THE DEPTFORD LOGS.
Among the profound Endeavour mysteries must be cited the extraordinary disappearance of the Log books of officers in the ship.
It was according to naval rule that any so compiled should, at the expiration of the voyage, be deposited with the naval authorities. After a hundred years or so a number of Endeavour Logs were discovered behind some wainscotting at the Deptford Victualling Yard. They were safely conveyed to the good custody of the officers of the London Record Office, Chancery Lane. They could not have been seen by Dr. Hawkesworth any more than those of Cook himself.
The one by Lieutenant Hickes was kept from May 27, 1768, to March 14, 1771. Third Lieutenant Gore became Second Lieutenant March 26, 1770. Bootie's Log was from May 17, 1768, to September 3, 1770; Forward's, May 17, 1768, to September 26, 1770; Green, astronomer, September 24, 1763, to October 3, 1770; C. Clerke's, August 26, 1768, to October 3, 1770; Wilkinson's, June 22, 1768, to August 3, 1770; Pickersgill's, June 10, 1768, to September 29, 1770; Lieutenant Gore's from July 3, 1768, to December 7, 1769. An unsigned Log was from May 27, 1768, to September 28, 1770; a second from August 26, 1768, to July 15, 1769; a third, May 27, 1768, to September 28, 1770; and a fourth from May 27, 1768, to January 9, 1770.
George Nowell was Carpenter; Samuel Evans, Boatswain. The Quarter-master Thierman, and Widowson came from New York. James Magra, afterwards Matra, of New York, volunteered as seaman, but rose to be Midshipman, and the special friend, through many years, of Sir Joseph Banks, whose correspondence is in the Museum. Not one of the Deptford Logs knows Botany Bay or New South Wales.
How came these seamen's Logs hidden? Why was their testimony not to be forthcoming in the book? Had the discovery of the Dauphin Map, 1542, put Stingray Bay out of court, and induced the Editor, not Banks, nor Cook, to revive the ancient name of Baie des Plantes? Did Banks and Solander object to the removal of Cook's name, or were other and higher influences at work to conceal the Deptford Logs, so that all might hear only Botany Bay and New South Wales? But the Record Office has the Deptford hidden Logs, that came to tell another tale than that of the official publication.