'Having received an authentic account of the death of that great Navigator, Captain James Cook, who has had the honour of being employed by Your Majesty, in three different voyages, for the discovery of unknown countries in the most distant parts of the globe; we think it our duty humbly to represent to Your Majesty, that this meritorious officer, after having received from Your Majesty's gracious benevolence, as a reward for his public services in two successful circumnavigations, a comfortable and honourable retreat, where he might have lived many years to benefit his family, he voluntarily relinquished that ease and emolument to undertake another of these voyages of discovery, in which the life of a commander, who does his duty, must always be particularly exposed, and in which, in the execution of that duty, he fell, leaving his family, whom his public spirit had led him to abandon, as a legacy to his country. We do therefore humbly propose, that Your Majesty will be graciously pleased to order a pension of two hundred pounds a year to be settled on the widow, and twenty-five pounds a year upon each of the three sons of the said Captain James Cook, and that the same be placed on the ordinary estimate of the navy.
'His Majesty, taking the said memorial into his Royal consideration, was pleased, with the advice of His Privy Council, to order, as it is hereby ordered, that a pension of two hundred pounds a year be settled on the widow, and twenty-five pounds a year upon each of the three sons of the said Captain James Cook, and that the same be placed on the ordinary estimate of His Majesty's navy; and the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty are to give the necessary directions herein accordingly.
W. FAWKENER.'
The preceding memorial to the king was signed by the Earl of Sandwich. Mr. Buller, the Earl of Lisburne, Mr. Penton, Lord Mulgrave, and Mr. Mann; and the several officers of the Board of Admiralty seconded the ardour of their superiors, by the speed and generosity with which his majesty's royal grant to Captain Cook's widow and children passed through the usual forms.
Another occasion was afterwards seized of conferring a substantial benefit on the captain's family. The charts and plates belonging to the Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, were provided at the expense of government; the consequence of which was, that a large profit accrued from the sale of the publication. Of this profit, half was consigned, in trust, to Sir Hugh Palliser and Mr. Stephens, to be applied to the use of Mrs. Cook, during her natural life, and afterwards to be divided between her children.
Honour as well as emolument, hath graciously been conferred by his majesty upon the descendants of Captain Cook. On the 3rd of September, 1785, a coat of arms was granted to the family, of which a description will be given below.[19]
[Footnote 19: Azure, between the two polar stars Or, a sphere on the plane of the meridian, north pole elevated, circles of latitude for every ten degrees, and of longitude for every fifteen, shewing the Pacific Ocean between sixty and two hundred and forty west, bounded on one side by America, on the other by Asia and New Holland, in memory of the discoveries made by him in that ocean, so very far beyond all former navigators. His track thereon is marked with red lines. And for crest, on a wreath of the colours, is an arm imbowed, vested in the uniform of a captain of the royal navy. In the hand is the union jack, on a staff Proper. The arm is encircled by a wreath of palm and laurel.]
Our navigator had six children; James, Nathaniel, Elizabeth, Joseph, George, and Hugh. Of these, Joseph and George died soon after their birth, and Elizabeth in the fifth year of her age. James, the eldest son, who was born at St. Paul's, Shadwell, on the 13th of October, 1763. is now a lieutenant in his majesty's navy. In a letter, written by Admiral Sir Richard Hughes, in 1785, from Grenada, to Mrs. Cook, he is spoken of in terms of high approbation. Nathaniel, who was born on the 14th of December, 1764, at Mile-End Old Town, was brought up likewise in the naval service, and was unfortunately lost on board his majesty's ship Thunderer, Commodore Walsingham, in the hurricane which happened at Jamaica, on the 3rd of October, 1730. He is said to have been a most promising youth. Hugh, the youngest, was born on the 22nd of May, 1776; and was so called after the name of his father's great friend, Sir Hugh Palliser.
It hath often been mentioned, in terms of no small regret, that a monument hath not yet been erected to the memory of Captain Cook, in Westminster Abbey.
The wish and the hope of such a monument are hinted at in the close of Dr. Douglas's Introduction to the government edition of the last voyage; and the same sentiment is expressed by the author of the Eulogium, at the end of that Introduction. Sir Hugh Palliser has also spoken to the like purpose, in a communication I received from him. It would certainly redound to the honour of the nation, to order a magnificent memorial of the abilities and services of our illustrious navigator; on which account, a tribute of that kind may be regarded as a desirable thing. But a monument in Westminster Abbey would be of little consequence to the reputation of Captain Cook. His fame stands upon a wider base, and will survive the comparatively perishing materials of brass, or stone, or marble. The name of Cook will be held in honour, and recited with applause, so long as the records of human events shall continue in the earth; nor is it possible to say, what may be the influence and rewards, which, in other worlds, shall be found to attend upon eminent examples of wisdom and of virtue.