User:Harkey Lodger/Third voyage of James Cook

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Upon his return, Cook was promoted to the rank of captain and given an honorary retirement from the Royal Navy, as an officer in the Greenwich Hospital. His acceptance was reluctant, insisting that he be allowed to quit the post if the opportunity for active duty presented itself.[1] His fame now extended beyond the Admiralty and he was also made a Fellow of the Royal Society and awarded the Copley Gold Medal, painted by Nathaniel Dance-Holland, dined with James Boswell and described in the House of Lords as "the first navigator in Europe". But he could not be kept away from the sea. A third voyage was planned and Cook volunteered to find the Northwest Passage. Cook travelled to the Pacific and hoped to travel east to the Atlantic, while a simultaneous voyage travelled the opposite way.[2]

Conception[edit]

Ostensibly, the voyage was planned to return Omai to Tahiti; this is what the general public believed, as he had become a favourite curiosity in London. Principally the purpose of the voyage was an attempt to discover the famed Northwest Passage.[3]

Preparations and personnel[edit]

Vessels and provisions[edit]

On his last voyage, Cook once again commanded HMS Resolution, while Captain Charles Clerke commanded HMS Discovery.

Ships' companies[edit]

Voyage[edit]

After returning Omai, Cook travelled north and in 1778 became the first European to visit the Hawaiian Islands. In passing and after initial landfall in January 1778 at Waimea harbour, Kauai, Cook named the archipelago the "Sandwich Islands" after the fourth Earl of Sandwich—the acting First Lord of the Admiralty.[4]

From the South Pacific, he went northeast to explore the west coast of North America north of the Spanish settlements in Alta California. He made landfall at approximately 44°30′ north latitude, near Cape Foulweather on the Oregon coast, which he named. Bad weather forced his ships south to about 43° north before they could begin their exploration of the coast northward.[5] He unknowingly sailed past the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and soon after entered Nootka Sound on Vancouver Island. He anchored near the First Nations village of Yuquot. Cook's two ships spent about a month in Nootka Sound, from 29 March to 26 April 1778, in what Cook called Ship Cove, now Resolution Cove,[6] at the south end of Bligh Island, about 5 miles (8 km) east across Nootka Sound from Yuquot, a Nuu-chah-nulth village (whose chief Cook did not identify but may have been Maquinna). Relations between Cook's crew of the people of Yuquot were cordial if sometimes strained. In trading, the people of Yuquot demanded much more valuable items than the usual trinkets that had worked for Cook's crew in Hawaii. Metal objects were much desired, but the lead, pewter, and tin traded at first soon fell into disrepute. The most valuable items the British received in trade were sea otter pelts. Over the month long stay the Yuquot "hosts" essentially controlled the trade with the British vessels, instead of vice versa. Generally the natives visited the British vessels at Resolution Cove instead of the British visiting the village of Yuquot at Friendly Cove.[7]

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 gaps in Russian (from the West) and Spanish (from the South) exploratory probes of the Northern limits of the Pacific.

The Bering Strait proved to be impassable, although he made several attempts to sail through it. He became increasingly frustrated on this voyage, and perhaps began to suffer from a stomach ailment; it has been speculated that this led to irrational behaviour towards his crew, such as forcing them to eat walrus meat, which they found inedible.[8]

Cook returned to Hawaii in 1779. After sailing around the archipelago for some eight weeks, he made landfall at Kealakekua Bay, on 'Hawaii Island', largest island in the Hawaiian Archipelago. Cook's arrival coincided with the Makahiki, a Hawaiian harvest festival of worship for the Polynesian god Lono.

Death[edit]

After a month's stay, Cook got under sail again 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. 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. Indeed, he attempted to take hostage the King of Hawaiʻi, Kalaniʻōpuʻu. The Hawaiians prevented this, and Cook's men had to retreat to the beach. As Cook turned his back to help launch the boats, he was struck on the head by the villagers and then stabbed to death as he fell on his face in the surf.[9] Hawaiian tradition says that he was killed by a chief named Kalanimanokahoowaha.[10] The Hawaiians dragged his body away. Four of the Marines with Cook were also killed and two wounded in the confrontation.

The Death of Captain James Cook, 14 February 1779, an unfinished painting by Johann Zoffany, circa 1795.[11]

The esteem in which he was nevertheless held by the Hawaiians resulted in his body being retained by their chiefs and elders. 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, 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.[12]

Homeward voyage[edit]

Clerke took over the expedition and made a final attempt to pass through the Bering Strait.[13] Following the death of Clerke on 22 August 1799, from consumption, Resolution and Discovery arrived home on 4 October 1780 commanded by John Gore, a veteran of Cook's first voyage, and Captain James King.[14]

David Samwell, who sailed with Cook on the Resolution, wrote of him:

He was a modest man, and rather bashful; of an agreeable lively conversation, sensible and intelligent. In temper he was somewhat hasty, but of a disposition the most friendly, benevolent and humane. His person was above six feet high: and, though a good looking man, he was plain both in dress and appearance. His face was full of expression: his nose extremely well shaped: his eyes which were small and of a brown cast, were quick and piercing; his eyebrows prominent, which gave his countenance altogether an air of austerity.[15]

Publication of journals[edit]

Cook's account of his third and final voyage was completed upon their return by Captain James King.

Legacy[edit]

Debates[edit]

Cook's voyages took place in the midst of 18th century debates about the ennobling or corrupting influence of Western civilisation, yet examination of Cook's journals reveal that he was not much interested in the idea of the noble savage. When, in the 19th century, there was discussion of the motives of navigators and explorers, Joseph Conrad contrasted Cook's "scientific" motives with the "acquisitive" motives of earlier generations of explorers. Yet the costs for Cook's three voyages were borne by the British government within a framework of objectives that had to stand up to taxpayer scrutiny and Cook often claimed territories for the British crown.[16] In the 20th century, there are those who believe, with Moorehead, whose book The Fatal Impact (1966) that Western civilisation brought a depressing train of consequences, including venereal disease, alcohol and firearms.[17] Later in the century, Cook's achievements, and in particular, the circumstances surrounding his death have become the subject of scholarly debate. Gananath Obeyesekere in The Apotheosis Of Captain Cook : European Mythmaking In The Pacific, (1992),[18] and Marshall Sahlins in How "Natives" Think: About Captain Cook, for Example (1995) disagree about the interpretation of the Hawaiian response to Cook as documented in the journals of Cook and his crew.[19]

Cook's arrival in Hawaii coincided with the Makahiki, a Hawaiian harvest festival of worship for the Polynesian god Lono. Indeed the form of Cook's ship, HMS Resolution, or more particularly the mast formation, sails and rigging, resembled certain significant artefacts that formed part of the season of worship. 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 (most extensively by Marshall Sahlins) 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.[20] 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 was challenged in 1992.[8][21]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Beaglehole 1974, p. 444
  2. ^ Hough 1994, p. 268
  3. ^ Collingridge 2003, p. 327
  4. ^ Collingridge 2003, p. 380
  5. ^ Hayes 1999, pp. 42–43
  6. ^ "Resolution Cove". BC Geographical Names.
  7. ^ Fisher 1979
  8. ^ a b Obeyesekere 1992
  9. ^ Collingridge 2003, p. 410
  10. ^ Sheldon Dibble (1843). History of the Sandwich Islands. Lahainaluna: Press of the Mission Seminary. p. 61.
  11. ^ "The Death of Captain James... (BHC0424) – National Maritime Museum". National Maritime Museum. Retrieved 21 November 2010.
  12. ^ Collingridge 2003, p. 413
  13. ^ Collingridge 2003, p. 412
  14. ^ Collingridge 2003, p. 423
  15. ^ Samwell, David (1791). The death of Captain James Cook – Google Books. p. 20. Retrieved 14 August 2011.
  16. ^ "Background To Discovery". Retrieved 26 August 2011.
  17. ^ Moorhead 1966
  18. ^ Obeyesekere 1992
  19. ^ Sahlins 1985
  20. ^ Sahlins 1985
  21. ^ Obeyesekere 1997

Bibliography[edit]

Further reading[edit]

  • Edwards, Philip, ed. (2003). James Cook: The Journals. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 0140436472. Prepared from the original manuscripts by J. C. Beaglehole 1955–67
  • Forster, Georg, ed. (1986). A Voyage Round the World. Wiley-VCH. ISBN 9783050001807. Published first 1777 as: A Voyage round the World in His Britannic Majesty's Sloop Resolution, Commanded by Capt. James Cook, during the Years, 1772, 3, 4, and 5
  • Richardson, Brian (2005). Longitude and Empire: How Captain Cook's Voyages Changed the World. University of British Columbia Press. ISBN 0774811900.
  • Thomas, Nicholas (2003). The Extraordinary Voyages of Captain James Cook. New York: Walker & Co. ISBN 0802714129.
  • Villiers, Alan (Summer 1956–57). "James Cook, Seaman". Quadrant. 1 (1): 7–16.
  • Villiers, Alan John (1983) [1903]. Captain James Cook. Newport Beach, CA: Books on Tape.

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to James Cook.
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cooksociety.com/ccsu1.htm Captain Cook Society]

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