Of course as nothing had been heard of the expedition for a considerable
time, a certain amount of anxiety was felt, which at length found vent in
paragraphs in the public press, and on 11th January 1780 the London
Gazette contained the following:
"Captain Clerke of His Majesty's Sloop the Resolution, in a letter to Mr.
Stephens, dated the 8th of June 1779, in the harbour of St. Peter and St.
Paul, Kampschatka, which was received yesterday, gives the melancholy
account of the celebrated Captain Cook, late Commander of that Sloop,
with four of his private Marines having been killed on the 14th of
February last at the island of Owhyhe, one of a Group of new-discovered
Islands in the 22nd degree of North Latitude, in an affray with a
numerous and tumultuous Body of the Natives."
"Captain Clerke adds, that he received every friendly supply from the
Russian Government; and that as the Companies of the Resolution and her
Consort, the Discovery, were in perfect Health, and the two Sloops had
twelve months Stores and Provisions on board, he was preparing to make
another Attempt to explore a Northern Passage to Europe."
THE EMPRESS OF RUSSIA.
The London Gazette of 8th February says:
"The Empress of Russia expressed a most deep concern at the Loss of
Captain Cook. She was the more sensibly affected from her very partial
regard to his merits; and when she was informed of the hospitality shown
by the Russian Government at Kamschatka to Captain Clerke, she said no
Subject in her Dominions could show too much Friendship to the Survivors
of Captain Cook."
The letter written by Clerke was sent by express through Petersburg; that
is to say, it was written in the extreme east of Asia in June, and was
sent overland across Siberia to Petersburg, and thence via Berlin to
London, and was there published in under the six months. A wonderful
journey when the difficulties of transit are taken into consideration.
In the numerous appreciative notices that appeared in the press relating
to Cook and his work, the Morning Chronicle alone strikes a jarring
string, which is at once met by a reply; and a day or two after the same
paper publishes a long letter signed Colombus (the style suggests the pen
of Sir Joseph Banks) in which the character and methods of Cook are most
strenuously defended, the writer claiming to have obtained his knowledge
of the man "through long intercourse with him."
The Gazetter of 24th January says:
"His Majesty, who had always the highest opinion of Captain Cook, shed
tears when Lord Sandwich informed him of his death, and immediately
ordered a pension of 300 pounds a year for his widow."
The amount really granted to Mrs. Cook was 200 pounds per annum, and the
Admiralty in addition gave her half the proceeds of the Journal of the
Third Voyage, a share in the Journal of the Second Voyage, and a share of
the plates used in illustrating the two publications: a very considerable
addition to her income. A Coat of Arms was also granted to the family by
order of the King, and Sir W. Besant records his belief that it was the
last one ever granted as a direct "recognition of Service." His
description of it is:
"Azure, between the two polar stars Or, a sphere on the plane of the
meridian, showing the Pacific Ocean, his track thereon marked by red
lines. And for a crest, on a wreath of the colours, is an arm bowed, in
the uniform of a Captain of the Royal Navy. In the hand is the Union Jack
on a staff proper. The arm is encircled by a wreath of palm and laurel. A
very noble shield indeed."
The notes of appreciation of his talents and services came from all parts
of the world, and none more kindly than from the series of brilliant
Frenchmen who followed in his footsteps. De Crozet did not hesitate to
throw away his own charts when he recognised the superiority of Cook's;
and Dumont d'Urville calls him "the most illustrious navigator of both
the past and future ages whose name will for ever remain at the head of
the list of sailors of all nations."
MRS. COOK'S LETTER.
The Royal Society was naturally amongst the first to recognise the great
worth of its late Fellow, and the loss the Society had suffered from his
death. It had already granted him one of its highest honours in the form
of the Copley Gold Medal for his successful contest with the scurvy, and
it now decided to mark its appreciation by striking a special gold medal
in his honour. This was forwarded by Sir Joseph Banks, President of the
Royal Society, to Mrs. Cook, and acknowledged by her in the following
touching letter:
Mile End,
16th August 1784.
Sir,
I received your exceeding kind letter of the 12th instant, and want words
to express in any adequate degree my feelings on the very singular honour
which you, Sir, and the honourable and learned Society over which you so
worthily preside, have been pleased to confer on my late husband, and
through him on me and his children who are left to lament the loss of
him, and to be the receivers of those most noble marks of approbations
which, if Providence had been pleased to permit him to receive, would
have rendered me very happy indeed.
Be assured, Sir, that however unequal I may be to the task of expressing
it, I feel as I ought the high honour which the Royal Society has been
pleased to do me. My greatest pleasure now remaining is in my sons, who,
I hope, will ever strive to copy after so good an example, and, animated
by the honours bestowed on their Father's memory, be ambitious of
attaining by their own merits your notice and approbation. Let me entreat
you to add to the many acts of friendship which I have already received
at your hands, that of expressing my gratitude and thanks to that learned
body in such a manner as may be acceptable to them.
I am, Sir, etc., etc.,
Elizabeth Cook.
The medal actually presented to Mrs. Cook is now in the British Museum.
DEATHS OF THE SONS.
It is greatly to be regretted that so little can be ascertained about
Cook's private life that would be of service in forming an intimate
knowledge of his character, but this is accounted for by the fact that
after he had joined the Navy his time was so fully occupied by that
service that he had but little opportunity to form private friendships
such as fall to the lot of most men. The intimacies that he did form were
mostly connected very closely with his naval duties, and his
opportunities of correspondence were necessarily limited by absence from
all ordinary means of communication. For a man of his marked celebrity it
is very curious that there should be such a dearth of anecdote that it is
difficult to find anything that is unconnected with his profession. Of
his own family relations there is also little known, as Mrs. Cook,
probably esteeming the few letters she had from him as too sacred to be
seen by any other eye than her own, as the late Canon Bennett suggests,
destroyed them before her death. Still some idea of their life together,
short as it really was, notwithstanding it lasted, in name, for over
sixteen years, may be gained from the manner in which his widow always
spoke of him after his death. She always wore a ring containing a lock of
his hair, and measured everything by his standard of morality and honour.
The greatest disapprobation she could express was "Mr. Cook would never
have done so." He was always Mr. Cook to her. She kept four days each
year as solemn fasts, remaining in her own room. The days were those on
which she lost her husband and three sons, passing them in reading her
husband's Bible, prayer and meditation, and during bad weather she could
not sleep for thinking of those at sea. For her husband's sake she
befriended her nephews and nieces whom she never saw. Of her three sons,
two entered the Navy. One, Nathaniel, was lost with his ship, the
Thunderer, in a hurricane off Jamaica in 1780. The eldest, James, rose to
the rank of Commander, and in January 1794 was appointed to H.M. sloop
Spitfire. He was at Poole when he received his orders to join his ship at
Portsmouth without delay. Finding an open boat with sailors returning
from leave about to start, he joined them. It was blowing rather hard,
and nothing was ever heard of the passengers or crew, except that the
broken boat and the dead body of the unfortunate young officer, stripped
of all money and valuables, with a wound in the head, was found ashore on
the Isle of Wight. The third son, Hugh, was entered at Christ's College,
Cambridge, in 1793, but contracting scarlet fever he died on 21st
December of that year, and was buried in the church of St. Andrew the
Great, being joined by his brother James a few weeks afterwards, when the
mother was left indeed alone. She survived her husband for the long
period of fifty-six years, living at Clapham with her cousin, Admiral
Isaac Smith, and at length joined her two sons at Cambridge at the
advanced age of ninety-three.
Cook's character as given by those with whom he worked, men who day after
day were by his side, was a fine one. His greatest fault seems to have
been his hasty temper, which he admitted himself, often most regretfully;
but Captain King says it was "disarmed by a disposition the most
benevolent and humane," and it never was displayed in such a manner as to
cause the loss of respect and affection of his people. He was healthy and
vigorous in mind and body, clear-headed and cool in times of danger,
broad minded and temperate, and plain and unaffected in manner. His
powers of observation were of the first rank, his knowledge of Naval
mathematics far surpassed the ordinary level and amounted to genius, but,
above all, his devotion to duty was the commanding feature of his
character. Nothing was allowed to interfere when he saw his course before
him; personal convenience was not allowed to weigh for one moment, but at
the same time he never lost sight of the interests of those under him and
spared them when possible. He was somewhat silent and reserved in manner,
but when questioned on any subject on which he felt he was an authority,
his answers were clearly and distinctly given, and his reasons disclosed
his powers of observation to the full. He was kindly, generous, and
hospitable, and by no means the stern character that has been painted,
for even in such a matter-of-fact document as his official Journal, a
spirit of fun occasionally gleams out.
Such was the man whose name will ever stand in the very first ranks of
the British Empire Builders; honest, kindly, generous, a faithful servant
and a noble leader.
INDEX.
Adventure:
purchased.
arrives home.
Airy Holme Farm.
Amherst, General.
Amherst, Colonel W.
Amsterdam.
Anderson, Surgeon: death.
Anjac, M. d'.
Antelope, H.M.S.
Arnold. See Timepieces.
Aurora Australis.
Australia.
Ayton:
revisited.
Banks, Joseph:
joins Endeavour.
refuses Second Voyage.
Batavia.
Bayley, W.
Behm, Major.
Behring.
Bennett, Canon.
Besant, W.
Bligh, W.
Boscawen, Admiral.
Boswell.
Bougainville, De.
Buchan, A.
Burgeo Islands.
Burney, Charles.
Burney, Fanny.
Burney, James.
Campbell, Captain J.
Cape Circumcision.
Cape Horn.
Cape of Good Hope.
Clerke, Charles.
Colville, Lord.
Cook, James (Master of Mercury).
Cook, James, R.N. F.R.S.:
birth.
Eagle.
Solebay.
Pembroke.
Northumberland.
marriage.
King's Surveyor.
Grenville.
Endeavour.
Scorpion.
Resolution.
Post-Captain.
death.
Cook, Mrs.
Cooper, R.P.
Crozet, De.
Dalrymple.
Dance, Sir N.
Darwin, Charles.
Discovery purchased.
Dodds, Mrs.
Douglas, Captain Charles.
Douglas, Dr.
Duc d'Aquitaine.
Du Fresne, Marion.
Dumont d'Urville.
Eagle.
Easter Island.
Eclipse of sun.
Edgar.
Edgecombe.
Endeavour:
purchased.
end of.
Erromango.
Espiritu Santo.
Fernando de Noronho.
Fishburn of Whitby.
Forster, G.A.
Forster, J.R.
Freelove.
Friendship.
Funchal.
Furneaux, Tobias.
Garland.
Gaspe Bay.
Gilbert, G.
Gilbert, J.
Gore, J.
Grampus.
Graves, Captain.
Green, Charles.
death.
Grenville.
Halifax, N.B.
Hardy, Sir C.
Harrison. See Timepieces.
Hawke, Lord.
Hawkesworth, Dr.
Hicks, Lieutenant.
Hodges, W.
Holmes, Admiral.
Horrox, J.
Huaheine.
Isle aux Coudres.
Isle d'Orleans.
Japan.
Jervis, Captain J.
Johnson, Dr.
Karakakoa Bay.
Kemp, A.
Kemp, S.
Kendal. See Timepieces.
Kerguelen's Land.
King, Captain J.
Knox, Major.
Koah.
Lambrecht.
Lane, M.
Lark.
Law, Surgeon.
Ledyard.
Leeds Mercury.
Lightning Rods.
Loo Fort.
Louisburg.
MacGregor, Sir E.
Magellan's Straits.
Malicolo.
Marra, James.
Marton.
Maskelyne.
Massacre Bay, New Zealand.
Medway.
Mercury.
Middleburg.
Mile End.
Miquelon.
Molineaux.
Monkhouse, Dr.
Montcalm.
Moran, Cardinal.
Moreton Bay.
New Albion.
New Caledonia.
New Zealand.
Newfoundland.
Newspapers on ship.
Northumberland.
Norton Sound.
Omai.
Otaheite.
Pallisser, Sir H.
Parkinson, S.
Pembroke, Earl of.
Pembroke.
Petropaulowsk.
Phillips, Lieutenant.
Pickersgill.
Pines, Isle of.
Pitcairn Island.
Priestley, Dr.
Pringle, Sir J.
Prowd, Mary.
Quebec.
Quiros, De.
Raleigh. See Adventure.
Redcar.
Resolution purchased.
Rio.
Rotterdam.
Royal Society.
Russia, Empress of.
St. Helena.
St. John's.
St. Lawrence.
St. Pierre.
Samwell, D.
Sandwich Islands.
Sandwich, Lord.
Saunders, Sir C.
Scurvy, paper on.
Smith, Isaac.
Solander, Dr.
Solebay.
Sparrman, H.
Staten Island.
Stirling Castle.
Straits le Maire.
Tanna.
Tasman.
Tatafee Polaho.
Terreeoboo.
Three Sisters.
Three Kings, New Zealand.
Timepieces.
Torres, De.
Transit of Venus.
Traverse, the.
Tupia.
Ulietea.
Vancouver, G.
Vegetable Sheep.
Waddington, G.W.
Walker, John.
Webber, J.
Wolfe, General.
Young, Dr.
Young, N.
Zeehaan.
End of Project Gutenberg's The Life of Captain James Cook, by Arthur Kitson