Chapter Four.
Third Voyage of Discovery, from July 1776 to October 1778.
It will be remembered that Captain Cook landed in England on July 30, 1775. He at once received well-merited acknowledgments of the services he had rendered to his country. On August 9 he received post rank, and three days afterwards was nominated a Captain in Greenwich Hospital, an appointment that would have enabled him to spend the remainder of his days in honourable retirement. In February of the following year he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society; and on the evening of his admission, March 7, a paper was read, in which he gave a full account of the various means he had adopted for the preservation of the health of his crew.
The importance of this paper, and the way in which it was received, will be best understood by those who have read accounts of Lord Anson’s and other voyages, where the scurvy made fearful havoc among the ship’s companies. In consequence of this paper, it was resolved by Sir John Pringle, the President of the Council of the Society, to bestow on Captain Cook the gold medal known as the Copley Annual Medal, for the best experimental paper of the year. Cook was already on his third voyage before the medal was bestowed, though he was aware of the honour intended him; and his wife had the pleasure of receiving it.
Sir John Pringle’s words are worthy of repetition. Having pointed out the means by which Captain Cook, with a company of a hundred and eighteen men, performed a voyage of three years and eighteen days, in all climates, with the loss of only one man from sickness, he proceeds! “I would now inquire of those most conversant with the study of the bills of mortality, whether, in the most healthful climate, and in the best conditions of life, they have ever found so small a number of deaths within that space of time. How great and agreeable, then, must our surprise be, after perusing the histories of long navigations in former days, when so many perished by marine diseases, to find the air of the sea acquitted of all malignity; and, in fine, that a voyage round the world may be undertaken with less danger, perhaps, to health, than a common tour in Europe.” He concludes: “For if Rome decreed the civic crown to him who saved the life of a single citizen, what wreaths are due to that man who, having himself saved many, perpetuates in your Transactions the means by which Britain may now, on the most distant voyages, preserve numbers of her intrepid sons—her mariners, who, braving every danger, have so liberally contributed to the fame, to the opulence, and to the maritime empire of their country?”
This address ought to be read by all British shipowners and ship-masters. They possess ample means of preventing the approach of the scurvy, and yet numerous vessels, even at the present day, return home with a portion of their crews suffering from that fearful scourge. The masters must exert themselves, must take some trouble in the matter, no doubt; but if they will not do so, if they will not take an interest in the welfare of their men, they are unfit to command ships; they are a disgrace to their honourable profession.
Among those who reached England in the Adventure, with Captain Furneaux, was Omai, the native of Ulietea. Captain Cook did not approve at the time of the selection Captain Furneaux had made, as Omai did not belong to the chiefs, nor to the priestly class, while in appearance and intelligence he was inferior to many of his countrymen. Oedidee, who had been received on board the Resolution, had, it will be remembered, been left behind at Ulietea, Cook fearing that he might have no other opportunity of restoring the youth to his native island. Both seem to have been inferior to Tupia, who died at Batavia. However, Omai, as the first native of the South Sea Islands who had been seen in England, was made a great deal of by people of all ranks. He was introduced to George the Third, who settled on him a pension while he remained in England. He had his portrait painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds, and Cowper mentions him in one of his poems, while he was constantly in the society of Dr Johnson, Madame d’Arblay, Sir Joseph Banks, Dr Burney, Lord Sandwich, Lord Mulgrave, Granville Sharpe, and many other illustrious persons. The power of imitation is strong among his people, and he, therefore, very quickly copied the manners of the people with whom he associated, and became, in appearance, a polished gentleman.
He very slowly acquired a knowledge of English; indeed, he always required the aid of signs and gestures to express himself.