"Captain Clerke of His Majesty's Sloop the Resolution, in a letter to Mr. Stephens, dated the 8th of June 1779, in the harbour of St. Peter and St. Paul, Kampschatka, which was received yesterday, gives the melancholy account of the celebrated Captain Cook, late Commander of that Sloop, with four of his private Marines having been killed on the 14th of February last at the island of Owhyhe, one of a Group of new-discovered Islands in the 22nd degree of North Latitude, in an affray with a numerous and tumultuous Body of the Natives."
"Captain Clerke adds, that he received every friendly supply from the Russian Government; and that as the Companies of the Resolution and her Consort, the Discovery, were in perfect Health, and the two Sloops had twelve months Stores and Provisions on board, he was preparing to make another Attempt to explore a Northern Passage to Europe."
THE EMPRESS OF RUSSIA.
The London Gazette of 8th February says:
"The Empress of Russia expressed a most deep concern at the Loss of Captain Cook. She was the more sensibly affected from her very partial regard to his merits; and when she was informed of the hospitality shown by the Russian Government at Kamschatka to Captain Clerke, she said no Subject in her Dominions could show too much Friendship to the Survivors of Captain Cook."
The letter written by Clerke was sent by express through Petersburg; that is to say, it was written in the extreme east of Asia in June, and was sent overland across Siberia to Petersburg, and thence via Berlin to London, and was there published in under the six months. A wonderful journey when the difficulties of transit are taken into consideration.
In the numerous appreciative notices that appeared in the press relating to Cook and his work, the Morning Chronicle alone strikes a jarring string, which is at once met by a reply; and a day or two after the same paper publishes a long letter signed Colombus (the style suggests the pen of Sir Joseph Banks) in which the character and methods of Cook are most strenuously defended, the writer claiming to have obtained his knowledge of the man "through long intercourse with him."
The Gazetter of 24th January says:
"His Majesty, who had always the highest opinion of Captain Cook, shed tears when Lord Sandwich informed him of his death, and immediately ordered a pension of 300 pounds a year for his widow."
The amount really granted to Mrs. Cook was 200 pounds per annum, and the Admiralty in addition gave her half the proceeds of the Journal of the Third Voyage, a share in the Journal of the Second Voyage, and a share of the plates used in illustrating the two publications: a very considerable addition to her income. A Coat of Arms was also granted to the family by order of the King, and Sir W. Besant records his belief that it was the last one ever granted as a direct "recognition of Service." His description of it is: