Celebrated Travels and Travellers Vol 2 First part chapter IV - Captain Cook’s second voyage part 1a

Jules Verne (0:29)

CHAPTER IV. Chapter Part 1 Captain Cook's Second Voyage, 1A Search for the Southern Continent Second stay at New Zealand Pamantu Archipelago Second stay at Tahiti Recanoitering Tonga Isles Third stay at New Zealand Second crossing of the Southern Ocean Easter Island recanoitered Visit to the Marquesas Islands Had the government not been desirous of rewarding James Cook for the way in which he had fulfilled the mission entrusted to him, the unanimous voice of the public would have constrained them. On the 29th of August he received the rank of commander in the Royal Navy, but the great navigator, proud of the services he had rendered to England and to science, thought the reward less than his achievements merited. He would have delighted in an appointment as ship's captain, but Lord Sandwich, who was then at the head of the Admiralty, pointed out to him that it was not possible to gratify him without upsetting all established customs and injuring the discipline of the Royal Navy. However, Cook busied himself in putting together the necessary materials for the narration of his experiences, but being soon occupied with still more important matters, he placed them in the hands of Dr. Hawksworth, who was to superintend their publication.

At the same time, the observations he had taken on the transit of Mercury, in concert with Mr. Green, his calculations and astronomical solutions were submitted to the consideration of the Royal Society, and that learned body at once recognized his merit. In one respect, however, the important results obtained by Cook were incomplete. He had not perfectly proved the impossibility of an anarchic continent. The shimmer of it was still dear to the hearts of scientific men.

Although obliged to admit that neither New Zealand nor Australia made part of such a continent, and that the endeavor had navigated in latitudes in which it might have been found, they still affirmed that it would be found still more south, and reiterated all those advantages which its discovery would entail.

The government determined to settle a question which had been discussed for so many years, and to dispatch an expedition for the purpose. Its commander was easily selected. The nature of the voyage demanded vessels of peculiar construction. As the endeavor had been sent to the Falkland Islands, the admiralty gave orders for the purchase of two suitable vessels for the purpose. Cook was consulted, and insisted that the ships should be solidly built, draw little water, and possess capacity for carrying provisions and ammunition in proportion to the number of the crew and the length of the voyage. The admiralty accordingly bought two vessels constructed at Whitby, by the same shipbuilder as the endeavor. The larger was of 462 tons burden, and was named the Resolution. The second was only of 336 tons, and was called the Adventure. Cook received command of the Resolution, and Captain Tobias Fernow, second lieutenant of the Wallace, was raised to the command of the Adventure. The second and third officers and several of the crew had already served in the endeavor. It may readily be imagined that every possible care was taken in the equipment of these ships. Lord Sandwich and Captain Pellissier themselves superintended every detail. Each of the ships was stocked with provisions of every kind for two years and a half. Very extraordinary articles were provided at the instance of Captain Cook, who claimed them as anti-scorbutics, for instance, malt, sauerkraut, salted cabbages, soup slabs, mustard, and saloop, as well as carrot marmalade, and thickened in unfermented beer, which was tried at the suggestion of Baron Storch of Berlin and Mr. Pelham, Secretary to the Commissariat Department. Equal care was taken to ship two small boats, each of twenty tons, intended to carry the crew in case of shipwreck. William Hodges, a landscape painter, two naturalists, John Reinhold Forster and his son George, two astronomers, W. Wales and W. Bailey, accompanied the expedition, provided with the best instruments for observation.

Nothing that could conduce to the success of the adventure was neglected. It was to return with an immense amount of collected information, which was to contribute to the progress of the natural and physical sciences and to the ethnology of navigation and geography.

Cook says I received my instructions at Plymouth dated 25th June. They enjoined my immediate departure for the island of Madeira, to ship wine there and thence to proceed to the Cape of Good Hope, where I was to let the crew have a spree on shore and obtain the provisions and other stores I needed. To advance southwards and endeavor to find Circumcision Cape, which was said to have been discovered by M. Bouvet in the 54° Southern Parallel and about 11° 20 East Longitude, reckoning from Greenwich, if I found this Cape, to ascertain whether it was part of the Continent or an island, should it prove the former to neglect no opportunity of investigating its possible extent, to collect facts of every kind which might be useful to navigation and commerce, or would tend to the progress of the natural sciences. I was desired to observe the spirit, temperament, character, and means of the inhabitants, should there be any, and to use every fair means of forming friendly alliances with them. My instructions proceeded to enjoin me to seek discoveries in the East or West, according to the position in which I might find myself, and advised my nearing the South Pole as much as possible, and as long as the condition of the ships, the health of the crew, and the provisions allowed of my doing so, to be careful in any case to reserve sufficient provisions to reach some known port, where I might refit for my return to England.