After reporting himself to the Admiralty on his arrival in England, Cook
proceeded to his home at Mile End Old Town, where he was for some time
employed in completing his Charts and Journals, and on 14th August, the
Annual Register announces, he was introduced to His Majesty at St.
James's, when he:
"presented his Journal of his Voyage, with some curious maps and charts
of different places that he had drawn during the voyage; he was presented
with a captain's commission."
He also found time to write two long and instructive letters to his old
master and good friend, Mr. John Walker of Whitby, which are to be found
in Dr. Young's work. They give a rapid glance at the different places
visited, with a few pithy remarks as to their peoples and productions;
mention the pleasing reception he had from the king, and he alludes to
the probability of being despatched on a second voyage with two ships.
Edgeworth, in his Memoirs, states that about this time Cook was a
frequent visitor at Denham Place, the home of Mr. Louis Way, F.R.S., but
as that gentleman died in this year, and Edgeworth also refers to events
of a later date as occurring at the same time, it is more probable that
these visits were paid after the Second Voyage to Mr. Benjamin Way, also
F.R.S., and a Director of the South Sea Company. In another place
Edgeworth infers that Banks, Solander, and Cook were members of a club
which met at Slaughter's Coffee House in 1765. Of course, this is an
error, for Cook was then engaged in Newfoundland, and unknown to the
Royal Society, whose members composed the club spoken of; in fact, Cook,
though a frequent guest in after times, was never a member of the Royal
Societies Club.
Fanny Burney (Madame d'Arblay) says that in September her father, Dr.
Charles Burney, spent a few days at Hinchinbroke, Lord Sandwich's place,
in order to meet Cook, Banks, and Solander, and it is evident that the
second voyage had been resolved on, for Dr. Burney's son, James, was
introduced to Cook by Lord Sandwich, with a view to going on the
expedition. Shortly after this, Sandwich met Dr. Burney at Lord Oxford's,
Houghton, and asked him if he could recommend any one capable of writing
the history of the voyage of the Endeavour; he gave Dr. Hawkesworth's
name, and was requested to introduce him to Lord Sandwich on his return
to town.
The object of the Second Voyage was, to use Cook's own words:
"To put an end to all diversity of opinion about a matter so curious and
important, was His Majesty's principal motive in directing this voyage to
be undertaken, the history of which is now submitted to the public, i.e.,
the existence of another continent in the South."
The discussion on the subject had been resumed with renewed vigour after
the return of the Endeavour, and Dalrymple led one party, who held that
Cook had not set the matter at rest as he had left far too much space
untraversed.
WHITBY SHIPS AGAIN.
The two ships that were to be employed were probably selected in the
Thames by Cook himself, and, like the good ship Endeavour, were built by
Fishburn of Whitby, and purchased from Captain W. Hammond of Hull. The
reasoning which guided Cook in his selection is thus laid down by him in
his introduction to the account of the Second Voyage:
"The success of such undertakings as making discoveries in distant parts
of the world, will principally depend on the preparations being well
adapted to what ought to be the first consideration, namely, the
preservation of the adventurers and ships; and this will chiefly depend
on the kind, the size, and the properties of the ships chosen for the
service. These primary considerations will not admit of any other, that
may interfere with the necessary properties of the ships. Therefore, in
chusing the ships, should any of the most advantageous properties be
wanting, and the necessary room in them be, in any degree, diminished for
less important purposes, such a step would be laying a foundation for
rendering the undertaking abortive in the first instance. The ship must
not be of great draught, but of sufficient capacity to carry a proper
quantity of provisions and stores for the crew, and of such construction
that she will bear to take the ground, and of such a size that she can be
conveniently laid on shore if necessary for repairing any damages or
defects, and these qualities are to be found in North Country built
ships, such as are built for the coal trade, and in none other."
The larger of the two chosen was 462 tons, purchased for 4,151 pounds,
and received into the Royal Navy under the name of the Drake. She was
fitted as a sloop at Deptford, at a cost of 6,568 pounds (this sum,
probably, covering both the original alterations which proved
unsatisfactory and those made immediately before sailing), and at the
time of her purchase was about fourteen months old. The second ship was
of 336 tons, also fitted at Deptford as a sloop, was eighteen months old
at time of purchase, cost 2,103 pounds, and was received under the name
of Raleigh.
The complement of the Raleigh was eighty, but two additional carpenters'
mates were added to each ship later on. Cook was also instructed not to
bear, as was then usual, any servants on the books, but to enter A.B.s
instead, and each officer who was entitled to a servant was "to be paid
an allowance by Bill equal to the wages of the number of servants
respectively allowed them."
On 25th December the names of the two ships were changed, the Drake
becoming the Resolution, and the Raleigh the Adventure. The lieutenants
appointed to the Resolution were Robert Pallisser Cooper, Charles Clerke,
and Richard Pickersgill, and Mr. Tobias Furneaux, Commander, and Joseph
Shank first lieutenant, of the Adventure. Of these officers Cook writes:
"I had all the reason in the World to be perfectly satisfied with the
choice of the officers. The Second and Third Lieutenants, the Lieutenant
of Marines, two of the Warrant officers, and several of the Petty
officers had been with me during the former voyage. The others were men
of known abilities, and all of them on every occasion showed their zeal
for the service in which they were employed during the whole voyage."
ALTERATIONS TO THE RESOLUTION.
Two days after receiving his orders, Cook hoisted his pendant and
superintended the alterations that were to be made for the accommodation
of Mr. Banks and his party of scientists. These comprised Dr. Solander,
Zoffani, the portrait painter, Dr. Lynd of Edinburgh, to secure whose
services Parliament had made a special grant of 4000 pounds (though "what
discoveries they expected him to make I could not understand," says
Cook), and nine others, draughtsmen and servants; at least three more
than had been thought necessary when the vessel was purchased. These
alterations were:
"to raise her upper works about a foot, to lay a spar deck upon her from
the quarter-deck to the forecastle (she having at this time a low waist),
and to build a round house or coach for my accommodation, so that the
great cabin might be appropriated to the use of Mr. Banks alone."
The Comptroller of the Navy, Captain Pallisser, was strongly opposed to
these alterations as likely to be detrimental to the ship's sailing
qualities, and though his opinions were overborne, they in the end proved
to be correct.
When he had seen the alterations fairly on the way, Cook applied for
three weeks' leave of absence, on the plea that he had "some business to
transact in Yorkshire, as well as to see an aged father," and his
application was at once granted. He therefore went to Ayton, where for
the first time for seventeen years he was again amongst his own people.
From Ayton he went on to Whitby, and was met some miles out from that
town by many of the leading men of the place. From the Walkers he
received the heartiest of welcomes, and it is related that the old
housekeeper, Mary Prowd, had been carefully instructed that a Commander
in His Majesty's Navy was a very different person from one of her
master's apprentices, and must be received with all the marks of respect
due to his rank. She promised obedience, but, alas, when the time came
her memory fled, and opening wide her arms, she exclaimed: "O honey
James! How glad I is to see thee!" A welcome, probably, more dear to Cook
than any other could have been, and a proof of the affectionate regard he
could inspire.
In February he was back in London, and Dr. Burney says in his Memoirs:
"I had the honour of receiving the illustrious Captain Cook to dine with
me in Queen's Square [Bloomsbury] previously to his second voyage round
the world. Observing upon a table, Bougainville's Voyage Autour du Monde,
he turned it over, and made some curious remarks on the illiberal conduct
of that circumnavigator towards himself when they met and crossed each
other; which made me desirous to know, in examining the chart of M. de
Bougainville, the several tracks of the two navigators, and exactly where
they had crossed or approached each other.
"Captain Cook instantly took a pencil from his pocket book and said he
would trace the route; which he did in so clear and scientific a manner
that I would not take fifty pounds for my book. The pencil marks, having
been fixed by skim milk, will always be visible."
This volume is now in the British Museum, and the pencil marks on the
chart are as distinct as on the day they were made.
The alterations to the ship were completed early in February, and on the
6th she was hauled out of dock, and rigging, ballasting, and storing
commenced. Cook says:
"Every department seemed to vie with the other in equiping these two
ships, every standing rule and order in the Navy was dispensed with,
every alteration, every necessary and useful article, was granted as soon
as asked for."
SUPPLIES INCREASED.
In another passage he again refers to the anxiety of the Navy Board to
see that the quality of the stores was everything that could be wished,
and the quantity was increased from one to two and a half years' supply.
On the 22nd April the two sloops were at Longreach to take in their guns
and gunners' stores; twelve carriage guns and twelve swivel musketoons
for the Resolution, and ten carriage guns and ten swivels for the
Adventure. These should have been taken on board at Galleon's Reach, but
the Resolution was drawing too much water--seventeen feet. When here Cook
showed that he thought she was rather over-weighted with her new upper
works, and might prove crank, but:
"as the Gentlemen's apartments were full of heavy baggage and the sloop a
good deal lumbered aloft with heavy and some useless articles, which we
might soon get rid of or get into the hold after we had consumed some of
our provisions, I still entertained hopes that she would bear all her
additional works, and suspended giving any other opinion until a full
trial had been made of her, foreseeing what would be the consequence in
case she did not answer in the manner she was now fitted."
On 29th April, Mr. Banks gave an entertainment on board to Lord Sandwich,
the French Ambassador, and other distinguished personages, and Cook notes
that the first named had been on board several times, "a laudable tho '
rare thing in a First Lord of the Admiralty."
Cook obtained a few days' leave to make his final arrangements, and the
Resolution was ordered to the Downs under the first lieutenant, whilst
the Adventure proceeded to Plymouth; both vessels sailing from Longreach
on 10th May. The Resolution, contending against adverse winds, made a
very slow trip down to the Nore, being four days on the journey, and Mr.
Cooper reported to Cook that she was very crank. The latter at once wrote
to the Admiralty that he considered it unsafe to proceed any further with
her in that condition, and proposed that her poop should be cut down, her
masts shortened, and her guns exchanged to four-pounders. The Navy Board,
however, decided that she should be restored to her original state as far
as it was possible to do so; she was therefore ordered to Sheerness, and
her Captain was instructed to join his ship and see the alterations were
properly carried out.
Before leaving London Cook, who had heard it was said that he was not
satisfied with the vessels chosen for the voyage, wrote to Mr. Stephens
on the subject, giving his opinion that the crankness of the Resolution
"was owing to the additional works that have been built upon her in order
to make large accommodation for the several gentlemen passengers intended
to embark in her." He added that the proposed alterations of the Navy
Board would "render her as fit to perform the voyage as any ship
whatever"; and, referring to the report that he did not approve of the
type of ship, he says, "from the knowledge and experience I have had of
these sort of vessels, I shall always be of opinion that only such are
proper to be sent on Discoveries to very distant parts." On the 21st he
again wrote Stephens that the alterations were making satisfactory
progress, and that a man had been in the yard who had known the ship
before her purchase, and he had "with some warmth asserted that at that
time she was not only a stiff ship, but had as many good qualities as any
ship ever built in Whitby." In reply to a rumour that the men were afraid
to sail in her, he points out that she is moored alongside a wharf, and
the men could go ashore whenever they pleased, yet he had not lost a
single man.
BANKS WITHDRAWS.
Mr. Banks did not approve of the reduction in his accommodation
necessitated by these alterations, and tried to get a 40-gun ship in
place of the Resolution, and he and his friends succeeded in raising a
very acrimonious discussion on the subject; but the admiralty stood firm,
and the alterations went on under the superintendence of Cook. On 24th
May Banks and Solander went to inspect her, and on their return to town
Banks wrote to the Admiralty that he should not go the voyage as "the
ship was neither roomy nor convenient enough for my purpose, nor no ways
proper for the voyage." Cook, who says the preparations had cost Banks
"about five Thousand Pounds," does not think that the reasons given by
Banks were the only ones he had for not taking part in the voyage, and
then continues, "their baggage, etc., were got out of the sloop and sent
to London, after which no more complaints were heard of want of room,
etc."
Lieutenant Clerke, who was very friendly with Banks, wrote to him on 31st
May:
"Indeed I am sorry I'm not to have the honour of attending you the other
bout...They are going to stow the major part of the cables in the hold to
make room for the people now. I asked Gilbert [the Master], if such was
the present case, what the devil should we have done if we had all gone?
'Oh, by God, that was impossible,' was his answer."
Marra (the gunner's mate), in a Journal of the voyage, published by
Newberry, 1775, says the success of the voyage was due to their having
shaken off:
"the train of gentlemen, who with their attendants occupied the chief
accommodations of the ship," and whose presence would have rendered it
"out of the power of the most determined officer to have carried such a
princely retinue through the icy regions which they were to pass, without
murmurs, or perhaps mutiny."
Some of the newspapers tried to make political matter out of the affair,
and one at any rate roundly declared that "the true reason" of Banks's
withdrawal was on account of a remonstrance from the Spanish Ambassador
against any further exploration of the South Seas.
The withdrawal of Banks made no difference to his friendship with Cook,
and in the future he was always ready to afford his support whenever it
could be of any service either to his friend or family.
JOHN REINHOLD FORSTER.
As soon as it was known that Mr. Banks had withdrawn, Mr. John Reinhold
Forster, a German of some scientific reputation, applied for the position
of naturalist for the voyage, and, through the interest of Lord Sandwich,
was successful. He was to receive the 4000 pounds granted by Parliament
for Dr. Lynd, and was to pay all expenses, except ship's allowance of
food, and provide all necessary instruments. He was accompanied by his
son as assistant, a youth of about twenty years, who afterwards attained
some note by his writings and translations. Messrs. Wales and Bayley were
appointed astronomers by the Board of Longitude, with instructions to
take and compare observations at every possible opportunity, and to take
under their special charge the timepieces which were being carried on the
two ships for the purpose of testing their accuracy and capabilities in
assisting in ascertaining the longitude. Two of these instruments, made
by Arnold, were placed in Mr. Bayley's charge on the Adventure, and two,
one by Arnold, and the other by Kendal on Harrison's principle, under the
care of Mr. Wales on the Resolution. Great precautions were taken to
prevent any accident or tampering with these instruments; they were kept
in boxes having three locks, the keys were held one by the Captain, one
by the first lieutenant, and the third by the astronomer, so they could
not even be wound up except in the presence of all three. William Hodges,
a painter of repute, was appointed as artist, and his pictures were to
become the property of the Admiralty.
The celebrated Dr. Joseph Priestley, at that time minister at Mill Hill
Chapel, Leeds, had been invited by Mr. Banks to accompany him as
astronomer, and his congregation had undertaken to guarantee his position
on his return; but the Board of Longitude took objection to his religious
views, and so his application was withdrawn.