THE BACKBONE OF SUCCESS: THE CREW OF CAPTAIN COOK’S THIRD VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY Tyler G. Mower Senior Thesis Writing Component December 14, 2010 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 COOK’S THIRD VOYAGE 1776-1780 3 THE EVER IMPORTANT CREW 6 DEVOTED TO EXPLORATION 10 DUTIES WHILE SAILING 15 DUTIES ON LAND 31 REPARING THE SHIPS 42 CONCLUSION 53 BIBILOGRAPHY 58 ii ILLUSTRATIONS Figures 1. R. T. Sexton, Line-drawing of Captain Cook’s Resolution iv 2. William Hodges, The Resolution & Adventure 17 3. William Hodges, A View of Cape Stephens in Cook’s Straits 22 with Waterspout 4. William Ellis, A View of Point Venus 26 5. William Hodges, View in Pickersgill Harbour, Dusky Bay, 27 New Zealand 6. Geoffrey C. Ingleton, Crossing the Line; King Neptune’s Court 29 7. Alexandeer Buchan, The Watering place in the Bay of Good Success 35 8. James Cook rendition of Sydney Parkinson’s drawing, 36 Watering place in Tolaga Bay 9. John Webber, A View of Christmas Harbour in Kerguelen’s Land 40 10. John Webber, The Resolution and Discovery in danger 45 of being trapped in the ice north of Bering Strait 11. Sydney Parkinson, William Byrne engraver, 50 The Endeavor under repair in Endeavour River 12. Sydney Parkinson, Repairing the Endeavour 51 iii GLOSSARY Boatswain. A ship’s officer in charge of equipment and the crew. Coxswain. The steersman of a ship’s boat, lifeboat or other boat. Fathom. A unit of length equal to six feet, chiefly used in reference to the depth of water. Furl. Roll or fold up and secure neatly. Grog. Spirits (originally rum) mixed with water. Jib. A triangular staysail set forward of the forward-most mast. Main-topmast. The second section of a sailing ship’s mainmast. Shoal. An area of shallow water, esp. as a navigational hazard. Sound. Ascertain the depth of water, typically by means of a line or pole. Tack. An act of changing course by turning a vessel’s head into and through the wind, so as to bring the wind on the opposite side. Figure 1. “The names of the masts and sails have been added.” (Badger, 93.) R. T. Sexton, Line-drawing of Captain Cook’s Resolution. iv THE BACKBONE OF SUCCESS: THE CREW OF CAPTAIN COOK’S THIRD VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY People yearn to know what lies over the hill, around the next bend or beyond the horizon. Inquiry leads to exploration. Whether by sea, land or more recently, air and space, exploration has led to great discoveries in all fields of study. Expeditions of any kind, both those conducted in the past and present, require brave personnel to face the trials, dangers and roadblocks that constantly confront those who venture into the unknown. Prior to our modern era, most explorers and their crews had to put their lives on the line in order to gather information and explore new things. Such was the case in the mid-eighteenth century, as voyages of discovery were dispatched across the vast oceans to explore the far reaches of the world. The most well known explorer of the eighteenth-century was Captain James Cook (October 27, 1729 – February 14, 1779), who commanded three successful expeditions throughout the Pacific between 1768 and 1779. Captain Cook is revered as one of the greatest nautical explorers. The three voyages that he commanded filled in the map of the world, which brought an end to significant sea exploration for the discovery and mapping of coastal land throughout the North and South Pacific. Not only was Cook’s purpose to explore and discover new lands, but the Royal Society, an English organization devoted to scientific study, also sponsored his voyages for scientific purposes. Astronomers, botanists and artists were part of the voyages to help gather information on the far reaches of the world. Due to Captain Cook’s great leadership and navigational skills, along with the work of the scientists, his voyages are viewed as some of greatest explorations of all time. However, without the assistance and constant hard work of the crewmembers Cook’s voyages 1 would not have been successful. The crew of Captain Cook’s third voyage guaranteed the success of the expedition, because of their devotion to exploration, skillfully executed duties on and off the ships, and their ability to repair all parts of the ships. Though Captain Cook undertook three voyages of exploration, this paper will focus solely on the crew of the third voyage. Artistic renditions of the duties of the crews will be pulled from all three voyages, so as to get a view of as many of their tasks as possible. The artwork depicts aspects of the crew duties that are not described by the journals from the voyage and also give a visual of the situations and circumstances encountered. A more complete understanding of the crew duties is therefore gained when the artwork is accompanied with the explanations given in the journals.1 It should be noted that this paper is not about the chronology of the voyage, but about the work of the crew. Other scholars have already considerably researched the chronology of the voyage and its impact,2 while the importance of the crew has been overlooked. This is due to the little information known about the crewmembers themselves. Nevertheless, within the journals from the voyage ample information concerning the various duties performed by the crew is given. There is a difference 1. Sketches and paintings of the crew and their tasks are few and far between. This is because depictions of everyday routines that were commonplace in the eighteenth century, were less important than the new and exotic islands, people, plants and animals that were found. However, the few pieces of art available do show the importance of the crews work. John Weber, Sydney Parkinson and William Hodges were the main artists of Cook’s voyages. Alexander Buchan, Henry Roberts, John Cleveley and William Bayly were other members of the voyages who produced important artwork depicting the voyages. 2. Scholarly work on Captain Cook focuses on Cook and his qualities as a leader and explorer. It follows his discoveries and voyages or focuses on the impact made upon the native people throughout the Pacific region. The former J.C. Beaglehole is credited as the expert on Captain Cook, while Richard Hough, Alistair Maclean and Rex Rienits have also contributed greatly to the scholarly work on Captain Cook. 2 between the chronology of the voyage and the chronology of the crew’s duties as explained in the journals of those on board the ships.3 The chronological order of how a task was performed is the important aspect of this paper and therefore the chronological order of the voyage will at times come across as boggled. Even though the chronology of the voyage will not be strictly followed a brief understanding of the times and places of the voyage is important to give a scope of the vast region where ships and crews went. COOK’S THIRD VOYAGE 1776-1780 Cook’s third voyage consisted of two ships, the HMS Resolution, commanded by Captain James Cook and the HMS Discovery, commanded by Captain Charles Clerke. The purpose of Cook’s third voyage is described by Philip Edwards, an editor of the official journals of Captain Cook. Philip wrote: The instructions to Cook from the Admiralty were to make an attempt ‘to find out a Northern passage by Sea from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean.’ He was to proceed south from the Cape of Good Hope ‘in search of some Islands said to have been lately seen by the French’, then proceed to Tahiti…leaving in February 1777 for the coast of New Albion (north-western America) at latitude 45° and travel north to be in latitude 65° in June. If necessary he should winter in Kamchatka and make a second attempt in the following summer. (Edwards 1999, 328) The search for a northern passage was the main goal of the voyage. Coupled with that purpose, Cook was also to observe, describe, record and chart: the latitude and longitude of places stopped at, the tides, currents, depths of the sea, shoals, the nature of the soil, 3. For example, Cook’s third voyage began in July of 1776 and ended in 1780. During those years the two ships, the HMS Resolution and HMS Discovery, stopped at and explored many islands and coasts. In dissecting and researching the manner in which the crew went about fulfilling their tasks, bits and pieces of the journals were used to discover how such tasks were performed. Often the beginning of a task is mentioned in one journal near the chronological end of the voyage, while the ending of the same task is explained in a different journal near the chronological beginning of the voyage. 3 minerals, vegetation, wildlife, and native inhabitants.4 Due to the unforeseen dangers or opportunities that the voyage would encounter Cook was given the instruction from the admiralty, “to proceed as you shall judge most advantageous to the service on which you are employed.”5 Both ships set sail from Plymouth England, though on different dates, in mid July 1776. The course they pursued took them down to the Cape of Good Hope, where both ships met in November of 1776 and fully restocked their ships for the voyage. The Cape of Good Hope was the last “modern port” visited until December 1779. After leaving the Cape of Good Hope the ships sailed southeast and stopped briefly at Prince Edward Islands and Kerguelen Island. By January 1777 they past the southern tip of Tasmania, south of Australia.