Captain Cook's Apprentice Chapter Notes
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Captain Cook’s Apprentice Chapter Notes 1 Captain Cook’s Apprentice Chapter Notes For eyewitness descriptions of incidents, see Cook, Banks and Parkinson Journals, and also Hawkesworth under ‘Voyaging Accounts’ at http://southseas.nla.gov.au. The prefix Adm and reference number indicates an Admiralty series document held at the UK National Archives. Chapter 1 Black hand. The Manley family crest dates to mediaeval times. John Manley’s shield can still be seen in Middle Temple Hall. London Bridge. The first stone bridge over the Thames was opened in 1209 and stood for over 600 years. The second London Bridge opened in 1831, and the most recent in 1973. Baldwin’s Guide of 1768 gives the watermen’s rate from London to Deptford as two shillings and sixpence (half a crown). Shooting the Bridge. The dangers were very real (Jackson pp 70-1). Manley family. Isaac was descended through the younger branch of a landed family from Erbistock, in Wales. His great-great grandfather, John, fought for Cromwell and was an MP. His great-grandfather, Isaac, was Postmaster-General in Ireland, and grandfather, John (died 1743), was a Commissioner for Customs and lived at Hatton Garden. His father, also John (c1716-1801), was called to the Bar in 1739 and became a Bencher [senior member] of the Middle Temple in 1768. In 1750 he married Ann Hammond and they had five children. Isaac George Manley. Baptised St Giles-in-the-Fields, London, 3 March 1755. Given high infant mortality rates, most children were baptised quickly and Isaac would have been born about this date. His elder brother John, and younger brother Robert Kenrick both entered the 33rd [Lord Cornwallis’s] Regiment. Isaac had an elder sister Maria, and a younger Louisa, both apparently unmarried. It’s not known where the children went to school: possibly the family had a tutor. Servant. Isaac joined Endeavour 17 June. Beaglehole Life (p 139) gives Isaac’s age as 12, but this is incorrect: he was 13 years and three months It is unclear how Isaac got a place on the ship but his father had connections with the Royal Navy. For Captain Cook’s Apprentice Chapter Notes 2 example, in 1790 Isaac wrote to the Secretary of the Admiralty, Sir Philip Stephens, My father desires his compts [compliments]. Stephens had begun his career at the Navy Office, near the Customs House where Isaac’s grandfather was a Commissioner. Service with an officer was a not uncommon way for young gentlemen to enter the Royal Navy. London. I have used the facsimile of John Roque’s Plan of 1746. Tahiti. The modern spelling. Cook and others used the archaic Otaheite. Wallis called it ‘King George’s Island’. I have used modern spelling throughout. Endeavour. Built in 1764 as a coal ship at Whitby, Yorkshire. A cat-built (deep- waisted) bark of three masts, square rigged, she weighed 368 tons, had an extreme length of 97ft 7in (29.7m), and was 29ft 3in (8.9 m) at her widest (Parkin p 4). She drew about 14ft of water (less than 2.5 fathoms) laden. Originally the Earl of Pembroke, renamed HM Bark Endeavour when bought by the Royal Navy in 1768. James Cook. One of the world’s greatest navigators. Born 1728 at Marton, Yorkshire, son of a Scottish farm labourer. At 17 he was apprenticed to a Staithes grocer, but subsequently transferred to a Whitby coal-shipper, the Quaker John Walker, where Cook learned his seamanship. In 1755 he joined the Royal Navy, and received high praise for his survey of the St Lawrence River in Canada during the Seven Years War. His later survey of Newfoundland and observation of an eclipse brought him to the attention of the Royal Society, the Admiralty, and his appointment as Lieutenant to command Endeavour. Nick Young. Described by Molineux Journal October 1769 as about 12 years old. Gore calls him ‘a little boy’. HMS Dolphin. The Dolphin made two voyages around the world: with Captain Byron (1764-66), and Captain Wallis (1766-68), who discovered Tahiti. His glowing accounts encouraged the Royal Society to select the island for the Pacific observation of the Transit of Venus. Master. The senior non-commissioned officer and one of the most important roles on an 18th century ship. The modern equivalent would be that of navigator, although a Master’s responsibility for the internal management of the ship was much broader. Isaac would have learned his craft from topmast to keel. Larboard. Easily confused with ‘starboard’, and from about 1800 gradually changed to ‘port.’ Captain Cook’s Apprentice Chapter Notes 3 Sauerkraut. Literally ‘sour cabbage.’ A European dish of sliced fresh cabbage, salted and fermented by various lactic acid bacteria. It keeps well and retains much of its Vitamin C, an important factor in overcoming scurvy during long sea voyages. Cook received the Copley Medal in 1776 for demonstrating its efficacy. See Cook Journal 13 April 1769 for his psychology in getting the crew to eat it. Chapter 2 Endeavour. My descriptions of life aboard the ship are based on an eight-day sail I made on the Endeavour replica from Melbourne to Sydney in April 2006, and visits to the ship at the Australian National Maritime Museum, Sydney. Captain Ross Mattson and his crew willingly showed this landlubber his ropes. Hammock. I slept one night in a hammock in the low part of the deck. It was enough. Storm. Cook 1 September 1768. Weather sayings. From a collection at the Maritime Museum, Falmouth, UK. Net. Banks Journal 5 September. Weir. Cook 14 September. Flogging. 16 September. Beef. To conserve supplies, salt beef was not eaten every day at sea. Non-meat days were known as ‘banyan days’. Scurvy. The physician James Lind wrote in 1753 on the value of citrus in preventing scurvy, but little notice was taken at first. Cook helped show that, apart from sauerkraut, the real antiscorbutics were fresh food, greenstuffs, and above all citrus. Once this was understood, every British ship carried lemons and limes – hence the term ‘Limeys’ (Brown, Rodger pp 100-103, Beaglehole Life pp 135-6). Lord Anson. George Anson (1697-1762), First Lord of the Admiralty. Circumnavigated the world 1740-44, his fleet of six ships reduced to one. About 200 returned of the remaining crew of 961 men, 90% dying of scurvy. Brown says, ‘This terrible loss heralds the golden age of scurvy research in England.’ Funchal. Parkinson (p 2) says the hills above Funchal were cultivated with vines and orange trees, and it ‘appears like one wide, extended, beautiful garden’ (as distinct, we may think, from the uncultivated floggings taking place on board Endeavour.) St Nicholas. Author visit, October 2006. The skull and crossbones can still be seen on the gateposts, also the charnel house. Thurman. Beaglehole Journal Vol I p 596 ‘The Ship’s Company.’ I assume Thurman was taken ashore, as press gangs also boarded merchant ships (Rodger p 180-2). Captain Cook’s Apprentice Chapter Notes 4 Chapter 3 Tenerife. Banks 23 September. Spanish Ladies. The shanty dates to the 1690s. It recurs throughout this book. I have used a version found with three different tunes at www.ingeb.org/songs Shark. Banks 29 September. Bully boys, Bullies. ‘Fine boys, hearties.’ Originally a term of affection or comradeship, and used in this sense. No doubt actions such as the press gangs led to its current tyrannical meaning. Crossing the Line. Banks 25 October describes the ceremony. Rio. Cook 13-30 November. A ‘paper war’ broke out between Cook and the Governor over the refusal to let Endeavour crew ashore, which the Captain took as an insult to himself and the British Crown. Like most of these engagements it was hot and angry but ultimately futile – and Cook was careful not to let any stray shots sink his expedition. Sneaking ashore. Banks 22-26 November. Jails. 20 November. Flogger flogged. Cook 30 November. Chapter 4 Flower. Cook 2 December 1768. Watches. A ship’s 24-hour day started at noon, a time easily fixed when the sun is at its zenith. From midday, under a three-watch system all watches are of four hours except the two late afternoon ‘dog watches’ which are each of two hours. Without them, every watchman would be on duty at the same time every day. ‘Dog’ may be a shortened term for those said to be ‘dodging’ a full watch. With a two-watch system there are no dog watches. The crew serve four hours on duty and four hours off. The watch is not only necessary for the safety of the ship. With the daily routine it provides structure, meaning and occupation for the lives of sailors, helping to prevent minds from becoming idle, bored and mischievous. Giants and pigmies. See Hawkesworth Introduction, also Byron and Wallis sections. Indians. The Endeavour journals usually refer to any native peoples as Indians. I have kept the practice here in direct speech. Fearnought jackets. Cook 6 January 1769. Guanaco. Animal similar to a llama. Deaths. Based on Banks 16-17 January. Captain Cook’s Apprentice Chapter Notes 5 Slaves. It is estimated 9.5 million African slaves were transported to the Americas during the 18th and early 19th centuries. England stopped her slave trade in 1807, and abolished it altogether in her colonies in 1834. Albatross. Banks 5 February. Nails. See Wallis July 1767 in Hawkesworth. Goat. Ibid p 313. Greenslade. Cook and Banks 26 March. Chapter 5 Plantain. A tropical fruit, similar to a banana. Rules. Cook 13 April. Thieves. 14 April. Shooting.