by Rob Mundle
After poring over the charts, he realised that there were two options open to him: he could return to the waters south of Cape Town, in the vicinity of Bouvet’s 1739 find, or track through the wide expanse of the Pacific that remained generally untouched by European explorers. He firmly believed that there was nothing to be found to the east, between Resolution’s current position and Cape Horn. So, considering that, and the fact that winter was approaching, the answer was to search the tropical regions of the Pacific. This was obviously a scenario that Cook had considered when leaving his message for Furneaux at Ship Cove. Part of that note read: ‘if I do not find a Continent or isle between this and Cape Horn in which we can Winter perhaps I may spend the winter within the Tropics …’ Such a plan would ensure that he could complete this voyage of discovery to the fullest since, after exploring the Pacific, he could again turn his attention to the Southern Ocean waters around the region of Bouvet’s supposed cape while sailing for home the following summer.
Cook now plotted a course towards Easter Island, located 2000 nautical miles to the west of the Chilean coast, before advising his senior officers where they were heading. He was prepared for this decision to meet with a level of negativity, but instead he ‘had the satisfaction to find they all heartily concurred in it’. Again, the tars were not made aware of this latest plan.
On 23 February, as Resolution continued on her way towards the warmer climes, there was concern for the captain, who had fallen ill with stomach cramps – ‘to the grief of all the ship’s company’, wrote John Marra, a gunner’s mate. Cook tried to brush it off, noting in his journal: ‘I was now taken ill of the Bilious colic and so Violent as to confine me to my bed, so that the Management of the Ship was left to Mr Cooper my first Officer who conducted her very much to my satisfaction.’ The ship’s surgeon, James Patten, did everything he could for the captain, and Cook recognised his efforts in the journal. He also recorded that ‘a favourite [pet] dog belonging to Mr Forster fell a Sacrifice to my tender Stomack; we had no other fresh meat whatever on board and I could eat of this flesh as well as broth made of it, when I could taste nothing else, thus I received nourishment and strength from food which would have made most people in Europe sick’. Two days later, Förster was no doubt pleased to observe how his ‘sacrifice’ had aided the patient’s recovery: ‘the Capt is much better, sits up, & eats something, but is very weak, & quite emaciated, & will continue so for a good while, unless we meet with Land, & get some refreshments.’
Many of the men were becoming ill, in fact, and Wales had a theory on the cause of this – namely, the rapid transition from a world of freezing rain, sleet, snow and icebergs to warmer weather. ‘It’s scarcely 3 weeks ago we were miserable on account of ye cold,’ the Royal Society’s astronomer wrote, ‘we are now wretched with ye heat.’
On 11 March, land was sighted from the masthead, but it wasn’t until two days later that, with the use of telescopes, it could be confirmed as Easter Island. Cook then wrote: ‘In stretching in for the land we discovered people and those Monuments or Idols mentioned by the Authors of Roggeveen’s Voyage which left us no room to doubt but it was Easter Island.’ It was Jacob Roggeveen, a Dutchman, who had discovered this island for Europe, on Easter Day, 5 April 1722.
Cook could not find a suitable sheltered harbour in which to anchor, so he chose an exposed bay near the southern extremity of the western coastline. However, almost as soon as the best bower was released from the cathead and had plunged to the seabed, it became apparent that this bay was a poor holding ground; more than likely, Resolution would drag anchor in strong winds and a surging sea. He therefore informed the officers that the stay here would be as brief as possible. But they would not sail before Förster and twenty-six of the ship’s complement had gone ashore to investigate the incredible features of the island and collect plant specimens.
Cook himself went onto the island, but he was not strong enough to undertake the proposed trek to the far side. For those who went, it was a strenuous day’s work, but a valuable and interesting exercise all the same. When Förster returned to Resolution, he wrote about his impression of the huge stone statues of Easter Island:
We stood directly across the country … till we came to the other side of the island & there we found 7 stone pillars, 4 of which were still standing … One of the standing ones had lost its hat … In what manner they contrived these structures is incomprehensible to me, for we saw no tools with them … The Images represent Men to their waist, the Ears are large and they are about 15 foot high & above 5 foot wide; they are ill shaped & have a large solid bonnet on their head like some of the old Egyptian divinities … These pillars intimate that the Natives were formerly a more powerful people, more numerous & better civilised.
Both he and Pickersgill reported to Cook that the island offered little in the way of water and provisions, so after taking aboard what they could, the captain called for a departure on 17 March. He would later write his own appraisal of this island, which he found to be like no other in the Pacific. He made particular note of the 700 or so people who lived there: ‘They are certainly of the same race of People as the New Zealanders and the other islanders, the affinity of the Language, Colour and some of their customs all tend to prove it.’ This similarity between the peoples, of two opposite sides of the Pacific no doubt confounded Cook, as it raised questions regarding their migration patterns, long-distance seafaring skills and ability to navigate. Time would reveal that the Polynesians were among the world’s greatest navigators.
The need for food and water, combined with the desire to explore, led to Cook deciding to make for the spectacular and tropical Marquesas Islands – some 770 nautical miles to the north-east of Otaheite on 10 degrees south latitude, and over 2000 miles northwest of Resolution’s present position. The first European to sight and visit the Marquesas was Spanish navigator Álvaro de Mendaña y Neira, in 1595, during the second of his two voyages aimed at solving the mystery of Terra Australis Incognita.
By now, the tars of the lower deck had realised that they would not be heading home any time soon, yet their complaints were few. As Marra would point out, the captain’s quest for the best possible food for his men was much appreciated: ‘It preserved the crew in health, and encouraged them to undergo cheerfully the hardships that must unavoidably happen in the course of so long a voyage.’ But Cook’s own health failed again, partly due to sunstroke; according to Marra’s account, ‘eating lard and salt pork plenteously’ had also contributed to the captain having ‘fallen again into his constipation and bilious complaint’. It took him five days to recover.
With the Marquesas Islands lying to the north-west, Resolution was booming along on the face of a strengthening south-east trade wind, surging down blue Pacific rollers and churning out a bold, white bow wave that would have done any ship proud. Every conceivable sail was set to suit the conditions – spritsails, studding sails, the spanker and driver included – all billowing forth and contributing to a scene that sailors’ dreams are made of.
Still, as delightful as this was, some sailors continued to go beyond the boundaries of the Articles of War and were duly disciplined. Bowles Mitchell, at the time a midshipman, told of one such incident: ‘Wm Wedgerborough marine confined, there being strong presumptive proof, of uncleanliness … and proof positive in point of Drunkeness … Read the articles of war & Punished Wm Wedgerborough marine with a dozen lashes.’
Cook was concerned about the accuracy of the longitude given for the Marquesas, because it was recorded using far more basic navigational equipment, almost two centuries earlier. He therefore sailed to approximately 9 degrees south latitude, before turning his ship west in search of the mainly volcanic islands making up the group. The task for the lookouts was somewhat easier than normal, because the highest peak in the group, Mount Oave, stood 4000 feet above sea level, meaning that it could be seen on a clear day from more than 50 nautical miles away. The first island to emerge above the horizon
was not on Cook’s chart, so he named it Hood Island as a tribute to sixteen-year-old Alexander Hood. The latter, a cousin of Admiral Lord Hood, was the first person to sight it, on 7 April 1774, while on lookout duty at the masthead.
Having spent three weeks sailing from Easter Island to the Marquesas, the crew were captivated by the natural beauty of this new destination. When Mendaña had come across them all those years before, he sighted and named only four islands out of the fifteen that are now known to be in the group. The Spaniard made special reference on his chart to a bay at Vaitahu, on the western side of Tahuata Island, so Cook decided to search for it and anchor Resolution within its confines. Unfortunately, though, as Resolution was being prepared for anchoring there, a violent, bullet-like blast of wind descended from the hills, causing the sails to flog, the masts to shake and the ship to heel dramatically. Worse still, in being caught unawares, the crew could do little to prevent her from being blown to within a boat-length of a jagged reef that was to leeward. The savage squall disappeared as quickly as it had arrived, thankfully, and with it gone, and composure having returned on board, the captain opted to anchor further offshore.
While sailing towards this anchorage, Resolution was welcomed on a number of occasions by men aboard large canoes, which had a lateen rig and sails made from woven matting, probably palm fronds. The usual form of trading started almost immediately – iron nails and cloth for fruit and hogs – but it seemed that some of the islanders had a different attitude to business. ‘In this Traffic they would frequently keep our goods and make no return,’ Cook reported, ‘till at last I was obliged to fire a Musket ball Close past one man who had served us in this manner after which they observed a little more honesty …’
And that was only the start. It became apparent that these people were as adept at pilfering as the natives that the crew had encountered in Otaheite and elsewhere. Cook was boarding the pinnace with a view to going ashore when he learned that some of the islanders had just stolen an iron gangway stanchion from the opposite side of the ship. ‘I told the officers to fire over the Canoe till I could get round [there] in the Boat,’ the captain later recalled, ‘unluckily for the thief they took better aim than I ever intended and killed him the third Shot, two others that were in the same Canoe jumped overboard …’
While the scenically beautiful Marquesas provided ample drinking water to refill Resolution’s barrels, Cook was not able to secure the provisions required to restock the ship. So it was time to move on again, now towards a place where he fully expected to find everything he needed: Otaheite. It would also enable Wales to use his navigation instruments at a known point on the island and, accordingly, check the accuracy of the Kendall.
When the ship’s anchor was weighed on 12 April, after just five days in the Marquesas, Cook was comfortable in the knowledge that it had been a successful fact-finding mission. He had been able to far more accurately position these islands on the map of the Pacific, and by the time Resolution was clear of the group, he had also added three previously undiscovered islands to the same map.
After sailing 500 nautical miles to the south-south-west, Cook opted to land in the Tuamotu Archipelago, since it provided both Förster and himself with their first opportunity to go ashore at an atoll and take a close look at how it was formed. Their chosen destination was Takaroa, a loop-like atoll of 15 nautical miles in length, where the distance between ocean and lagoon was on average little more than a few hundred yards. The reception from the people there was not overly friendly, however, so Cook returned to Resolution, weighed anchor and ‘ordered two of three Guns to be fired over the little isle the Natives were upon in order to show them that it was not their own Superior strength and Numbers which obliged us to leave their isle’.
It was now the captain’s intention to keep moving along his desired route through the unmapped parts of the Pacific, via Otaheite, with some level of haste. Then, if nothing of major importance was discovered, they would head to Ship Cove in Queen Charlotte Sound for a winter break.
Having sailed on port tack for the majority of the course from the Marquesas Islands, Resolution anchored in Matavai Bay early on the morning of 22 April. Within twenty-four hours, the islanders – who were again delighted to see their favourite visitor from alien shores – were bringing all the desired produce to the ship for trade. Even the king, Tu, arrived with a gift of twelve hogs. While this was happening, Wales had set up his observatory on the beach to take his sights and check the Kendall chronometer. At the same time, the crew set about undertaking extensive maintenance aboard the ship. After going ashore himself, the captain was pleased to note that the islands had enjoyed a good wet season and fresh food was plentiful.
Of particular interest to all of the visitors was the large number of new canoes that had been built, which was as a direct result of the iron tools that Cook had traded or given to the islanders during previous visits. Then, on 26 April, the Englishmen were stunned by the arrival in Matavai Bay of an enormous fleet of double-hulled canoes that were being prepared for a battle with the natives of the island of Moorea, 15 nautical miles across the channel to the northwest. It was a battle that could start at any time. ‘In these 330 Canoes,’ wrote Cook, ‘I judged there were no less than 7760 Men, a number which appears incredible.’ Equally impressive was another double-hulled craft that was nearing completion – one that could lay claim to being the largest vessel of its type in the South Pacific. It was 108 feet in length (almost as long as Resolution) and destined to be propelled by more than 100 paddlers. With the battle pending, there were apparently suggestions from Tu that Cook might like to stay longer and provide the full firepower of Resolution to support the proposed raid.
The captain was pleased to note that there was no reason to delay his ship’s departure from the island due to illness among his crew, since: ‘As to Sick we had none.’ His initial plan was to stay on Otaheite for less than a week, but by the time the required amount of food and water had been collected and the considerable level of hospitality reciprocated, it would be three weeks before they departed.
One thing that hadn’t changed was the natives’ habit of pilfering, and here Cook took it upon himself to deal out twelve lashes to an islander who had stolen a water cask. The hope was that this would deter others from being light-fingered, but it had little impact. Less than a week later, a sentry who had been posted onshore fell asleep one night, midway through his watch, and when he woke up, his musket had been stolen. The weapon was recovered, but not without considerable effort on the captain’s part. Cook’s proactive role in searching for the stolen item offended the king, however, to the point where the relationship between the two men broke down. They only reconciled after the musket was recovered.
On Saturday, 14 May, by which time Resolution had a ‘vast supply of provisions’ on board, she set sail from Matavai Bay. First though, Cook ordered that a salvo from her ‘great guns’ be fired in Tu’s honour.
But suddenly, as all sails were being hauled down from the yards and trimmed for Resolution’s course out of the bay, towards Huaheine, there was a commotion on deck. John Marra, the gunner’s mate, had decided that the hospitality in Otaheite had been so much to his satisfaction that he had no desire to leave. Being a good swimmer, he made a sudden dash for the side of the ship and leapt over the bulwark and into the water, with the intention of returning to shore. But luck was not on his side. The captain promptly brought the ship to, hoisted out a boat and retrieved his errant crewman. The moment he was back on deck, Marra was put ‘in confinement till we were clear of the isles’. He was not punished at the time because Cook deemed him to be a valuable member of the crew, and also because the young sailor had been encouraged to desert with the full knowledge of the king. Remarkably, this was not the first time that Marra had decided to literally jump ship. He had done the same thing as Resolution departed from Deptford, even before the expedition was underway.
Resolution was at anchor at Huaheine the
following day. Then, after an eight-day stay on the island – where the welcome and the supply of provisions was as bountiful as during the previous visit – it was time to visit Raiatea, a similar-sized island just west of Huaheine. Again, Resolution went remarkably close to being driven onto a reef as she entered the harbour. It was a situation in which only Cook’s careful planning and skills as a seafarer kept her in deep water. He later reported on this close shave: ‘The two points of the reef which form the entrance on which the Sea broke with Such height and Violence as was frightful to look at; having all our Boats and Warps in readiness we presently carried them out and Warped the Ship into safety.’
As he was preparing to depart Raiatea on 4 June, Cook was shocked to hear from an islander that two English ships, one under the command of Joseph Banks, the other under Tobias Furneaux, had arrived in Huaheine. The captain immediately made plans to send one of the ship’s boats to Huaheine with orders for Furneaux, but within a matter of hours the man making the claim (who had promptly disappeared into the hills) was deemed to be lying. It was all part of a practical joke, a habit for which the islanders were well known.
The crew returned to preparing their ship for departure, and as they set sail, they demonstrated their appreciation of the hospitality they had received on Raiatea by setting off fireworks and firing cannons in salute of ‘his Majesty’s Birth Day’. Cook’s final note was that he set his course to the west, ‘and took our final leave of these happy isles and the good People in them’.
Resolution’s new track was to the west, and on 17 June, while en route to Tonga, she passed a previously undiscovered island, which Cook named Palmerston Island. For much of this passage he brought the ship to at night, to lessen the chance of their coming to grief on any uncharted reef or atoll.