Helena,
where I joined His Maj.'s ship _Portland_, which I found ready to
sail with the convoy";
and on the 12th of July he brought up in the Downs, reporting one more
death--that of Lieutenant Hicks.
For his services Cook was promoted a step. His after-life and death need
no mention here, and although in both his second and third voyages he
touched at New Zealand and Tasmania, his connection with Australia
practically ends with the _Endeavour_ voyage. But a word or two about the
_Endeavour's_ officers, taken from documents recently obtained by the New
South Wales Government, which perhaps contain some things new to many
readers.
In the Record Office, London, there are no fewer than ten logs of Cook's
voyage; three of these are anonymous, but six of them are signed by the
ship's officers, and one, from circumstantial evidence, is no doubt by
Green, the astronomer. The signed logs are by Hicks, Cook's first
lieutenant; Forwood, the gunner; and Pickersgill, Clerke, Wilkinson, and
Bootie, mates. Hicks, as we have seen, died on the passage home; Forwood,
after the _Endeavour's_ return, is not heard of again. Pickersgill was
promoted to be master on the death of that officer (Robert Molineux) in
April, 1771. He had previously served as a midshipman under Wallis in
1766-1788, and he served again under Cook in the _Resolution_ as third
lieutenant.
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