A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 16

by Robert Kerr

Next morning, at day-light, I went on board the Resolution for the time-keeper; and, in my way, was hailed by the Discovery, and informed, that their cutter had been stolen, during the night, from the buoy where it was moored.

When I arrived on board, I found the marines arming, and Captain Cook loading his double-barrelled gun. Whilst I was relating to him what had happened to us in the night, he interrupted me, with some eagerness, and acquainted me with the loss of the Discovery's cutter, and with the preparations he was making for its recovery. It had been his usual practice, whenever any thing of consequence was lost at any of the islands in this ocean, to get the king, or some of the principal Erees, on board, and to keep them as hostages, till it was restored. This method, which had been always attended with success, he meant to pursue on the present occasion; and, at the same time, had given orders to stop all the canoes that should attempt to leave the bay, with an intention of seizing and destroying them, if he could not recover the cutter by peaceable means. Accordingly, the boats of both ships, well manned and armed, were stationed across the bay; and, before I left the ship, some great guns had been fired at two large canoes that were attempting to make their escape.

It was between seven and eight o'clock when we quitted the ship together; Captain Cook in the pinnace, having Mr Phillips and nine marines with him; and myself in the small boat. The last orders I received from him, were, to quiet the minds of the natives on our side of the bay, by assuring them they should not be hurt; to keep my people together, and to be on my guard. We then parted; the captain went toward Kowrowa, where the king resided; and I proceeded to the beach. My first care, on going ashore, was to give strict orders to the marines to remain within the tent; to load their pieces with ball, and not to quit their arms. Afterward I took a walk to the huts of old Kaoo and the priests, and explained to them, as well as I could, the object of the hostile preparations, which had exceedingly alarmed them. I found that they had already heard of the cutter's being stolen; and I assured them, that though Captain Cook was resolved to recover it, and to punish the authors of the theft, yet that they, and the people of the village on our side, need not be under the smallest apprehension of suffering any evil from us. I desired the priests to explain this to the people, and to tell them not to be alarmed, but to continue peaceable and quiet. Kaoo asked me, with great earnestness, if Terreeoboo was to be hurt; I assured him he was not; and both, he and the rest of his brethren seemed much satisfied with this assurance.

In the mean time, Captain Cook having called off the launch, which was stationed at the north point of the bay, and taken it along with him, proceeded to Kowrowa, and landed with the lieutenant and nine marines. He immediately marched into the village, where he was received with the usual marks of respect; the people prostrating themselves before him, and bringing their accustomed offerings of small hogs. Finding that there was no suspicion of his design, his next step was to enquire for Terreeoboo, and the two boys, his sons, who had been his constant guests on board the Resolution. In a short time, the boys returned, along with the natives, who had been sent in search of them, and immediately led Captain Cook to the house where the king had slept. They found the old man just awoke from sleep; and, after a short conversation about the loss of the cutter, from which Captain Cook was convinced that he was in no wise privy to it, he invited him to return in the boat, and spend the day on board the Resolution. To this proposal the king readily consented, and immediately got up to accompany him.

Things were in this prosperous train, the two boys being already in the pinnace, and the rest of the party having advanced near the water-side, when an elderly woman, called Kanee-kabareea, the mother of the boys, and one of the king's favourite wives, came after him, and, with many tears and entreaties, besought him not to go on board. At the same time, two chiefs, who came along with her, laid hold of him, and, insisting that he should go no farther, forced him to sit down. The natives, who were collecting in prodigious numbers along the shore, and had probably been alarmed by the firing of the great guns, and the appearances of hostility in the bay, began to throng round Captain Cook and their king. In this situation, the lieutenant of marines, observing that his men were huddled close together in the crowd, and thus incapable of using their arms, if any occasion should require it, proposed to the captain to draw them up along the rocks, close to the waters edge; and the crowd readily making way for them to pass they were drawn up in a line, at the distance of about thirty yards from the place where the king was sitting.

All this time, the old king remained on the ground, with the strongest marks of terror and dejection in his countenance; Captain Cook, not willing to abandon the object for which he had come on shore, continuing to urge him, in the most pressing manner, to proceed; whilst, on the other hand, whenever the king appeared inclined to follow him, the chiefs, who stood round him, interposed, at first with prayers and entreaties, but afterward had recourse to force and violence, and insisted on his staying where he was. Captain Cook, therefore, finding that the alarm had spread too generally, and that it was in vain to think any longer of getting him off without bloodshed, at last gave up the point; observing to Mr Phillips, that it would be impossible to compel him to go on board, without the risk of killing a great number of the inhabitants.

Though the enterprise, which had carried Captain Cook on shore, had now failed, and was abandoned, yet his person did not appear to have been in the least danger, till an accident happened which gave a fatal turn to the affair. The boats, which had been stationed across the bay, having fired at some canoes that were attempting to get out, unfortunately had killed a chief of the first rank. The news of his death arrived at the village where Captain Cook was, just as he had left the king, and was walking slowly toward the shore. The ferment it occasioned was very conspicuous; the women and children were immediately sent off; and the men put on their war-mats, and armed themselves with spears and stones. One of the natives, having in his hands a stone, and a long iron pike, (which they call a pahooa,) came up to the captain, flourishing his weapon, by way of defiance, and threatening to throw the stone. The captain desired him to desist; but the man persisting in his insolence, he was at length provoked to fire a load of small shot. The man having his mat on, which the shot were not able to penetrate, this had no other effect than to irritate and encourage them. Several stones were thrown at the marines; and one of the Erees attempted to stab Mr Phillips with his pahooa, but failed in the attempt, and received from him a blow with the butt end of his musket. Captain Cook now fired his second barrel, loaded with ball, and killed one of the foremost of the natives. A general attack with stones immediately followed, which was answered by a discharge of musketry from the marines, and the people in the boats. The islanders, contrary to the expectations of every one, stood the fire with great firmness; and, before the marines had time to reload, they broke in upon them with dreadful shouts and yells. What followed was a scene of the utmost horror and confusion.

Four of the marines were cut off among the rocks in their retreat, and fell a sacrifice to the fury of the enemy; three more were dangerously wounded; and the lieutenant, who had received a stab between the shoulders with a pahooa, having fortunately reserved his fire, shot the man who had wounded him, just as he was going to repeat his blow. Our unfortunate commander, the last time he was seen distinctly, was standing at the water's edge, and calling out to the boats to cease firing, and to pull in. If it be true, as some of those who were present have imagined, that the marines and boatmen had fired without his orders, and that he was desirous of preventing any further bloodshed, it is not improbable, that his humanity, on this occasion, proved fatal to him: For it was remarked, that whilst he faced the natives, none of them had offered him any violence, but that having turned about to give his orders to the boats, he was stabbed in the back, and fell with his face into the water. On seeing him fall, the islanders set up a great shout, and his body was immediately dragged on shore, and surrounded, by the enemy, who, snatching the dagger out of each other's hands, shewed a savage eagerness to have a share in his destruction.

Thus fell our great and excellent commander. After a life of so much distinguished and successful enterprise, his death, as far as regards himself, cannot be reckoned premature, since he lived to finish the great work for which he seems to have been designed, and was rather removed from the enjoyment, than cut off from the acquisition of glory. How sincerely his loss was felt and lamented by those who had so long found their general security in his skill and conduct, and every consolation, under their hardships, in his tenderness and humanity, it is neither necessary nor possible for me to describe; much less shall I attempt to paint the horror with which we were struck, and the universal dejection and dismay which followed so dreadful and unexpected a calamity. The reader will not be displeased to turn from so sad a scene, to the contemplation of his character and virtues, whilst I am paying my last tribute to the memory of a dear and honoured friend, in a short history of his life and public services.

Captain James Cook was born near Whitby, in Yorkshire, on the 27th of October, 1728; and, at an early age, was put apprentice to a shopkeeper in a neighbouring village. His natural inclination not having been consulted on this occasion, he soon quitted the counter from disgust, and bound himself, for nine years, to the master of a vessel in the coal trade. At the breaking out of the war, in 1755, he entered into the king's service, on board the Eagle, at that time commanded by Captain Hamer, and afterward by Sir Hugh Palliser, who soon discovered his merit, and introduced him on the quarter-deck.