Wallis' return determined the spot where
the observations could best be carried out; and, on his advice, Cook was
ordered to make for Port Royal, in Tahiti.
One incident in the matter of Cook's appointment should be noted in this
connection. The command of the expedition was at first intended for
Dalrymple, the celebrated geographer and then chief hydrographer to the
Admiralty. The precedent of Halley's command of the _Paramour_ in 1698 had
taught a lesson of the danger of giving the command of a ship to a
landsman, and Sir Edward (afterwards Lord) Hawke, First Lord of the
Admiralty in 1768, said, to his everlasting credit, that he would sooner
cut off his right hand than sign a commission for any person who had not
been bred a seaman. Dalrymple, there is little doubt, never forgave Cook
for taking his place, and later on showed his resentment by an unfair
statement which will be presently alluded to.
The _Endeavour_ was what was then known as a "cat-built" ship, of 368 tons
burden, a description of vessel then much used in [Sidenote: 1768]
the Baltic and coal trade, having large carrying capacity, with small
draught. A pencil sketch by Buchan (one of the artists who accompanied
Cook) of her hull, lying at Deptford, shows the short, stumpy
north-country collier, of which even nowadays one may occasionally see
specimens afloat. Her great, square stern has a row of four glazed
windows, alternated with ornamental panels and surrounded by scroll work,
and two square ports underneath them close to the water's edge, probably
for loading and unloading Baltic timber.
Pages:
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59