Captain Cook: His Life, Voyages, and Discoveries

by William Henry Giles Kingston

A number of natives, of no very prepossessing appearance, now came off the banks of the river to the ships, and a considerable quantity of skins were obtained from them. It was held by some on board that this river might be a strait, leading to Hudson’s Bay; and to settle this question Captain Cook sailed up it nearly seventy leagues from its mouth, at which distance it still seemed to be a river, and nothing more, upon which the explorers returned. On June 1, Lieutenant King was sent on shore to display the royal flag, and to take possession of the country, as in former instances, in the name of the King of Great Britain. In describing this inlet Captain Cook left a blank in the chart, and therefore the Earl of Sandwich directed that it should be called Cook’s Inlet.

Leaving Prince William’s Sound, the next place reached was the island of Oonolaschka. Here, at different times, some canoes came off with natives, who had bows of the European fashion, and delivered two Russian letters, the purport of which could not be understood.

During the stay of the ships at this island a canoe was upset, and the occupant, a fine young man, was brought on board the Resolution, when, without hesitation, he entered the captain’s cabin, and exchanged his wet garments for a European suit of clothes, which he put on with perfect ease.

Soon after this the expedition suffered a very great loss in the death of Mr Anderson, the surgeon of the Resolution, who had long been suffering from consumption. The ships were proceeding northward at the time, along the coast of Asia, but were compelled to return on account of the shallowness of the water. An island in sight was called Anderson’s Island, to perpetuate the memory of that gentleman.

On the 9th the ships anchored under a point of land to which the name of Cape Prince of Wales was given, and which was considered the most western point of America. It is only thirteen leagues distant from the eastern cape of Siberia. Thence they stood over to the coast of Siberia to the country of Tschutski. Again sailing, the ships steered to the east, and on the 18th fell in with the ice, which, in latitude 70 degrees 44 minutes, was as compact as a wall, and ten or twelve feet high, being much higher farther to the north. It was covered with sea-horses, a number of which were caught, and, in spite of the prejudices of some of the crew, were found to be superior to salt pork. Cook continued to traverse the Arctic Sea, beyond Behring’s Straits, in various directions till the 29th, when the ice beginning to form rapidly he abandoned all hope of attaining his object that year.

On October 3 the ships anchored in the harbour of Samganoodha, in the island of Oonolaschka. The carpenters at once set to work to repair the ships. While they lay here, each of the captains received the present of a well-known Russian dish. It consisted of a salmon, highly seasoned, and baked in a coating of rye bread like a loaf. The loaves were accompanied by notes in Russian. A few bottles of rum, wine, and porter were sent in return by Corporal Ledyard, who was directed to make the Russians understand that the strangers were English and their friends, and to gain all the information in his power. On the 14th a visit was received from a Russian of considerable ability. Cook entrusted to his care a letter and chart for the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, which were duly delivered. The natives of this island were the best behaved and most peaceably disposed of any yet met with, while not one of them was found guilty of an act of dishonesty. They were, however, far from moral in their conduct.

Samganoodha Harbour was left on October 20, and the ships proceeded south towards the Sandwich Islands. Cook’s intention was to spend the winter there, and to return to Kamtschatka by the middle of May. In case of separation he directed Captain Clerke to meet him at the Sandwich Islands for the first place of rendezvous, and the harbour of Fetropaulowska, in Kamtschatka, for the second. The rigging of the ships had now become very bad; on board the Discovery the main-tack gave way, killed one man, and wounded the boatswain and two others.

On November 25 one of the Sandwich Islands, called by the natives Mowee, hove in sight. Several canoes came off, belonging to a chief named Terreeoboo; but as another island was discovered, called Owhyhee, (now altered in spelling to Hawaii) which it was found possible to fetch, the ships stood towards it, and their visitors accordingly left them. On the morning of December 2 the summits of the mountains of Owhyhee were seen, covered with snow. On the evening an eclipse of the moon was observed. For several weeks the ships continued plying round the island, bartering with the natives, who came off with hogs, fowls, fruit, and roots. On January 16, 1779, a bay being discovered, the masters were sent in to examine it, and having reported favourably, the ships, on the next day, came to an anchor in Karakakooa Bay.

The ships were crowded with visitors, but not a single person had a weapon of any sort. There must have been at least a thousand about the two ships, and one of them took the rudder out of a boat and made off with it. Cook ordered some muskets and four-pounders to be fired over the canoe which was escaping. The multitude, however, seemed more surprised than frightened.

Besides those who had come off in canoes the shore of the bay was covered with spectators, and many hundreds were swimming round the ships, like shoals of fish. Few of the voyagers now regretted that they had been unable to find a north-west passage home in the summer, as they “thus had it in their power to revisit the Sandwich Islands, and to enrich the voyage with a discovery which, though the last, seemed in many respects to be the most important that had hitherto been made by Europeans throughout the extent of the Pacific Ocean.”