Third voyage of James Cook
James Cook's third and final voyage (12 July 1776 – 4 October 1780) took the route from Plymouth via Tenerife and Cape Town to New Zealand and the Hawaiian Islands, and along the North American coast to the Bering Strait.
Its ostensible purpose was to return
Omai was returned to his homeland and the ships sailed onwards, encountering the
At Kealakekua Bay, a number of quarrels broke out between the Europeans and Hawaiians culminating in Cook's death in a violent exchange on 14 February 1779. The command of the expedition was assumed by Charles Clerke who tried in vain to find the Northwest Passage before his own death from tuberculosis. Under the command of John Gore the crews returned to a subdued welcome in London in October 1780.
Conception
Principally, the purpose of the voyage was an attempt to discover the fabled
In August 1773, Omai, a young Ra'iatean man, embarked from Huahine, travelling to Europe on Adventure, commanded by Tobias Furneaux who had touched at Tahiti as part of James Cook's second voyage of discovery in the Pacific. He arrived in London in October 1774 and was introduced into society by the naturalist Sir Joseph Banks and became a favourite curiosity in London. Ostensibly, the third voyage was planned to return Omai to Tahiti; this is what the general public believed.
Preparation and personnel
Vessels and provisions
On his last voyage, Cook once again commanded HMS Resolution. Resolution began her career as the 462 ton
Captain Charles Clerke commanded HMS Discovery,[5] which was a Whitby-built collier of 299 tons, originally named Diligence when she was built in 1774 by G. & N. Langborn for Mr. William Herbert from whom she was bought by the Admiralty. She was 27 feet (8.2 m) abeam with a hold depth of 11 feet (3.4 m). She cost £2,415 including alterations. Originally a brig, Cook had her changed to a full-rigged ship.[6]
Ships' companies
As his first lieutenant, Cook had John Gore, who had been round the world with him in the Endeavour and with Samuel Wallis in HMS Dolphin. James King was his second officer and John Williamson third. The master was William Bligh, who would later command HMS Bounty. William Anderson was surgeon and also acted as botanist, and the painter John Webber was the official artist. The crew included six midshipmen, a cook and a cook's mate, six quartermasters, twenty marines including a lieutenant, and forty-five able seamen.[3]
Discovery was commanded by Charles Clerke, who had previously served on Cook's first two expeditions and had previously sailed with John Byron. His first lieutenant was James Burney, his second John Rickman and among the midshipmen was George Vancouver, another veteran of Cook's second voyage. She had a crew of 70: 3 officers, 55 crew, 11 marines and one civilian.[3]
Other crew members included:
- William Bayly served as astronomer
- Joseph Billings was an able seaman, first on Discovery, later on Resolution
- James Cleveley, brother of artists John and Robert, served as carpenter
- George Dixon served on Resolution as armourer[7]
- John Ledyard, an American who served as a marine
- David Nelson was a botanical collector[8]
- Omai, a native of the island of Raiatea who had been brought to London on Cook's second voyage, acted as interpreter until he returned home
- Nathaniel Portlock served as master's mate on Discovery and later Resolution
- Edward Riou was a midshipman on Discovery and later Resolution
- Henry Roberts served as master's mate on Resolution. He prepared the charts for the official account of the voyage.[9][10]
- David Samwell was surgeon's 1st mate on Resolution
- William Taylor, midshipman on Resolution
- James Trevenen, midshipman on Resolution
- John Watts, midshipman on Resolution
- Simon Woodruff, gunner's mate on Discovery[11]
Voyage
Captain James Cook sailed from Plymouth on 12 July 1776. Clerke in the Discovery was delayed in London and did not follow until 1 August. On the way to Cape Town, the Resolution stopped at Tenerife to top off supplies. The ship reached Cape Town on 17 October, and Cook immediately had it re-caulked because it had been leaking very badly, especially through the main deck. When Discovery arrived on 10 November, she was also found to be in need of re-caulking.
The two ships sailed in company on 1 December and on 13 December located and named the
After returning Omai, Cook delayed his onward journey until 7 December, when he travelled north and on 18 January 1778 became the first European to visit the
From Hawaii, he went northeast on 2 February to explore the west coast of North America north of the Spanish settlements in
After leaving Nootka Sound, Cook explored and mapped the coast all the way to the Bering Strait, on the way identifying what came to be known as Cook Inlet in Alaska. It has been said that, in a single visit, Cook charted the majority of the North American northwest coastline on world maps for the first time, determined the extent of Alaska, and closed the gap between the Russian (from the west) and Spanish (from the south) exploratory probes of the northern limits of the Pacific.[16]
By the second week of August 1778, Cook was through the Bering Strait, sailing into the
The two vessels sailed around the Hawaiian Archipelago for some eight weeks looking for a suitable anchorage, until they made landfall at Kealakekua Bay, on the west coast of Hawaii Island, the largest island in the group, on 17 January 1779. During their navigation around the islands, the ships were accompanied by large numbers of gift-laden canoes whose occupants came fearlessly aboard the vessels. Palea, a chief, and Koa'a, a priest, came aboard and ceremoniously escorted Cook ashore where he was put through a long and peculiar ceremony before being allowed back to the ship.[19] Unbeknown to Cook, his arrival coincided with the Makahiki, a Hawaiian harvest festival of worship for the Polynesian god Lono. Coincidentally, the form of Cook's ship, HMS Resolution—specifically the mast formation, sails, and rigging—resembled certain significant artefacts that formed part of the season of worship.[18][20] Similarly, Cook's clockwise route around the island of Hawaii before making landfall resembled the processions that took place in a clockwise direction around the island during the Lono festivals. It has been argued that such coincidences were the reasons for Cook's (and to a limited extent, his crew's) initial deification by some Hawaiians who treated Cook as an incarnation of Lono.[21] Though this view was first suggested by members of Cook's expedition, the idea that any Hawaiians understood Cook to be Lono, and the evidence presented in support of it has been challenged.[18][22]
Death
After a month's stay, Cook got under sail to resume his exploration of the Northern Pacific. However, shortly after leaving Hawaii Island, the foremast of the Resolution broke and the ships returned to Kealakekua Bay for repairs.[23] It has been hypothesised that the return to the islands by Cook's expedition was not just unexpected by the Hawaiians, but also unwelcome because the season of Lono had recently ended (presuming that they associated Cook with Lono and Makahiki). In any case, tensions rose and a number of quarrels broke out between the Europeans and Hawaiians. On 14 February at Kealakekua Bay, some Hawaiians took one of Cook's small boats. Normally, as thefts were quite common in Tahiti and the other islands, Cook would have taken hostages until the stolen articles were returned.[24]
Indeed, he attempted to take hostage the
The esteem in which he was nevertheless held by the Hawaiians caused their chiefs and elders to retain his body. Following the practice of the time, Cook's body underwent funerary rituals similar to those reserved for the chiefs and highest elders of the society. The body was disembowelled and baked to facilitate removal of the flesh, and the bones were carefully cleaned for preservation as religious icons in a fashion somewhat reminiscent of the treatment of European saints in the Middle Ages. Some of Cook's remains, disclosing some corroborating evidence to this effect, were eventually returned to the British for a formal burial at sea following an appeal by the crew.[29]
Homeward voyage
Clerke, who was dying of
Return home
An Atlantic gale blew the expedition so far north that they first made landfall at Stromness in Orkney. The Resolution and Discovery arrived off Sheerness on 4 October 1780. The news of Cook's and Clerke's deaths had already reached London, so their homecoming was to a subdued welcome.[32]
Publication of journals
Cook's account of his third and final voyage was completed upon their return by James King. Cook's own journal ended abruptly on 17 January 1779, but those of his crew were handed to the Admiralty for editing before publication. In anticipation of the publication of his journal, Cook had spent much shipboard time rewriting it.[33]
The task of editing the account of the voyage was entrusted by the Admiralty to Dr John Douglas, Canon of St Paul's, who had the journals in his possession by November 1780. He added the journal of the surgeon, William Anderson, to the journals of Cook and James King. The final publication, in June 1784, amounted to three volumes, 1,617 pages, with 87 plates. Public interest in the account resulted in its selling out within three days, despite the high price of £4 14s 6d.[34]
As on the earlier voyages, unofficial accounts written by members of the crew were produced. The first to appear, in 1781, was a narrative based on the journal of John Rickman entitled Journal of Captain Cook's Last Voyage. The German translation Tagebuch einer Entdekkungs Reise nach der Südsee in den Jahren 1776 bis 1780 unter Anführung der Capitains Cook, Clerke, Gore und King by Johann Reinhold Forster appeared in the same year. Heinrich Zimmermann published in 1781 his diary Reise um die Welt mit Capitain Cook. Then in 1782 an account by William Ellis, Surgeon's Mate on the Discovery, was published, followed in 1783 by John Ledyard's A Journal of Captain Cook's Last Voyage published in Connecticut.[35]
References
Citations
- ISBN 9780665424335.
- ^ Rigby & van der Merwe 2002, p. 52
- ^ a b c Villiers 1967, p. 196
- ^ "CCSU – 225 Years Ago: Apr – Jun 1776". 2002. Retrieved 10 November 2011.
- ^ Collingridge 2003, p. 327
- ^ Gibson, Doug (2004). "The Discovery". Captain Cook Society. Retrieved 10 November 2011.
- OCLC 1772616
- hdl:10125/1529.
- ^ Cook's Log, page 315, volume 7, number 4 (1984).
- ^ Cook's Log, page 16, volume 31, number 4 (2008).
- ^ "Simon Woodruff, Adventurer - Genealogy.com". www.genealogy.com.
- ^ Collingridge 2003, p. 380
- ^ Hayes 1999, pp. 42–43
- ^ "Resolution Cove". BC Geographical Names.
- ^ Fisher 1979
- ^ Williams 1997, p. xxvi
- ^ Beaglehole 1968, pp. 615–621
- ^ a b c Obeyesekere 1992
- ^ Rigby & van der Merwe 2002, p. 57
- ^ Collingridge 2003, p. 404
- ^ Sahlins 1985
- ^ Obeyesekere 1997
- ^ Rigby & van der Merwe 2002, p. 58
- ^ Collingridge 2003, p. 409
- ^ Collingridge 2003, p. 410
- ^ Sheldon Dibble (1843). History of the Sandwich Islands. Lahainaluna: Press of the Mission Seminary. p. 61.
- ^ "Muster for HMS Resolution during the third Pacific voyage, 1776–1780" (PDF). Captain Cook Society. 15 October 2012. p. 20. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 27 October 2014.
- ^ Rigby & van der Merwe 2002, p. 60
- ^ Collingridge 2003, p. 413
- ^ Collingridge 2003, p. 412
- ^ Collingridge 2003, p. 423
- ^ a b Rigby & van der Merwe 2002, p. 61
- ^ Williams 2008, p. 52
- ^ Williams 1997, p. xxxii
- ^ Williams 2008, pp. 20–21
General bibliography
- OCLC 223185477.
- ISBN 0-7136-1382-3.
- ISBN 0-09-188898-0.
- Fisher, Robin (1979). Captain James Cook and his times. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9780709900504.
- Hayes, Derek (1999). Historical Atlas of the Pacific Northwest: Maps of exploration and Discovery. Sasquatch Books. ISBN 1-57061-215-3.
- ISBN 0-340-82556-1.
- ISBN 978-0-300-11421-8.
- ISBN 0-691-05752-4.
- Obeyesekere, Gananath (1997). The Apotheosis of Captain Cook: European Mythmaking in the Pacific. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-05752-1.
With new preface and afterword replying to criticism from Sahlins.
- Rigby, Nigel; van der Merwe, Pieter (2002). Captain Cook in the Pacific. National Maritime Museum, London UK. ISBN 0-948065-43-5.
- Robson, John (2004). The Captain Cook Encyclopædia. Random House Australia. ISBN 0-7593-1011-4.
- ISBN 978-0-226-73358-6.
- Sahlins, Marshall David (1995). How "Natives" Think: About Captain Cook, for Example. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-73368-5.
- ISBN 0-14-139062-X.
- Williams, Glyndwr (1997). Captain Cook's Voyages: 1768–1779. London: The Folio Society.
- Williams, Glyndwr (2004). Captain Cook: Explorations and Reassessments's. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell Press. ISBN 1-84383-100-7.
- Williams, Glyndwr (2008). The Death of Captain Cook: A Hero Made and Unmade. London: Profile Books. ISBN 978-1-86197-842-4.
Further reading
- Edwards, Philip, ed. (2003). James Cook: The journals. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-043647-2.
Prepared from the original manuscripts by J.C. Beaglehole 1955–1967
- Richardson, Brian (2005). Longitude and Empire: How Captain Cook's voyages changed the world. University of British Columbia Press. ISBN 0-7748-1190-0.
- Thomas, Nicholas (2003). The Extraordinary Voyages of Captain James Cook. New York, NY: Walker & Co. ISBN 0-8027-1412-9.
- Villiers, Alan (Summer 1956–1957). "James Cook, Seaman". Quadrant. Vol. 1, no. 1. pp. 7–16.
- Villiers, Alan John (1983) [1903]. Captain James Cook. Newport Beach, CA: Books on Tape.
External links
- Captain Cook Society
- Cook's Third Voyage Website of illustrations and maps about Cook's third voyage