Over the course of just over a decade, James Cook undertook three great voyages. The first was in the HMS Endeavour and spanned 3 years from 1768 to 1771. The main aim was to observe and record the Transit of Venus (3rd June 1769) but they also successfully circumnavigated New Zealand and charted Eastern Australia. The next expedition was one year later in two ships, the HMS Adventure and HMS Resolution and focused further on determining the existence of Australia. Ultimately, the crew investigated the islands around Australia such as Tonga and Tahiti and returned to England in 1775. Cook’s final voyage began in 1776 and ended in disaster in 1779, when he was killed in Hawaii on Valentines Day. It is this last expedition that this Blog will focus on.
Captain James Cook
During my work placement at Whitby Museum, I was given access to an amazing book called ‘Views in the South Seas’ from his third voyage which had details of the illustrations by James Webber. Webber was a draftsman aboard the HMS Resolution and his engravings were recorded in a large book with pages upon pages of intricate drawings interspersed with pages of typewritten notes from Cook’s personal journals.
Front Cover of ‘Views in the South Seas from drawings by the late James Webber’ and ‘A General Chart: exhibiting the discoveries made by Captain James Cook’
The first plate was titled ‘View in Queen Charlotte’s Sound from New Zealand’ and portrays a colourful scene of a coastal cove with indigenous canoes. The accompanying text detailed the setting up of the British camp with notes of “King and Bayly beginning their operations immediately…to make other observations”. This is referencing Lieutenant James King and Astronomer William Bayly who both served aboard the HMS Resolution.
Queen Charlotte’s Sound, New Zealand
The next engraving which particularly caught my eye was Plate 4 which was a landscape image of mostly green foliage with a lone figure and single wooden hut. It was labelled “The Plantain Tree, Island of Cracatoa” which is the old English spelling for Krakatoa (or alternatively Krakatau) which is an island in the Sunda Strait, between the islands of Java and Sumatra in Indonesia. The linked writing discussed the diets of the locals listing “yam, plantains, and cocoa-nuts” (cocoa-nuts is an old spelling of coconuts) alongside “hogs, fowl, fish, and all sorts of shell-fish”. This was an extract referenced from a journal called Cook’s Last Voyage, Vol. 1, Book 2, Chap. 11. It helps to bring to life the journey and lifestyle that the sailors and scientists’ experienced during their travels and shows their interactions with the indigenous people – intermingling with their lifestyle.
The Plantain Tree, Island of Cracatoa
Another page which showed the culture of the indigenous peoples was that of Plate 6- ‘Waheiadooa, Chief of Opeitepeha, lying in state’. “Opeitepeha” is an old European spelling of Vaitepiha Bay on the Island of Tahiti- the largest Island in French Polynesia. The image was striking due to vivid, bold coloured cloths in a building with a background of a lush green island with a simply dressed indigenous man. The text describing this engraving highlighted the discovery of a building with “constituent parts of such a place of worship” and explained that the “scarlet broad cloth” was almost certainly “a present from the Spaniards”. This page exhibited how the indigenous communities had already met and showed signs of being influenced by travellers from Europe.
Waheiadooa, Chief of Opeitepeha, lying in state
The previously tropical and warm scenes of island life was then starkly contrasted by Plate 9 and onwards. They had crossed into the Arctic Circle. The ninth illustration called ‘The Resolution beating through the ice with the Discovery’ showed a barren and icy coastline with two ships in dark, choppy waters. The related text from a journal titled ‘Last voyage to the Pacific Ocean by Captain Cook’ was a much longer and more technical entry full of longitudinal angles and bearings with descriptions of marine motions through “masses of ice”. Overall, the book gave unique insight into the third voyage, depicting the landscapes the voyagers encountered and recording the lifestyles they adopted throughout their journey.
The Resolution beating through the ice with the Discovery
By Ellen Hall from Scarborough Sixth Form College
If you would like to view this book, please visit us Tuesday- Friday, 10am- 4.30pm or email [email protected] to book an appointment.
