them weighing when dressed,
seven hundred pounds, would be a valuable acquisition, intended to
have brought them with him to England, but his intention was
frustrated by an incurable hurt which one of them received at sea.
Our navigators remained here till the 28th of January, when they
unmoored and proceeded on their homeward voyage, passing through the
Straits of Banea, and of Sunda, without any occurrence worthy of
particular remark. They saw two or three Dutch ships in the Straits of
Sunda. They watered at Prince's Island at the entrance of the Straits,
and got a supply of fowls and turtle there.
From the time of their entering the Straits of Banea, they began to
experience the powerful effects of the pestilential climate, and
malignant putrid fevers, with obstinate coughs and dysenteries,
prevailed amongst the crews, happily, however, without one fatal
termination.
On the 18th of February they left the Straits of Sunda; in the night
between the 25th and 26th, they experienced a most violent storm,
during which almost every sail they had bent was split to rags, and
the next day they were obliged to bend their last suit of sails, and
to knot and splice the rigging, their cordage being all expended.
On the 7th of April they saw the land of Africa, and on the 9th, they
fell in with an English East India packet, that had left Table Bay
three days before. On the evening of the 12th, they dropped anchor in
False Bay, and the next morning stood into Simon's Bay.
Having completed their victualling, and furnished themselves with the
necessary supply of naval stores, our navigators sailed out of the bay
on the 9th of May. On the 12th of June, they passed the equator for
the fourth time during the voyage. On the 12th of August they made the
western coast of Ireland, and, after a fruitless attempt to put into
Port Galway, they were obliged, by strong southerly winds, to steer to
the northward; and, on the 26th of August, both ships came to an
anchor in Stromness, in the Orkneys, whence Captain King was
dispatched by Captain Gore, to acquaint the board of Admiralty with
their arrival. On the first of October, the ships arrived safe at the
Nore, after an absence of four years, two months, and twenty-two days.
THE MORAI.
AN ODE.
BY MISS HELEN MARIA WILLIAMS.
Fair Otaheite, fondly bless'd
By him, who long was doom'd to brave
The fury of the polar wave,
That fiercely mounts the frozen rock
Where the harsh sea bird rears her nest,
And learns the raging surge to mock--
There, Night, that loves eternal storm.
Deep and lengthen'd darkness throws,
And untried Danger's doubtful form
Its half seen horror shews!
While Nature, with a look so wild,
Leans on the cliffs in chaos piled;
That here, the awed, astonish'd mind
Forgets, in that o'erwhelming hour,
When her rude hands the storms unbind,
In all the madness of her power;
That she who spreads the savage gloom,
That _she_ can dress in melting grace,
In sportive Summer's lavish bloom,
The awful terrors of her face;
And wear the sweet perennial smile
That charms in Otaheite's isle.
Yet, amid her fragrant bowers.
Where Spring, whose dewy fingers strew
O'er other lands some fleeting flowers,
Lives, in blossoms ever new;
Whence arose that shriek of pain?
Whence the tear that flows in vain?--
Death! thy unrelenting hand
Tears some transient human band--
Eternity! rich plant that blows
Beneath a brighter, happier sky.
Time is a fading branch, that grows
On thy pure stem, and blooms to die.
What art thou, Death?--terrific shade.
In unpierced gloom array'd!
Oft will daring Fancy stray
Far in the central wastes, where Night
Divides no cheering hour with Day,
And unnamed horrors meet her sight;
There thy form she dimly sees,
And round the shape unfinish'd throws
All her frantic vision shews
When numbing fears her spirit freeze--
But can mortal voice declare
If Fancy paints thee as thou art?
Thy aspect may a terror wear
Her pencil never shall impart;
The eye that once on thee shall gaze,
No more its stiffen'd orb can raise;
The lips that could thy power reveal,
Shall lasting silence instant seal--
In vain the icy hand we fold,
In vain the breast with tears we steep,
The heart, that shared each pang, is cold,
The vacant eye no more can weep.
Yet from the shore where Ganges rolls
His wave beneath the torrid ray,
To Earth's chill verge, where o'er the poles
Fall the last beams of lingering day.
For ever sacred are the dead?
Sweet Fancy comes in Sorrow's aid,
And bids the mourner lightly tread
Where the insensate clay is laid:
Bids partial gloom the sod invest
By the mouldering relics press'd;
Then lavish strews, with sad delight,
What'er her consecrating power
Reveres of herb, or fruit, or flower,
And fondly weaves the various rite.
See! o'er Otaheite's plain
Moves the long, funereal train;
Slow the pallid corse they bear,
Oft they breathe the solemn prayer:
Where the ocean bathes the land,
Thrice, and thrice, with pious hand,
The priest, when high the billow springs,
From the wave unsullied, flings
Waters pure, that, sprinkled near,
Sanctify the hallow'd bier:
But never may one drop profane
The relics with forbidden stain!
Now around the funeral shrine,
Led in mystic mazes, twine
Garlands, where the plantain weaves
With the palm's luxuriant leaves;
And o'er each sacred knot is spread
The plant devoted to the dead.
Five pale moons with trembling light
Shall gaze upon the lengthen'd rite;
Shall see distracted Beauty tear
The tresses of her flowing hair:
Those shining locks, no longer dear,
She wildly scatters o'er the bier;
And careless gives the frequent wound
That bathes in precious blood the ground.
When along the western sky,
Day's reflected colours die,
And Twilight rules the doubtful hour
Ere slow-paced Night resumes her power;
Mark the cloud that lingers still
Darkly on the hanging hill!
There the disembodied mind
Hears, upon the hollow wind,
In unequal cadence thrown,
Sorrow's oft repeated moan:--
Still some human passions sway
The spirit late immersed in clay;
Still the faithful sigh is dear,
Still beloved the fruitless tear!
Five waning moons, with wandering light,
Have pass'd the shadowy bound of night,
And mingled their departing ray
With the soft fires of early day:
Let the last sad rite be paid
Grateful to the conscious shade:
Let the priest, with pious care.
Now the wasted relics bear
Where the Morai's awful gloom
Shrouds the venerable tomb;
Let the plantain lift its head,
Cherish'd emblem of the dead;
Slow and solemn, o'er the grave,
Let the twisted plumage wave,
Symbol hallow'd, and divine,
Of the god who guards the shrine.
Hark!--that shriek of strange despair
Never shall disturb the air.
Never, never shall it rise
But for Nature's broken ties!--
Bright crescent! that with lucid smiles
Gild'st the Morai's lofty pile,
Whose broad lines of shadow throw
A gloomy horror far below;
Witness, O recording Moon!
All the rites are duly done;
Be the faithful tribute o'er,
The hovering spirit asks no more!
Mortals, cease the pile to tread,
Leave, to silence, leave the dead.
But where may she who loves to stray
Mid shadows of funereal gloom,
And courts the sadness of the tomb,
Where may she seek the proud Morai,
Whose dear memorial points the place
Where fell the friend of human race?
Ye lonely isles! on ocean's bound
Ye bloom'd through time's long flight unknown,
Till Cook the untract'd billow pass'd,
Till he along the surges cast
Philanthropy's connecting zone,
And spread her lovliest blessings round.
Not like that murderous band he came,
Who stain'd with blood the new found West
Nor as, with unrelenting breast,
From Britain's free enlighten'd land,
Her sons now seek Angola's strand,
Each tie most sacred to unbind,
To load with chains a brother's frame,
And plunge a dagger in the mind;
Mock the sharp anguish bleeding there
Of Nature in her last despair!
Great Cook! Ambition's lofty flame,
So oft directed to destroy,
Led _thee_ to circle with thy name,
The smile of Love, and Hope, and Joy!
Those fires, that lend the dangerous blaze
The devious comet trails afar,
Might form the pure benignant rays
That gild the morning's gentle star--
Sure, where the Hero's ashes rest,
The nations late emerg'd from night
Still base--with love's unwearied care
That spot in lavish flowers is dress'd,
And fancy's dear inventive rite
Still paid with fond observance there!
Ah no!--around his fatal grave,
No lavish flowers were ever strew'd
No votive gifts were ever laid--
His blood a savage shore bedew'd!
His mangled limbs, one hasty prayer,
One pious tear by friendship, paid,
Were cast upon the raging wave;
Deep in the wild abyss he lies.
Far from the cherish'd scene of home;
Far, far from Her whose faithful sighs
A husband's trackless course pursue;
Whose tender fancy loves to roam
With _him_ o'er lands and oceans new;
And gilds with Hope's deluding form
The gloomy pathway of the storm.
Yet, Cook! immortal wreaths are thine!
While Albion's grateful toil shall raise
The marble tomb, the trophied bust,
For ages faithful to its trust;
While, eager to record thy praise,
She bids the Muse of History twine
The chaplet of undying fame,
And tell each polish'd land thy worth:
The ruder natives of the earth
Shall oft repeat thy honour'd name;
While infants catch the frequent sound,
And learn to lisp the oral tale;
Whose fond remembrance shall prevail
Till Time has reach'd his destin'd bound.
THE END.