Cook

by Rob Mundle

  By the end of December, Cook was becoming frustrated in his search for Bouvet’s supposed discovery. He had guided his two ships to the approximate position that the Frenchman plotted for the landmass, but there was nothing to be seen. After yet another day of searching, he wrote of his conclusion:

  The Weather was so clear, that land even of a moderate height might have been seen 15 Leagues, so that there could be no land betwixt us and the Latitude of 58 degrees. In short, I am of opinion that what M. Bouvet took for land and named Cape Circumcision was nothing but Mountains of Ice surrounded by field Ice. We ourselves were undoubtedly deceived by the Ice Hills the Day we first fell in with the field Ice.

  He then aired his frustration, saying he was ‘only sorry that in searching after those imaginary Lands, I have spent so much time, which will become the more valuable as the season advanceth’.

  Even so, a sixth sense had Cook believing that there was a major landmass to be found somewhere in the southern half of the world. What he would never know was that the cape he was searching for was a tiny island, just 5 miles long and measuring a total of 19 square miles, almost all of which was covered by a glacier. Bouvet’s coordinates for its position were inaccurate by a considerable margin, and it would not be for another thirty-five years that Bouvet Island was sighted. When it was, it became recognised as the most remote speck of land on earth – more than 1000 miles from anywhere else.

  Cook’s supposition regarding the existence of Cape Circumcision led to him writing on the same day: ‘it is plain that if there is land [in this region] it can have no great extent North and South, but I am so fully of opinion that there is none that I shall not go in search of it, being now determined to make the best of my way to the East in the Latitude of 60 degrees or upwards.’ He added that he would then continue his exploration, as Resolution took up a course to the east and south in search of whatever else might be out there.

  By 9 January 1773, both ships were running low on water and here the captain implemented what he would realise to be ‘the most expeditious of watering I have ever met’. The two ships sailed into a field of ‘growlers’, to use the modern term – large chunks of ice – where he called for the vessels to be stopped and the boats hoisted out, so that as much ice as possible could be collected and lifted onto each of the ships using a block and tackle. The initial procedure took close to six hours to complete; in that time, the ice was further broken up using ice axes, and then melted, thus contributing 15 tons of fresh water for Resolution and 9 for Adventure. The entire operation lasted three days and, by then, Resolution had an additional 40 tons of water on board.

  Cook the explorer soon became Cook the scientist, a man fascinated by icy-cold seawater. He had a thermometer attached to a line and sent it down to the 100-fathom mark, and on its recovery, learned that the water temperature was 32 degrees at that depth. This brought him to a question: ‘Some curious and interesting experiments are wanting to know what effect cold has on Sea Water in some of the following instances: does it freeze or does it not? If it does, what degree of cold is necessary and what becomes of the Salt brine? for all the Ice we meet with yields Water perfectly sweet and fresh …’

  The search for land of any form then continued, initially to the east. As soon as the weather conditions were in his favour, however, Cook had the ships make a major course change towards the south and hold it until, during the middle of the day on 17 January, he became the first explorer to venture beyond 66 degrees south – the latitude of the Antarctic Circle. This is the northernmost latitude of the southern hemisphere, where in high summer the sun remains above the horizon around the clock.

  Twenty-four hours after this historic event, Resolution and Adventure were at a remarkable 67 degrees 15 minutes south, and it was here, having himself climbed the icy rigging to the position of the lookout, that Cook realised he had reached the limit of his exploration in the high latitudes. ‘[The] ice was so thick and close that we could proceed no further,’ he wrote. ‘From the masthead I could see nothing to the Southward but Ice … I did not think it was consistent with the safety of the Sloops or any ways prudent for me to persevere in going farther to the South as the Summer was already half spent …’

  Cook was then a mere 75 miles to the north of the Antarctic continent, the existence of which was not even apparent until its discovery in 1840 by a United States navy expedition commanded by Charles Wilkes. Cook might well have got there first had it not been for the impenetrable barrier of ice that confronted his ship.

  He then chose the option of going in search of the Kerguelen Islands – an archipelago of more than 300 mainly barren and rocky outcrops, the largest of which has an area of 2577 square miles. They had been discovered the previous year by a Frenchman, Yves-Joseph de Kerguelen-Trémarec, who, like Cook, had been searching for the Great South Land. Cook and his officers learned of Kerguelen-Trémarec’s discovery while in Cape Town.

  This new search had the two ships sailing to the north-east. When the weather allowed it, during the day they would sail abeam of each other, 4 or more miles apart, in order to scan the widest possible area of ocean, while at night the vessels would close in and thus minimise the risk of losing visual contact. This was again another fruitless search, due in part to the conditions, but more importantly because, once again, the coordinates given for the islands were not as accurate as Cook’s navigation. Time would reveal that Resolution and Adventure did not come within 300 miles of their target. Clerke summed up the situation: ‘We’ve been for these 6 or 7 days past cruising for the Land the Frenchman gave intelligence of at the Cape of Good Hope – if my friend Monsieur found any Land, he’s been confoundedly out in the Latitude & Longitude of it, for we’ve searched the spot he represented … and the devil an Inch of Land is there.’

  Having exhausted every possibility available to him to locate the Kerguelen Islands, Cook abandoned the effort on 6 February, and with Adventure in company, ‘bore away East a little all sails set’. It was time to move on while the summer season remained in their favour and see what land, if any, might be lying ahead, awaiting discovery.

  Within two days, though, there was a significant setback to the mission, when the ships became separated in a thick fog and both visual and sound-signal contact was lost. Prior to the arrival of the fog, Adventure was seen sailing on a parallel course to Resolution’s, about a mile off her larboard quarter. There was no cause for immediate concern aboard Resolution, when Cook implemented the standard procedure for retaining contact via the sound of cannon-fire:

  At 9 o’Clock we fired a gun and repeated it at 10 and at 11 and at Noon made the Signal to Tack and Tacked accordingly, but neither this last Signal or any of the former were answered by the Adventure which gave us too much reason to apprehend that a separation would take place … In short we were entirely at a loss, even to guess by what means she got out of the hearing of the first gun we fired …

  By mid-afternoon, with still no indication of Adventure being in proximity, either visually or via return cannon fire, Cook accepted that he had no option but to move to the next stage of the search and return to the position where the support vessel was last seen. Captain Furneaux was expected to have followed the same instructions at about the same time. A cannon aboard Resolution was then fired every thirty minutes while, during the hours of darkness, they lit more false fires at the masthead in the hope that those aboard Adventure might see the glow.

  Despite their best efforts, for over forty-eight hours there was no sign of the missing ship. It was decision time for the commander, who was confident that nothing untoward had happened to their consort: ‘Having now spent two Days out of the three assigned to look for each other, I thought it would be to little purpose to wait any longer … I therefore made sail to the SE with a very fresh gale at WBN accompanied with a high Sea.’ Resolution’s ultimate destination was then, as prearranged with Furneaux, Queen Charlotte Sound.

  From the moment that the course to th
e east was resumed, so too was the alertness of all those aboard when it came to searching for land. It was only three days later, on 13 February, that they observed possible signs of terra firma being nearby, in particular the presence of an increasing number of penguins about the ship. There was then considerable debate among the officers as to the direction in which land might lie. Here, again, logic and natural instinct informed Cook’s opinion:

  Some said we should find it to East others to the North, but it was remarkable that not one gave it as his opinion that any was to be found to the South which served to convince me that they had no inclination to proceed any farther that way. I however was resolved to get as far to the South as I conveniently could without losing too much easting although I must confess I had little hopes of meeting with land, for the high swell or Sea which we have had for some time from the West came now gradually round to SSE so that it was not probable any land was near between these two points and it is less probable that land of any extent can lie to the North …

  His reasoning was based on the fact that Tasman had tracked through the Southern Ocean to the north of Resolution’s position, so, had any large landmass been there, it would almost certainly have been discovered. Additionally, he expected that Furneaux would probably sail a similar course to Tasman’s while heading for New Zealand. History later confirmed that Resolution was in relatively close proximity to land when the penguins were sighted, but it was a very small island – Heard Island – a rugged, snow-capped peak that was given a place on the world map after being sighted in 1853 by Captain John Heard. At this stage in Cook’s voyage, with there being no definitive evidence of land, he drew a new conclusion: ‘it is now impossible for us to look upon Penguins to be certain signs of the vicinity of land or, in short, any other Aquatic birds which frequent high latitudes.’

  During the next week, the crew of Resolution were fortunate to observe two remarkable natural phenomena. On 17 February, they were possibly the first Europeans to witness the spectacular Aurora Australis in the southern skies. Cook wrote of this: ‘Last night Lights were seen in the Heavens similar to those seen in the Northern Hemisphere commonly called the Northern lights, I do not remember of any Voyagers making mention of them being seen in the Southern before.’ Then, on 22 February, they watched in awe as a gigantic iceberg capsized: ‘After Dinner hoisted out two Boats and set them to take up Ice while we stood to and from under the island [iceberg] which was about half a mile in circuit and three or four hundred feet high, yet this huge body turned nearly bottom-up while we were near it.’

  Cook continued to maintain an easterly course virtually along the latitude of 60 degrees south, and in doing so courted danger around the clock because of the hundreds of icebergs and large pieces of ice that stood in their way. Until this point, he had been harbouring a desire to venture once more into the Antarctic Circle, but not any longer. ‘[The] pieces which break from the large Islands are more dangerous than the Islands themselves,’ he reasoned, ‘the latter are generally seen at a sufficient distance to give time to steer clear of them, whereas the others cannot be seen in the night or thick weather till they are under the Bows.’ Interestingly, when the position of Resolution at this time is considered, had Cook turned due south as planned, he could well have sighted land – Antarctica.

  Despite the bleak and harsh environment that the crew had to endure, Cook continued to insist that personal hygiene and a tidy general appearance be maintained. He punished men who had dirty hands by withholding their daily grog allowance. When it came to the state of a crewman’s clothing, Clerke noted: ‘Captain Cook having Observed many of the People in rather a ragged condition, this forenoon he gave them some Needles thread and Buttons, that they may have no excuse for their tattered [appearance] … they also have every Saturday to themselves to wash etc – that they may likewise have no excuse for a dirty, or improper appearance.’

  By 8 March, Resolution was beginning to clear herself from the fields of ice and icebergs, but even so, six days later, the ship was covered in a blanket of snow from stem to stern. On 17 March, when Cook’s latest plot gave a position of some 900 nautical miles south of Van Diemen’s Land, it was time to escape the misery of the region. ‘We then bore away NE’, he reported, ‘and at Noon steered North inclining to the East with a Resolution of making the best of my way to New Holland or New Zealand, my sole motive for wishing to make the former is to inform myself whether or no Van Diemen’s Land makes a part of that continent …’

  Unfortunately for Cook, incessant gales and storms from the western sector soon had him giving up any hope of visiting Van Diemen’s Land: he could no longer achieve the northing required to reach that destination. But as bad as the weather was, Resolution was handling the conditions superbly, one day averaging almost 7 knots for an entire twenty-four hours under greatly reduce sail. It led Cook to write of his ship: ‘Upon the whole she goes as dry over the Sea as any ship I ever met with.’

  The new course had Resolution sailing towards New Zealand’s South Island, and this was first sighted on 25 March. Two days later, she was anchored in the rugged and boldly beautiful Dusky Sound, on the south-west corner of the island, a place of breathtaking scenery – steep and lofty escarpments shrouded in dense, unbroken dark-green expanses of foliage, with pure white waterfalls cascading into the sea like long bridal veils. While exploring the region by boat, botanist Johann Förster found a waterfall of ‘more beauty and grandeur than anything, I had hitherto seen’. A torrent of water near 8 yards in circumference fell for more than 100 yards from high above, before exploding onto the rocks below and creating a very fine vapour-like mist.

  Cook again took up his quill, making notes in his journal that reflected the magnitude of the undertaking they had just completed. They had reached safe sanctuary after more than ‘117 Days at sea in which time we have Sailed 3660 Leagues [11,000 nautical miles] without once having sight of land’.

  Of major importance to the commander was that, after such a severe test of human endurance in one of the world’s harshest environments, only one crew-member was showing any sign of scurvy. Clerke recognised this all too well:

  We’ve now arrived at a Port with a Ship’s Crew in the best Order that I believe ever was heard of after such a long Passage at Sea – particularly if we come to consult Climates; this happy state of Health was certainly owing to the Extraordinary indulgencies of [wort], Wheat, Malt etc etc together with the strict attention paid by Capt. Cook to the People’s Cleanliness.

  Within hours of arriving in Dusky Sound, the captain elected to move his ship to an anchorage that Pickersgill had found while exploring the southern shoreline. It was heaven-sent. The water was so deep that Resolution was moored bow and stern to trees in a tight and well-protected cove; and, much to the delight of the men, the ship sat so close to the shore that trees growing horizontally out from the rocks formed a natural gangway which they could use to go ashore. The crew took every advantage of this bonus: with maintenance work needing to be done, tents and equipment were carried to the shore and set up near a stream that provided a crystal-clear water supply. Resolution had come through her arduous Southern Ocean test remarkably well, with only a few signs of leaks. Some of her ironwork needed attention, so by 1 April, the forge was fired up and the sound of hammer on metal was echoing around the hills. The sail-makers and riggers were similarly busy carrying out minor repairs.

  The ultimate reward came when the captain ordered that ‘spruce beer’ be brewed. Aside from the enjoyment provided by this new liquid refreshment, there was an abundance of fresh food from land and sea for everyone to share. Fish and crawfish were easy game, while seals provided food and lamp oil, Clerke noting that some of the men were adamant that seal steaks were superior to beef. Ducks and other wild fowl also made for wonderful meals.

  Nature’s role as a generous provedore was reflected in the names that Cook gave to features in the region, such as Supper Cove, Duck Cove and Luncheon Cove. In the case
of Goose Cove, however, it earned its title on his chart for another reason. He decided that this inlet, situated on a large island he had explored and would subsequently name Resolution Island, was the ideal place to set free the remaining geese he had brought from Cape Town, hoping they would ‘breed and may in time spread over the whole Country’. When the founders of European settlement in New Zealand arrived here in around 1840, though, there was not a goose to be seen.

  Cook made contact with the Maoris on many occasions while in this region, and much to his relief, there were no aggressive confrontations like those he had too often experienced during his first visit to New Zealand. All exchanges passed amicably enough. His patience and diplomacy during these interactions left a lasting impression on Midshipman Elliott, whose published memoir would offer an insightful assessment of his captain:

  … certainly no man could be better calculated to gain the confidence of Savages than Captain Cook. He was Brave, uncommonly Cool, Humane and Patient. He would land alone unarmed – or lay aside his Arms, and sit down, when they threatened with theirs, throwing them Beads, Knives, and other little presents, then by degrees advancing nearer, till by Patience, and forbearance, he gained their friendship, and an intercourse with them; which to people in our situation, was of the utmost consequence.

  Although it rained frequently, the crew enjoyed a month of respite and recovery in this pristine environment. Then it came time to head to Ship Cove in Queen Charlotte Sound and, hopefully, a rendezvous with Adventure.