Of the gold medals which were struck on this occasion, one was presented to His Majesty, another to the Queen, and a third to the Prince of Wales. Two were sent abroad: the first to the French king on account of the protection he had granted to the ships under the command of Captain Cook; and a second to the Empress of Russia, in whose dominions the same ships had been received and treated with every degree of friendship and kindness. Both these presents were highly acceptable to the great personages to whom they were transmitted. The French king expressed his satisfaction in a very handsome letter to the Royal Society, signed by himself, and undersigned by the Marquis de Vergennes; and the Empress of Russia commissioned Count Osterman to signify to Mr. Fitzherbert the sense she entertained of the value of the present, and that she had caused it to be forthwith deposited in the Museum of the Imperial Academy of Sciences. As a farther testimony of the pleasure she derived from it, the Empress presented to the Royal Society a large and beautiful gold medal, containing on one side the effigies of herself, and on the reverse a representation of the statue of Peter the Great.
After the general assignment of the medals (which took place in the spring of the year 1784), there being a surplus of money still remaining, the president and council resolved, that an additional number should be struck off in gold, to be disposed of as presents to Mrs. Cook, the Earl of Sandwich, Dr. Benjamin Franklin, Dr. Cooke, provost of King's College, Cambridge, and Mr. Planta. About the same time it was agreed, that Mr. Aubert should be allowed to have a gold medal of Captain Cook, on his paying for the gold, and the expense of striking it: in consideration of his intention to present it to the King of Poland.
During the two visits of the Resolution and Discovery at Kamtschatka, it was from Colonel Behm, the commandant of that province, that the ships, and the officers and men belonging to them, had received every kind of assistance which it was in his power to bestow. His liberal and hospitable behaviour to the English navigators is related at large in Captain King's Voyage. Such was the sense entertained of it by the Lords of the Admiralty, that they determined to make a present to the colonel, of a magnificent piece of plate, with an inscription expressive of his humane and generous disposition and conduct. The elegant pen of Dr. Cooke was employed in drawing up the inscription, which, after it had been subjected to the opinion and correction of some gentlemen of the first eminence in classical taste, was as follows:
'VIRO EGREGIO MANGO DE BEHM; qui Imperatricis Augustissimae Catherinæ auspiciis, summaque animi benignitate, saeva, quibus praeerat, Kamtschatkae littora, navibus nautisque Britannicis, hospita praebuit; eosque, in terminis, si qui essent Imperio Russico frustra, explorandis, mala multa perpessos, iterata, vice excepit, refecit, recreavit, et commeatu omni cumulate auctos dimisit; REI NAVALIS BRITANNICAE SEPTEMVIRI in aliquam benevolentiae tam insignis memoriam, amicissimo, gratissimoque animo, suo, patriaeque nomine, D. D. D. M. DCC. LXXXI.'
Sir Hugh Palliser, who through life manifested an invariable regard and friendship for Captain Cook, has displayed a signal instance, since the Captain's decease, of the affection and esteem in which he holds his memory. At his estate in Buckinghamshire Sir Hugh hath constructed a small building, on which he has erected a pillar, containing the fine character of our great navigator that is given at the end of the Introduction to the last Voyage, and the principal part of which has been inserted in the present work. This character was drawn up by a most respectable gentleman, who has long been at the head of the naval profession, the honourable Admiral Forbes, admiral of the fleet, and general of marines; to whom Captain Cook was only known by his eminent merit and his extraordinary actions.
Amidst the numerous testimonies of regard that have been paid to Captain Cook's merits and memory, the important object of providing for his family hath not been forgotten. Soon after the intelligence arrived of his unfortunate decease, this matter was taken up by the lords of the Admiralty, with a zeal and an effect, which the following authentic document will fully display:
'At the Court at St. James's, the 2nd of February, 1780;
'(L. S.) 'Present,
'The KING's Most Excellent Majesty in Council.
'Whereas there was this day read, at the Board, a memorial from the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, dated the 27th of last month, in the words following: viz.