The Life of Captain James Cook - Arthur Kitson
(PLATE: CAPTAIN COOK.
FROM THE PORTRAIT BY N. DANCE, R.A., IN THE PAINTED HALL, GREENWICH
HOSPITAL.)
THE LIFE OF CAPTAIN JAMES COOK
THE CIRCUMNAVIGATOR
BY ARTHUR KITSON.
WITH PORTRAIT AND MAP.
1907
TO
MY WIFE
LINDA DOUGLAS KITSON.
PREFACE.
In publishing a popular edition of my work, Captain James Cook, R.N.,
F.R.S., it has, of course, been necessary to condense it, but care has
been taken to omit nothing of importance, and at the same time a few
slight errors have been corrected, and some new information has been
added, chiefly relating to the disposition of documents.
I must not omit this opportunity of thanking the Reviewers for the
extremely kind manner in which they all received the original work--a
manner, indeed, which far exceeded my highest hopes.
ARTHUR KITSON.
LONDON, 1912.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER 1. EARLY YEARS.
CHAPTER 2. 1755 TO 1757. H.M.S. EAGLE.
CHAPTER 3. 1757 TO 1759. H.M.S. PEMBROKE.
CHAPTER 4. 1759 TO 1762. H.M.S. NORTHUMBERLAND.
CHAPTER 5. 1763 TO 1767. NEWFOUNDLAND.
CHAPTER 6. 1768. PREPARATIONS FOR FIRST VOYAGE.
CHAPTER 7. 1768 TO 1769. PLYMOUTH TO OTAHEITE.
CHAPTER 8. 1769. SOCIETY ISLANDS.
CHAPTER 9. 1769 TO 1770. NEW ZEALAND.
CHAPTER 10. 1770. AUSTRALIA.
CHAPTER 11. 1770 TO 1771. NEW GUINEA TO ENGLAND.
CHAPTER 12. 1771. PREPARATIONS FOR SECOND VOYAGE.
CHAPTER 13. 1772 TO 1774. SECOND VOYAGE.
CHAPTER 14. 1774 TO 1775. SECOND VOYAGE CONCLUDED.
CHAPTER 15. 1775 TO 1776. ENGLAND.
CHAPTER 16. 1776 TO 1777. THIRD VOYAGE.
CHAPTER 17. 1777 TO 1779. THIRD VOYAGE CONTINUED.
CHAPTER 18. 1779 TO 1780. THIRD VOYAGE CONCLUDED.
CHAPTER 19. APPRECIATION AND CHARACTER.
JAMES COOK, R.N., F.R.S.
CHAPTER 1. EARLY YEARS.
James Cook, the Circumnavigator, was a native of the district of
Cleveland, Yorkshire, but of his ancestry there is now very little
satisfactory information to be obtained. Nichols, in his Topographer and
Genealogist, suggests that "James Cooke, the celebrated mariner, was
probably of common origin with the Stockton Cookes." His reason for the
suggestion being that a branch of the family possessed a crayon portrait
of some relation, which was supposed to resemble the great discoverer. He
makes no explanation of the difference in spelling of the two names, and
admits that the sailor's family was said to come from Scotland.
Dr. George Young, certainly the most reliable authority on Cook's early
years, who published a Life in 1836, went to Whitby as Vicar about 1805,
and claims to have obtained much information about his subject "through
intercourse with his relatives, friends, and acquaintances, including one
or two surviving school companions," and appears to be satisfied that
Cook was of Scotch extraction. Dr. George Johnston, a very careful
writer, states in his Natural History of the Eastern Borders, that in
1692 the father of James Thomson, the author of The Seasons, was minister
of Ednam, Roxburghshire, and a man named John Cook was one of the Elders
of the Kirk. This John Cook married, on the 19th January 1693, a woman
named Jean Duncan, by whom he had a son, James, baptised 4th March 1694,
and this child, Johnston positively asserts, was afterwards the father of
the future Captain Cook. The dates of the marriage and baptism have been
verified by the Reverend John Burleigh, minister of Ednam, and they agree
with the probable date of the birth of Cook's father, for he died in 1778
at the age of eighty-five. Owing to the loss of the church records for
some years after 1698, Mr. Burleigh is unable to trace when this James
Cook left Ednam to "better himself," but he would take with him a
"testificate of church membership" which might possibly, but not
probably, still exist. Attracted, perhaps, by the number of Scotch people
who flocked into the north of Yorkshire to follow the alum trade, then at
its height, James Cook settled down and married; and the first positive
information to be obtained is that he and his wife Grace (her maiden name
has so far escaped identification, though she is known to have been a
native of Cleveland) resided for some time at Morton, in the parish of
Ormsby, and here their eldest child, John, was born in January 1727. Dr.
Young says that James Cook had a superstition that his mother's farewell
was prophetic of his marriage, for her words were "God send you Grace."
BIRTH-PLACE.
Shortly after the birth of John, the Cooks left Morton for Marton, a
village a few miles away, and the similarity of the two names has caused
some confusion. At Marton the father worked for a Mr. Mewburn, living in
a small cottage built of mud, called in the district a clay biggin. This
cottage was pulled down in 1786, when Major Rudd erected a mansion near
the spot. Afterwards, when the mansion was burned to the ground, the site
of the cottage was planted with trees, and was popularly known as Cook's
Garth. Dr. Young was shown the spot by an old shoemaker whose wife's
mother was present at Captain Cook's birth, and he says there was a
willow-tree occupying the site, but no vestige of the walls was left. Mr.
Bolckow, the present owner of Marton Hall, says: "The cottage was found
destroyed when my uncle bought Marton in 1854, but we came across the
foundations of it when the grounds were laid out." A granite vase has
been erected on the spot. The pump which Besant says still exists, and
was made by Cook's father to supply his house with water, was "put there
after Cook's time," and has disappeared.
In this humble clay biggin James Cook, the Circumnavigator, was born on
27th October 1728, and was registered as baptised on 3rd November in the
Marton church records, being entered as "ye son of a day labourer." He
was one of several children, most of whom died young; John, the eldest,
who lived till he was twenty-three, and Margaret, who married a Redcar
fisherman named James Fleck, being the only two that came to maturity.
The Cooks remained at Marton for some years, during which time they
removed to another cottage, and young James received some instruction
from a Mistress Mary Walker, who taught him his letters and a little
reading. Dr. Young and Kippis call her the village schoolmistress, but
Ord, who was a descendant on his mother's side, says:
"she was the daughter of the wealthiest farmer in the neighbourhood, and
wife of William Walker, a respectable yeoman of the first class residing
at Marton Grange."
Young James, a lad of less than eight years old, worked for Mr. Walker:
"tended the stock, took the horses to water, and ran errands for the
family, and in return for such services the good lady, finding him an
intelligent, active youth, was pleased to teach him his alphabet and
reading."
In 1736 Cook's father was appointed to the position of hind or bailiff by
Mr. Skottowe, and removed with his family to Airy Holme Farm, near Ayton.
According to Besant, a hind was one who, residing on a farm, was paid a
regular wage for carrying on the work, and handed over the proceeds to
the landlord. Young James, now eight years of age, was sent to the school
on the High Green kept by a Mr. Pullen, where he was instructed in
writing and arithmetic as far as the first few rules--"reading having
apparently been acquired before." He is said to have shown a special
aptitude for arithmetic, and it is believed that owing to the good
reports of his progress, Mr. Skottowe paid for his schooling. According
to Dr. Young, his schoolfellows gave him the character of being fond of
his own way, and, when any project was on foot for birds-nesting or other
boyish amusement, and discussion arose as to the method to be pursued, he
would propound his own plans, and insist on their superiority; should his
views not meet with approval, he would pertinaciously adhere to them,
even at the risk of being abandoned by his companions.
STAITHES.
Most authorities say that Cook was bound apprentice to Mr. Saunderson, a
grocer and haberdasher of Staithes, at the age of thirteen; but Mrs.
Dodds, Saunderson's daughter, told Dr. Young that, after leaving school,
he remained on the farm, helping his father, till 1745, when he was
seventeen years old and then went to Staithes to her father on a verbal
agreement without indentures, and would thus be free to leave or be
discharged at any time.
The shop and house where he was engaged was situated about three hundred
yards from the present slipway, and close to the sea, in fact so close
that in 1812 it was threatened by the water, and was pulled down by
Saunderson's successor, Mr. John Smailey, and the materials, as far as
possible, were used in erecting the building in Church Street which is
now pointed out as Cook's Shop. The late Mr. Waddington of Grosmont, near
Whitby, says he visited Staithes in 1887 and found the original site
covered by deep water. He was informed by an old man, who, as a boy, had
assisted in removing the stock from the old shop, that not only were the
stones used again in Church Street, but also most of the woodwork,
including the present door with its iron knocker, at which, probably,
Cook himself had knocked many a time.
At Staithes Cook remained as Saunderson's assistant for about eighteen
months, and it may easily be imagined how this growing lad listened with
all his ears to the tales of the old sailors recalling brave deeds and
strange experiences in storm and shine on that element which for so many
years was to be his home, and at length, impelled by some instinctive
feeling that on it lay the path ready at his feet to lead him on to
future distinction, he vowed to himself that he would not bind down his
life to the petty round of a country storekeeper.
At length the opportunity came, which is related, in a breezy and
life-like manner, by Besant as follows. After painting Saunderson's
character in colours of a rather disagreeable hue, as one too fond of his
grog for himself and his stick for his apprentices, he says that Cook
stole a shilling out of the till, packed up his luggage in a single
pocket-handkerchief, ran away across the moors to Whitby, found a ship on
the point of sailing, jumped on board, offered his services as cabin boy,
was at once accepted, showed himself so smart and attentive that he
completely won the heart of the sour-visaged mate, and through his good
graces was eventually bound apprentice to the owners of the ship, and
thus laid the foundation of his fortunes. This account does not explain
how it was that the dishonest runaway apprentice it depicts continued to
retain the friendship and esteem of his master and Mrs. Dodds.
APPRENTICED TO THE SEA.
There undoubtedly was a difficulty about a shilling, and Dr. Young's
version, gathered from those who knew Cook personally and lived in
Staithes and Whitby at the time, is more probable. He says that Cook had
noticed a South Sea shilling, and being struck by the unusual design (it
was only coined in 1723), changed it for one of his own. Saunderson had
also noticed it, and when he missed it, enquired for it perhaps in
somewhat unmeasured terms, but, on the matter being explained, was fully
satisfied. Afterwards, seeing that the boy was bent upon a sea life, he
obtained the father's permission, and took young James to Whitby himself,
where he introduced him to Mr. John Walker, a member of a shipping firm
of repute, to whom he was bound apprentice (not to the firm), and with
whom he never lost touch till the end of his life. The period of
apprenticeship was, on the authority of Messrs. John and Henry Walker,
three years, and not either seven or nine as is usually stated, and the
difficulty about being apprenticed to both Saunderson and Walker is, of
course, set at rest by Mrs. Dodd's explanation.
Whitby was at the time a very important centre of the coasting trade, and
possessed several shipbuilding yards of good reputation, and it was in a
Whitby-built ship, the Freelove, that Cook made his first voyage. She was
a vessel of about 450 tons (some 80 tons larger than the celebrated Bark
Endeavour), was employed in the coal trade up and down the east coast,
and no doubt Cook picked up many a wrinkle of seamanship and many a
lesson of the value of promptitude in the time of danger which would
prove of service when he came to the days of independent command: for the
North Sea has, from time immemorial, been reckoned a grand school from
which to obtain true sailormen for the Royal Service.
As usual in those days, Cook stayed in his employer's house in the
intervals between his trips, and his time ashore was longer during the
winter months as the ships were generally laid up. The house in Grape
Street, at present occupied by Mr. Braithwaite, is pointed out as the one
where he lived whilst with Mr. Walker; but this is incorrect, for Mr.
Waddington ascertained from the rate books that Mr. Walker's mother was
living there at that time, and Mr. Walker lived in Haggargate from 1734
to 1751, removing thence to the north side of Bakehouse Yard in that
year, and to Grape Street in 1752, after his mother's death. That is, he
did not reside in Grape Street till three years after Cook's
apprenticeship was ended, when, following the usual custom, he would have
to fend for himself. During these periods of leisure between his voyages,
Cook endeavoured to improve his store of knowledge, and it is believed he
received some instruction in elementary navigation. He made great friends
with Mr. Walker's housekeeper, Mary Prowd, from whom he obtained the
concession of a table and a light in a quiet corner away from the others,
where he might read and write in peace. That he worked hard to improve
himself is evident from the fact that Mr. Walker pushed him on at every
opportunity, and gave him as varied an experience of things nautical as
lay in his power.
After several voyages in the Freelove (which is stated by the Yorkshire
Gazette to have been "lost, together with one hundred and fifty
passengers and the winter's supply of gingerbread for Whitby, off either
the French or Dutch coast" one stormy Christmas, the date not given) Cook
was sent to assist in rigging and fitting for sea a vessel, called the
Three Brothers, some 600 tons burden, which was still in existence
towards the close of last century. When she was completed, Cook made two
or three trips in her with coals, and then she was employed for some
months as a transport for troops from Middleburg to Dublin and Liverpool.
She was paid off by the Government at Deptford in the spring of 1749, and
then traded to Norway, during which time Cook completed his
apprenticeship, that is, in July 1749. Cook told the naturalist of the
second South Sea voyage, Mr. Forster, that on one of his trips to Norway
the rigging of the ship was completely covered with birds that had been
driven off the land by a heavy gale, and amongst them were several hawks
who made the best of their opportunities with the small birds.
OFFERED COMMAND.
When his apprenticeship had expired he went before the mast for about
three years. In 1750 he was in the Baltic trade on the Maria, owned by
Mr. John Wilkinson of Whitby, and commanded by Mr. Gaskin, a relative of
the Walkers. The following year he was in a Stockton ship, and in 1752 he
was appointed mate of Messrs. Walker's new vessel, the Friendship, on
board of which he continued for three years, and of which, on the
authority of Mr. Samwell, the surgeon of the Discovery on the third
voyage, who paid a visit to Whitby on his return and received his
information from the Walkers, he would have been given the command had he
remained longer in the mercantile marine. This was rapid promotion for a
youth with nothing to back him up but his own exertions and strict
attention to duty, and tends to prove that he had taken full advantage of
the opportunities that fell in his way, and had even then displayed a
power of acquiring knowledge of his profession beyond the average.
About this time Cook's father seems to have given up his position at Airy
Holme Farm and turned his attention to building. A house in Ayton is
still pointed out as his work, but has apparently been partially rebuilt,
for Dr. Young speaks of it as a stone house, and it is now partly brick,
but the stone doorway still remains, with the initials J.G.C., for James
and Grace Cook, and the date 1755. The old man has been represented as
completely uneducated, but this cannot have been true. Colman in his
Random Recollections, writing of a visit he paid to Redcar about 1773,
relates how a venerable old man was pointed out who:
"only two or three years previously had learnt to read that he might
gratify a parent's pride and love by perusing his son's first voyage
round the world. He was the father of Captain Cook."
If it is true that he was the son of an Elder of the Scottish Church, it
is extremely improbable that he was entirely uneducated, and the position
he held as hind to Mr. Skottowe would necessitate at any rate some
knowledge of keeping farming accounts. More convincing information still
is to be found in the Leeds Mercury of 27th October 1883, where Mr.
George Markham Tweddell, of Stokesley, writes:
"I may mention that Captain Cook's father was not the illiterate man he
has been represented; and I have, lying on my study table as I write, a
deed bearing his signature, dated 1755; and the father's signature bears
a resemblance to that of his distinguished son."
Reading is invariably learnt before writing, and as in 1755 the old man
was sixty-one, it is evident he did not wait till he was eighty to learn
to read.
FATHER'S GRAVE.
He claimed to have carved the inscription on the family tombstone in
Great Ayton churchyard, and after spending the last years of his life
under the roof of his son-in-law, James Fleck of Redcar, he died on 1st
April 1778, aged eighty-four years. He was buried in Marske churchyard,
but there was nothing to mark his grave, and its place has long been
forgotten. His death is registered as that of a "day labourer."
CHAPTER 2. 1755 TO 1757. H.M.S. EAGLE.
Notwithstanding the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, 1748, troubles were
constantly arising between the French and English in which the American
Colonies of both nations took a conspicuous part, and ultimately led to
open war. The first shot was fired on 10th June 1755, although war was
not formally declared till May 1756. In June 1755 the Friendship was in
the Thames, and it is said that to avoid the hot press which had been
ordered Cook first went into hiding for some time and then decided to
volunteer. This is untrue, for, as has been shown, he had already made up
his mind and had refused Messrs. Walker's offer of the command of one of
their ships, the acceptance of which would have saved him from the press
as Masters were exempt. He now saw his opportunity had come. He knew that
experienced men were difficult to obtain, that men of a certain amount of
nautical knowledge and of good character could soon raise themselves
above the rank of ordinary seamen, and had doubtless in his mind many
cases of those who entering as seamen found their way to the quarterdeck,
and knowing he had only to ask the Walkers for letters of recommendation
for them to be at his service, he determined to take the important step
and volunteer into the Royal Navy. It must be remembered that this act of
leaving employment which, to most men of his position, would have seemed
most satisfactory, was not the act of hot-headed youth, no step taken in
mere spirit of adventure, but the calmly reasoned act of a man of
twenty-seven years and some eight or nine years experience of both the
rough and smooth sides of maritime life.
Several letters were written to Mr. Walker, one or two of which relating
to a later period were seen and copied by Dr. Young, but they fell into
the hand of a niece, who unfortunately, not recognising their value,
destroyed them shortly before her death, which occurred some years ago.
However, it is certain that he wrote one about this time and evidently
received a favourable reply, for he shortly afterwards wrote again
acknowledging the service done him.
ENTERS NAVY.
Having made up his mind how to proceed, Cook went to a rendezvous at
Wapping and volunteered into H.M.S. Eagle, a fourth-rate, 60-gun ship,
with a complement of 400 men and 56 marines, at that time moored in
Portsmouth Harbour. On the Muster Roll, preserved in the Records Office,
the following entry occurs: "161 from London rendezvous, James Cook,
A.B., entry, June 17th 1755, first appearance June 25th 1755." On the
24th July, that is, thirty-seven days after the date of entry into the
Navy, he is rated as Master's mate, a position he held till 30th June
1757, when he quitted H.M.S. Eagle.
His appointment was facilitated by the difficulty experienced in
obtaining men for the Service, as may be gathered from Captain Hamar's
letters, who writes applying to the Admiralty for permission to break up
his London Rendezvous, as he says it has "procured very few men, and
those only landsmen." Again, he complains of the quality of the men he
has received, and says he is one hundred and forty short of his
complement. In another letter:
"I do not believe there is a worse man'd ship in the Navy. Yesterday I
received from the Bristol twenty-five supernumeraries belonging to
different ships, but not one seaman among them: but, on the contrary, all
very indifferent Landsmen."
These complaints were endorsed by Captain Pallisser, who succeeded Hamar
on the Eagle, for he wrote that some of the crew were turned over from
ship to ship so often that he was quite unable to make out their original
one:
"they being such that none choose to own them. Of forty-four said to
belong to the Ramilies, she wanted only six the other day, but her
boatswain could find out only those amongst them that he thought worth
having."
In the face of these deficiencies in quantity and quality of men, and
remembering the good character he doubtless obtained from Mr. Walker,
there can be no surprise that when Cook sailed out of an English port for
the first time as a Royal Navy sailor he held the rating of Master's
mate. It is usual to look upon him as an explorer and surveyor only, but
a little enquiry shows that he played an active part in some of the most
stirring events of the next few years. The records of his personal deeds
are wanting, but his ships saw service, and from his character it is
certain that when duty called, James Cook would not be found wanting.
Many of the men under whom he served have left behind names that will
always be associated with the construction of the present British Empire,
and with most of them he was in immediate personal contact, and obtained
in every case their respect, in some their close personal friendship.
PALLISSER COMMANDS.
On the 1st July the Eagle was ordered to fit and provision for the
Leeward Islands, but having received 62 men and 53 marines, the orders
were changed to cruise between Scilly and Cape Clear, and she sailed on
the 4th August. She was caught in a gale off the old Head of Kinsale and
received some damage, and her main mast was reported as sprung, so she
returned to Plymouth for survey and repairs. Thinking that the removal of
the mast would be a good opportunity to scrape his ship, which was very
foul, Captain Hamar had her lightened for that purpose, but on
examination the mast was found to be in good order, and the Admiralty was
so annoyed at the absence of the ship from her cruising ground that they
ordered Captain Pallisser to take over the command and prepare for sea
without further loss of time. This he did on the 1st October, and sailed
from Plymouth on the 7th, and after cruising about in the Channel and
making a few small captures he returned on the 22nd November, remaining
till the 13th March; and during this time Cook had a short spell of
sickness, but it can hardly be called serious, as he was only in hospital
for ten days, being back to his duty on the 17th February. In April, when
"off the Isle of Bass, brought to and sent on board the cutter a petty
officer and five men with arms, provisions, etc." This extract from the
log records Cook's first independent command; the cutter was one of two
hired vessels which had joined the squadron the previous day under
convoy, and the armed party was probably put on board as a precaution
against privateers who were at that time pretty busy on the French coast.
Cook took her into Plymouth Sound, and he and his five men went on board
the St. Albans, and in her rejoined his own ship on the 2nd May, and then
returned to Plymouth on the 4th June. Pallisser, in reporting his arrival
to the Secretary of the Admiralty, said that he had:
"put ashore to the hospital 130 sick men, most of which are extremely
ill: buried in the last month twenty-two. The surgeon and four men died
yesterday, and the surgeon's two mates are extremely ill: have
thirty-five men absent in prizes and thirty-five short of complement, so
that we are now in a very weak condition."