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January 19, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Cook’s Journal on the Moment of Contact

“On the 2d of January [1778], at day-break, we weighed anchor [ at Christmas Island}, and resumed our course to the north; having fine weather, and a gentle breeze at east, and east-south-east, till we got into the latitude of 7° 45′ N. and the longitude of 205″ E., where we had one calm day.”

“This was succeeded by a north-east by east, and east-north-east wind. At first it blew faint, but freshened as we advanced to the north.”

“We continued to see birds every day, of the sorts last mentioned; sometimes in greater numbers than others; and between the latitude of 10° and 11° we saw several turtle. All these are looked upon as signs of the vicinity of land.”

“However, we discovered none till day-break, in the morning of the 18th, when an island made its appearance, bearing northeast by east; and, soon after, we saw more land bearing north, and entirely detached from the former.”

“Both had the appearance of being high land. At noon, the first bore north-east by east, half east, by estimation about eight or nine leagues distant; and an elevated hill, near the east end of the other, bore north, half west. Our latitude, at this time, was 21° 12’ N.; and longitude 200° 41′ E.”

“We had now light airs and calms, by turns; so that at sunset, we were not less than nine or ten leagues from the nearest land.”

“On the 19th, at sunrise, the island first seen, bore east several leagues distant. This being directly to windward, which prevented our getting near it, I stood for the other, which we could reach; and not long after discovered a third island in the direction of west north-west, as far distant as land could be seen.”

“We had now a fine breeze at east by north ; and I steered for the east end of the second island ; which at noon extended from north, half east, to west northwest, a quarter west, the nearest part being about two leagues distant.”

“At this time, we were in some doubt whether or no the land before us was inhabited; but this doubt was soon cleared up, by seeing some canoes coming off from the shore, toward the ships, I immediately brought-to, to give them time to join us.”

“They had from three to six men each ; and, on their approach, we were agreeably surprised to find, that they spoke the language of Otaheite, and of the other islands we had lately visited.”

“It required but very little address, to get them to come alongside; but no intreaties could prevail upon any of them to come on board.”

“I tied some brass medals to a rope, and gave them to those in one of the canoes, who, in return, tied some small mackerel to the rope as an equivalent. This was repeated’ and some small nails, or bits of iron, which they valued more than any other article, were given them.”

“For these they exchanged more fish, and a sweet potatoe ; a sure sign that they had some notion of bartering; or, at least, of returning one present for another. They had nothing else in their canoes, except some large gourd shells, and a kind of fishing-net; but one of them offered for sale the piece of stuff that he wore round his waist, after the manner of the other islands.”

“These people were of a brown colour ; and, though of the common size, were stoutly made. There was little difference in the cast of their colour, but a considerable variation in their features ; some of their visages not being very unlike those of Europeans.”

“The hair of most of them was cropt pretty short ; others had it flowing loose; and, with a few, it was tied in a bunch on the crown of the head. In all, it seemed to be naturally black; but most of them had stained it, as is the practice of the Friendly Islanders, with some stuff which gave it a brown or burnt colour.”

“In general they wore their beards. They had no ornaments about their persons, nor did we observe that their ears were perforated ; but some were punctured on the hands, or near the groin, though in a small degree ; and the bits of cloth which they wore, were curiously stained with red, black, and white colours.”

“They seemed very mild ; and had no arms of any kind, if we except some small stones, which they had evidently brought for their own defence ; and these they threw overboard, when they found that they were not wanted.”

“Seeing no signs of an anchoring place at this eastern extreme of the island, I bore away to leeward, and ranged along the south east side, at the distance of half a league from the shore. As soon as we made sail, the canoes left us; …”

“… but others came off, as we proceeded along the coast, bringing with them roasting pigs, and some very fine potatoes, which they exchanged, as the others had done, for whatever was offered to them. Several small pigs were purchased for a sixpenny nail ; so that we again found ourselves in a land of plenty ; and just at the time when the turtle, which we had 90 fortunately procured at Christmas Island, were nearly expended.”

“We passed several villages ; some seated near the sea, and others farther up the country. The inhabitants of all of them crowded to the shore, and collected themselves on the elevated places to view the ships.”

“The land upon this side of the island rises in a gentle slope, from the sea to the foot of the mountains, which occupy the centre of the country, except at one place near the east end, where they rise directly from the sea, and seemed to be formed of nothing but stone, or rocks lying in horizontal strata.”

“We saw no wood, but what was up in the interior part of the island, except a few trees about the villages; near which, also, we could observe several plantations of plantains and sugar-canes, and spots that seemed cultivated for roots.”

“We continued to sound, without striking ground with a line of fifty fathoms, till we came abreast of a low point, which is about the middle of this side of the island, or rather nearer the north-west end. Here we met with twelve and fourteen fathoms, over a rocky bottom.”

“Being past this point, from which the coast trended more northerly, we had twenty, then sixteen, twelve, and, at last, five fathoms over a sandy bottom. The last soundings were about a mile from the shore. Night now put a stop to any farther researches ; and we spent it standing off and on.”

“The next morning we stood in for the land, and were met with several canoes filled with people; some of whom took courage, and ventured on board.”

“In the course of my several voyages, I never before met with the natives of any place so much astonished, as these people were, upon entering a ship.”

“Their eyes were continually flying from object to object; the wildness of their looks and gestures fully expressing their entire ignorance about every thing they saw, and strongly marking to us, that, till now, they had never been visited by Europeans, nor been acquainted with any of our commodities except iron; …”

“… which, however, it was plain, they had only heard of, or had known it in some small quantity brought to them at some distant period. They seemed, only to understand, that it was a substance much better adapted to the purposes of cutting, or of boring of holes, than any thing their own country produced.”

“They asked for it by the name of hamaite, probably referring to some instrument, in the making of which iron could be usefully employed; for they applied that name to the blade of a knife, though we could be certain that they had no idea of that particular instrument ; nor could they at all handle it properly.”

“For the same reason, they frequently called iron by the name of toe, which in their language signifies a hatchet, or rather a kind of adze. On asking them what iron was, they immediately answered, ‘We do not know ; you know what it is, and we only understand it as toe, or hamaite.’”

“When we shewed them some beads, they asked first, ‘What they were; and then, whether they should eat them?’ But on their being told, that they were to be hung in their ears, they returned them as useless.”

“They were equally indifferent as to a looking-glass, which was offered them, and returned it, for the same reason but sufficiently expressed their desire for hamaite and toe, which they wished might be very large.”

“Plates of earthen-ware, china cups, and other such things, were so new to them, that they asked if they were made of wood ; but wished to have some, that they might carry them to be looked at on shore.”

“They were in some respects naturally well bred ; or, at least, fearful of giving offence, asking, where they should sit down, whether they might spit upon the deck, and the like.”

“Some of them repeated a long prayer before they came on board ; and others, afterward, sung and made motions with their hands, such as we bad been accustomed to see in the dances of the islands we had lately visited.”

“There was another circumstance in which they also perfectly resembled those other islanders. At first, on their entering the ship, they endeavoured to steal every thing they came near ; or rather to take it openly, as what we either should not resent, or not hinder.”

“We soon convinced them of their mistake; and if they, after some time, became less active in appropriating to themselves whatever they took a fancy to, it was because they found that we kept a watchful eye over them.”    (Cook’s Journal; 2nd of 3rd Voyage, pgs 176-181)

© 2024 Ho‘okuleana LLC

Filed Under: Hawaiian Traditions, Prominent People, Sailing, Shipping & Shipwrecks Tagged With: Contact, James Cook

January 17, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Voyages

In 1768, when Captain James Cook set sail on the first of three voyages to the South Seas, he carried with him secret orders from the British Admiralty to seek ‘a Continent or Land of great extent’ and to take possession of that country ‘in the Name of the King of Great Britain’.

While each of the three journeys made by Captain Cook into the Pacific had its own aim and yielded its own discoveries, it was this confidential agenda that would transform the way Europeans viewed the Pacific Ocean and its lands.  (State Library, New South Wales)

Endeavour voyaged to the South Pacific, mainly to record the transit of Venus in Tahiti in 1769. After that, the ship sailed around the South Pacific searching for the “Great Southern Land.” (Wall Street Journal)

After heading west from England, rounding Cape Horn beneath South America and crossing the Pacific, Cook landed the Endeavour in Australia’s Botany Bay on April 29, 1770. To the British, Cook went down in history as the man who ‘discovered’ Australia – despite Aboriginal Australians having lived there for 50,000 years and the Dutch traversing its shores for centuries. (Ward)

When Endeavour sailed around the coast of Australia, on June 11, 1770, she became stuck in a reef, now known as Endeavour Reef (part of the Great Barrier Reef). Cook ordered that all extra weight and unnecessary equipment be removed from the ship to help her float.

The reef had created a hole in the hull which, if removed from the reef, would cause the ship the flood. After several attempts, Cook and his crew successfully freed Endeavour but she was in a dire condition.  She sailed to Batavia, part of the Dutch East Indies, to properly repair her before the voyage home.

After returning to Britain in 1771, the Endeavour was sent to Woolwich to be refitted to be used as a naval transport and store ship, frequently operating between Britain and the Falklands. In 1775 she was sold out of the navy to a shipping company Mather & Co.  She was refitted and renamed Lord Sandwich.

Lord Sandwich was also contracted by the British navy to transport soldiers in 1776 to fight against the American colonists who sought to break free from British control.

In 1776, Lord Sandwich was stationed in New York during the Battle of Long Island that led to the British capture of New York. In August 1778, the British scuttled the Lord Sandwich and four other vessels at Newport Harbor to try to create a blockade to stop a fleet of French warships that had sailed in to support the American forces. (VOA News)

On January 26, 1788, Captain Arthur Phillip guided a fleet of 11 British ships carrying convicts to the colony of New South Wales, effectively founding Australia.

Cook’s second Pacific voyage (1772-1775) aboard Resolution and Adventure aimed to establish whether there was an inhabited southern continent, and make astronomical observations.

Cook set sail from Plymouth on July 13, 1772. Among the personnel on this second voyage were artist William Hodges (1744–1797); young George Vancouver (1757–1798), the future surveyor of North America’s northwest coast.

Two Royal Society astronomers were also on board and Cook tested a chronometer they had to determine longitude by comparing its results with those obtained by lunar observations, his more familiar method.

For the four-month period from November 22, 1772 until March 26, 1773, more than ten thousand miles of sea were traversed, out of sight of land, in fog, around ice fields, dodging icebergs, even dipping at one point below 67° S, just seventy-five miles from undiscovered Antarctica.   (Princeton)

Cook did not rush back to England, though he had the wind with him. He took Resolution down to 55° and kept that “tolerable” parallel going east to Cape Horn for five weeks, covering on one day, under a steady gale, a record 183 miles.

They celebrated Christmas, protected in a cove within what Cook named Christmas Sound (still used today) on the western side of Tierra del Fuego, enjoying dozens of geese they had shot. After passing Cape Horn, Cook explored the vast South Atlantic, west of where he had started when leaving Cape Town two years before.  (Princeton)

Cook’s third and final voyage (1776-1779) of discovery was an attempt to locate a North-West Passage, an ice-free sea route which linked the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.  Cook commanded the Resolution while Charles Clerke commanded Discovery.  (State Library, New South Wales)

The Resolution impressed Cook greatly and he called her “the ship of my choice and as I thought the fittest for service she was going upon of any I have seen.” (Hough) She was 14 months old and her tonnage was 462. She had the same flat-floored, apple-cheeked hull.

Resolution’s lower deck length was 110 feet 8 inches, maximum beam was just over 35 feet.  Her crew included 6 midshipmen, a cook and a cook’s mate, 6 quartermasters, 10 marines including a lieutenant, and 45 seamen.

She was fitted with the most advanced navigational aids of the day, including a Gregory Azimuth Compass, ice anchors and the latest apparatus for distilling fresh water from sea water. Twelve carriage guns and twelve swivel guns were carried. At his own expense Cook had brass door-hinges installed in the great cabin.

The support vessel was the Discovery built by G&N Langborn for Mr. William Herbert from whom she was bought by the Admiralty. She was 299 tons, the smallest of Cook’s ships. Her dimensions were: lower deck 91’5″, extreme breadth 27’5″, depth of hold 11’5″, height between decks 5’7″ to 6’1″. Her complement was 70: 3 officers, 55 crew, 11 marines and one civilian.

Cook’s crew first sighted the Hawaiian Islands in the dawn hours of January 18, 1778.  His two ships were kept at bay by the weather until the next day when they approached Kauai’s southeast coast.

On the afternoon of January 19, native Hawaiians in canoes paddled out to meet Cook’s ships, and so began Hawai’i’s contact with Westerners.  The first Hawaiians to greet Cook were from the Kōloa south shore.

The Hawaiians traded fish and sweet potatoes for pieces of iron and brass that were lowered down from Cook’s ships to the Hawaiians’ canoes.

The Islands “were named by Captain Cook the Sandwich Islands, in honour of the Earl of Sandwich, under whose administration he had enriched geography with so many splendid and important discoveries.” (Captain King’s Journal; Kerr)

Hawaiian lives changed with sudden and lasting impact, when western contact changed the course of history for Hawai’i.

At the time of Cook’s arrival (1778-1779), the Hawaiian Islands were divided into four kingdoms: (1) the island of Hawaiʻi under the rule of Kalaniʻōpuʻu, who also had possession of the Hāna district of east Maui; (2) Maui (except the Hāna district,) Molokai, Lanai and Kahoʻolawe, ruled by Kahekili; (3) Oʻahu, under the rule of Kahahana; and at (4) Kauai and Niʻihau, Kamakahelei was ruler.

Throughout their stay, the ships were supplied with fresh provisions which were paid for mainly with iron, much of it in the form of long iron daggers made by the ships’ blacksmiths on the pattern of the wooden pāhoa used by the Hawaiians.

After a month’s stay, Cook got under sail again to resume his exploration of the Northern Pacific. Shortly after leaving Hawaiʻi Island, the foremast of the Resolution broke.  They returned to Kealakekua.  On February 14, 1779, Cook was killed.

At this same time, recall that back in the Atlantic, the American Revolutionary War was still ongoing with the Americans (with support from the French) fighting the British.

“Not long after Captain Cook’s death, an event occurred in Europe, which had a particular relation to the voyage of our Navigator, and which was so honourable to himself, and to the great nation from whom it proceeded”.  (King)

On March 19th, 1779, Monsieur Sartine, secretary of the marine department at Paris, sent to all the commanders of French ships the following statement/directive:

“Captain Cook, who sailed from Plymouth in July, 1776, on board the Resolution, in company with the Discovery, Captain Clerke, in order to make some discoveries on the coasts, islands, and seas of Japan and California …”

“… being on the point of returning to Europe, and such discoveries being of general utility to all nations, it is the king’s pleasure that Captain Cook shall be treated as a commander of a neutral and allied power …”

“… and that all captains of armed vessels, etc., who may meet that famous navigator, shall make him acquainted with the king’s orders on this behalf, but at the same time let him know that on his part he must refrain from all hostilities.”

“By the Marquis of Condorcet we are informed that this measure originated in the liberal and enlightened mind of that excellent citizen and statesman, Monsieur Turgot.”

“Whilst great praise is due to Monsieur Turgot for having suggested the adoption of a measure which hath contributed so much to the reputation of the French government, it must not be forgotten that the first thought of such a plan of conduct was probably owing to Dr. Benjamin Franklin.”

Franklin’s gesture of good will toward Cook was not least among the honors he brought to his fledgling country. On the return of the Discovery and Resolution, they met neither French nor American ships on the way home. (Captain Cook Society)

“All the great remaining voyages of the eighteenth century drew on Cook’s officers. Bligh, Portlock, Vancouver, Colnett, Riou, and Hergest all got their commands and served with great distinction. These men then passed on their skills to a second generation of men such as Flinders and Broughton.”  (Information here is from Australian National Maritime Museum, Ward, RIMAP, MuSEAum. Image “Moment of Contact” by Herb Kane.)

© 2024 Ho‘okuleana LLC

Filed Under: General, Sailing, Shipping & Shipwrecks Tagged With: William Bligh, James Colnett, Endeavour, Resolution, Australia, Transit of Venus, Riou, Nathaniel Portlock, Hergest, Bligh, Captain Vancouver, Discovery, James Cook, Charles Clerke

August 16, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Heinrich Zimmermann

In 1768, when Captain James Cook set sail on the Endeavour on the first of three voyages to the South Seas, the trip was mainly to record the transit of Venus in Tahiti in 1769. (Wall Street Journal)

However, on this voyage Cook carried with him secret orders from the British Admiralty to seek ‘a Continent or Land of great extent’ and to take possession of that country ‘in the Name of the King of Great Britain’.  (State Library, New South Wales)

Cook’s second Pacific voyage (1772-1775) aboard Resolution and Adventure aimed to establish whether there was an inhabited southern continent, and make astronomical observations.

Cook’s third and final voyage (1776-1779) of discovery was an attempt to locate a North-West Passage, an ice-free sea route which linked the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.  Cook commanded Resolution while Charles Clerke commanded Discovery.  (State Library, New South Wales)

Cook had other foreigners on his ships in these voyages. On his third voyage, one, a German, was Heinrich Zimmermann.

Johann Heinrich Zimmermann was born on December 25, 1741 in Wiesloch, just south of Heidelberg in the Palatinate. (King)

“Johann Heinrich Zimmermann and Anna Maria von Beyerthal” are registering the birth of the child “Johann Heinrich”.  The child’s sponsor (susciptor) is recorded as “Johann Heinrich Walthi von Maisbach”. The date of birth is written as: “1741 d. 25 te Xbris”. (Captain Cook Society)

Leaving home in 1770, Zimmermann had a variety of jobs around Europe. He had trained as a “Guertler,” the profession of a worker in precious and non-precious metals who made ornaments, jewelry, cutlery including swords, metal tools and implements.

He spent time working at this in Geneva, Lyons and Paris before he arrived in London in 1776 where, after a short period of working in a sugar refinery, he joined the Discovery as an able seaman on March 12 of that year for James Cook’s third voyage to the Pacific. He became the ship’s coxswain (steersman) in July 1776. (King)

As a sailor in the third voyage (1776 to 1779), Zimmermann kept a journal that later became the basis for his account Reise um die Welt, which was translated into English and later published as Account of the Third Voyage of Captain Cook.

Zimmermann’s descriptions of Hawaii sparked an interest in the Sandwich Islands, but he also offered some of the first descriptions of West Coast Indians. (BCBookworld)

Of that journal Zimmermann noted, “I have long been endeavouring to decide whether I should be doing a wrong in making public the observations made by me during our voyage.”

“Then it occurred to me that it was the duty of the crew to give up their papers: that Great Britain, having been at great expense in fitting out and keeping up this exploring expedition, alone had the right to publish the observations of her navigators …”

“… that we had been paid for our services, and that we were therefore bound to yield up to England any notes which we might have kept during our voyage.”

“To all these scruples I have a few remarks to make, and I wish to set forth the reasons which have nevertheless moved me to write down my personal observations.”

“Is it likely that this incomplete record, which comes from the pen of a simple sailor, will ever be compared with the properly accredited narratives to be published in England?  And can it prejudice them in any way?”

“Is it not more likely that it is I who will have cause to fear that my book will be unsaleable, will be ignored and neglected, because the world is awaiting the more complete, the more correct narratives written by those who were able to see more than I? Therefore I alone will suffer.” (Zimmermann)

The fame generated by the book led to Zimmermann being appointed in August 1781 by the Prince Elector of Bavaria, Karl Theodor, to the position of “Churfürstlicher Leibschiffmeister” (Master of the Prince Elector’s Ships), where he was responsible for the fleet of hunting and excursion boats on Lake Starnberg. (King)

After returning from that voyage, Zimmermann and George Dixon were recruited for a voyage to the North West Coast of America and round the world on the Imperial and Royal Ship Cobenzell.

The voyage was to be undertaken for Emperor Joseph II by the Imperial Asiatic Society of Trieste, otherwise known as the Triestine Society, a company set up and run by William Bolts for the purpose of carrying out this voyage.

On July 24, 1782, Dixon wrote to Zimmermann from Vienna. “Dear Harry, Yours I Rec‘d, and am glad you have Resolution, like the Honest Sailor which I allways have taken you for, and are willing to be doing sum thing both for your self and the Country.”

“By this time I expect you will be in Trieste, and have seen Mr Walker… As you may be a little mistaking in Regard to the Voyage and its Nature, Mr Walker can give you sum Information and the Remainder, I shall Acquent you with, when I see you which I expect to be shortly. I am, Dear Harry, Yours &ca, Geo. Dixon.”

While the Emperor was initially enthusiastic, the venture eventually proved impossible to realize. The opposition of Bolts’s Belgian financial partners in the Imperial Asiatic Company of Trieste and Antwerp was a principal cause of its not going ahead.

The Emperor also refused to provide financing for it apart from the expenses of his naturalists: in the autumn of 1782 it was abandoned. (King)

Zimmermann had apparently used the time he had spent at Trieste to learn navigation and qualify as a ship’s officer. Likewise, in his account of Cook’s last voyage he had mentioned the willingness of the natives of the North West Coast to engage in trade, consisting mainly on their part of the furs of “beaver” (by which he meant sea otter), sable and seal.

He wrote in his journal: “My plan supposes fitting out two ships of 400 or 500 tons in Europe (with 18 months‘ provisions), which would cost around 8,000 louis d’or, declared ready for sea and to go out on the following System as though going on discovery, making their way around Cape Horn to the Marquesas Islands, there to take on water and refresh the crew.”

“From there they would make their way directly to Owhyee [Hawaii] where the second would stay and stock with provisions and water. From thence to the North West Coast to seek refit on that coast. …”

“In returning engage in trade, the article concerned being sea otter pelts, from my being convinced that it is not idle talk, collecting at least 2,000 in a space of 6 months, as in Kamchatka each would be worth from 30 roubles and the same items can be sent to Okhotsk and from thence to Kiachta on the Chinese border, which is 1,400 miles by land …”

“… from whence the Chinese can gain a good profit by transporting them to Peking which is 700 miles further, and from thence to Japan, which is now inclined to welcome those who go with goods of value to Japan.” (King) That plan was not implemented.

Zimmermann was asked in 1789 to plan a Russian expedition to the Pacific. Although he submitted plans, Russia was then engaged in wars with the Ottoman Empire and with Sweden, and the expedition didn’t happen. It’s not clear if Zimmermann made it back into the Pacific; he did, however, sail to India in the 1780s.

In 1791-1792 he again took a ship, the Edward, to India for Edouard de Walckiers.  The advent of war with revolutionary France put an end to the trade with India from the Austrian Netherlands, and Zimmermann returned to Munich. He retired to Starnberg in 1804 and died there on May 3, 1805. (King)

© 2023 Ho‘okuleana LLC

Filed Under: Sailing, Shipping & Shipwrecks, Economy Tagged With: Hawaii, Captain Cook, James Cook, Heinrich Zimmermann

September 23, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Future Captains

Captain James Cook set sail on three voyages to the South Seas. His first Pacific voyage (1768-1771) was aboard the Endeavour and began on May 27, 1768. It had three aims; go to Tahiti to record the transit of Venus (when Venus passes between the earth and sun – June 3, 1769;) record natural history, led by 25-year-old Joseph Banks; and search for the Great South Land.

Cook’s second Pacific voyage (1772-1775) aboard Resolution and Adventure aimed to establish whether there was an inhabited southern continent, and make astronomical observations.

Cook’s third and final voyage (1776-1779) of discovery was an attempt to locate a North-West Passage, an ice-free sea route which linked the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. Cook commanded the Resolution while Charles Clerke commanded Discovery. (State Library, New South Wales)

“Every Fighting Service has, and must have, two main categories – ‘Officers’ and ‘Men.’ The Royal Navy in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries was no exception. The distinction existed: was indeed more than ordinarily marked. It was not only a naval distinction, but a sharp social one too.”

“‘Officers’ as contemporary society used that word, came from one walk of life, ‘Men’ from another: and, as it was not easy in Society to pass from a lower stratum to a higher, so in the Navy, it was not easy for a ‘Man’ to become an Officer. But it was possible.” (Captain Cook Society)

“Cook had chosen his subordinates well or had been lucky. The officers of the third voyage were a remarkably intelligent group of men.” (Captain Cook Society)

“All the great remaining voyages of the eighteenth century drew on Cook’s officers. Bligh, Portlock, Vancouver, Colnett, Riou, and Hergest all got their commands and served with great distinction. These men then passed on their skills to a second generation of men such as Flinders and Broughton.” (Mackay, Captain Cook Society)

We’ll look at three of these familiar names, here in the Islands, as well as the Pacific – Portlock, Bligh and Vancouver.

Nathaniel Portlock was born in Norfolk, Virginia in about 1748. At about the age of 24, he entered the Royal Navy as an able seaman on the St Albans. On March 30, 1776, he served as master’s mate on Captain James Cook’s third Pacific voyage aboard the Discovery. Portlock was transferred to the Resolution, also on the expedition, in August 1779.

Then, in 1785, a group of London merchants formed the “King George’s Sound Co” (also known as Richard Cadman Etches and Company,) for the purpose of carrying on the fur trade from the western coast of America to China, bringing home cargoes of tea from Canton for the East India Company. They bought two boats; Portlock and George Dixon were selected to sail them (Dixon also previously sailed with Cook to Hawai‘i.)

That year, the two traveled to the North Pacific. Portlock commanded the 1785-1788 expedition from the ship King George, while Dixon captained the Queen Charlotte. The purpose of the expedition was to investigate the potential of the Alaskan fur trade and to resume Cook’s search for a Northwest Passage through the continent.

The pair left England on August 29, 1785, and took nearly a year to reach Alaska, rounding Cape Horn and touching at Hawaiʻi on the way. During the course of their 3-year expedition, they made three trips to Hawaiʻi, first arriving off the coast of Kaʻū, May 24, 1786.

A favorite anchorage on Oʻahu for Portlock was at Maunalua Bay, between Koko Point and Diamond Head (which Portlock named King George’s Bay.)

Maunalua was thought to be well-populated in ancient times. Maunalua was known for its offshore fishing resources, a large fishpond, and sweet potato cultivation. Taro was farmed in wet areas, sweet potato was grown in the drier regions and a series of fishing villages lined the coast. (McElroy) Part of that area now carries the Portlock name.

William Bligh was part of the Cook’s crew on its third voyage. Bligh later captained the Bounty on a voyage to gather breadfruit trees from Tahiti and take them to Jamaica in the Caribbean. There, the trees would be planted to provide food for slaves.

According to a legend, the chief Kahai brought the breadfruit tree to Hawaiʻi from Samoa in the twelfth century and first planted it at Kualoa, Oʻahu. Only one variety was known in Hawaiʻi, while more than 24 were distinguished by native names in the South Seas. (CTAHR)

“This tree, whose fruit is so useful, if not necessary, to the inhabitants of most of the islands of the South Seas, has been chiefly celebrated as a production of the Sandwich Islands; it is not confined to these alone, but is also found in all the countries bordering on the Pacific Ocean.” (Book of Trees, 1837)

Bligh didn’t make it back on the Bounty, his crew mutinied (April 28, 1789;) one reason for the mutiny was that the crew believed Bligh cared more about the breadfruit than them (he cut water rationing to the crew in favor of providing water for the breadfruit plants.) Bligh’s tombstone, in part, reads he was the “first (who) transplanted the bread fruit tree.”

In the introduction to Captain George Vancouver’s journals of his voyage to the Pacific, his brother John wrote, “that from the age of thirteen, his whole life to the commencement of this expedition, (to the Pacific) has been devoted to constant employment in His Majesty’s naval service.” Vancouver was one of the seamen and midshipman who had travelled with Cook on his second and third voyages.

In 1791, Vancouver later entered the Pacific a dozen years later in command of the second British exploring expedition. (HJH) Vancouver visited Hawaiʻi three times, in 1792, 1793 and 1794.

On the first trip, Vancouver’s ships “Discovery” and “Chatham” first rounded the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, and traveled to Tahiti, via Australia and New Zealand, and then sailed north to the Hawaiian Islands.

On his second trip in February 1793, the “Discovery” and “Chatham” first circled and surveyed the Island Hawaiʻi. From a meeting he had with Kamehameha, he noted in his Journal, that he was …

“… agreeably surprised in finding that his riper years had softened that stern ferocity, which his younger days had exhibited, and had changed his general deportment to an address characteristic of an open, cheerful, and sensible mind; combined with great generosity, and goodness of disposition.” (Vancouver, 1798)

When Kamehameha came aboard the ship, taking Vancouver’s hand, he “demanded, if we were sincerely his friends”, to which Vancouver answered in the affirmative. Kamehameha then said “he understood we belonged to King George, and asked if he was likewise his friend.”

“On receiving a satisfactory answer to this question, he declared the he was our firm good friend; and according to the custom of the country, in testimony of the sincerity of our declarations we saluted by touching noses.” (Vancouver, 1798)

In the exchange of gifts, after that, Kamehameha presented four feathered helmets and other items, Vancouver gave Kamehameha the remaining livestock on board, “five cows, two ewes and a ram.”

The farewell between the British and the Hawaiians was emotional, but both understood that Vancouver would be returning the following winter.

Just before Vancouver left Kawaihae on March 9, 1793, he gave Isaac Davis and John Young a letter testifying that “Tamaahaah, with the generality of the Chiefs, and the whole of the lower order of People, have conducted themselves toward us with the strictest honest, civility and friendly attention.” (Speakman, HJH)

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George_Vancouver-arriving_at_Kealakekua_Bay
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Kahai-The_Grandson_of_Moikeha-(herbkane)
Kahai-The_Grandson_of_Moikeha-(herbkane)
Transplanting_of_the_bread-fruit_trees_from_Otaheite,_1796
Transplanting_of_the_bread-fruit_trees_from_Otaheite,_1796
ohn Ellis, the Bread-fruit-1775
ohn Ellis, the Bread-fruit-1775
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Bligh’s_survival_voyage_after_the_mutiny-(HerbKane)
William Bligh’s tombstone-(first_transplanted_breadfruit)
William Bligh’s tombstone-(first_transplanted_breadfruit)
Cook_-_Bligh_Map_of_Hawaii_-_Geographicus_-_Hawaii-cook-1785
Cook_-_Bligh_Map_of_Hawaii_-_Geographicus_-_Hawaii-cook-1785
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Nathaniel_Portlock-(WC)
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Portlock-China_Walls
Maunalua_Bay-(bishopmuseum)
Maunalua_Bay-(bishopmuseum)
Koko_Marina-05-26-52
Koko_Marina-05-26-52
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King_George-Queen_Charlotte-(Raymond Alistair Massey-maunalua-net)
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George_Vancouver_statue-(WC)

Filed Under: Prominent People, Sailing, Shipping & Shipwrecks Tagged With: James Cook, William Bligh, Hawaii, Captain Cook, Nathaniel Portlock, George Vancouver, Bligh

October 27, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Attempts to Prevent Disease

In January 1778, Captain James Cook aboard the Resolution and Captain Charles Clerke aboard the Discovery were sailing from the Society Islands to the Northwest coast of North America on Cook’s Third Expedition of the Pacific Ocean.

“Although certainly ignorant of these environmental complications, Cook was sensitive to the need to prevent the members of his crew who were infected with venereal disease from passing their complaint on to the Hawaiian population.” (Pirie)

“As early as the second day of his landing, Cook took precautions to keep the venereal disease that was manifest among his men from spreading to the Hawaiians.” (Moore)

“As there were some venereal complaints on board both the ships in order to prevent its being communicated to the people, I gave orders that no women on any account whatever were to be admitted on board the ships, I also forbid all manner of connection with them, and ordered that none who had the venereal upon them should go out of the ships.” (Beaglehole)

“The order not to permit the crews of the boats to go on shore was issued, that I might do every thing in my power to prevent the importation of a fatal disease into this island, which I knew some of our men laboured under, and which, unfortunately, had been already communicated by us to other islands in these seas.”

“With the same view, I ordered all female visitors to be excluded from the ships. Many of them had come off in the canoes. Their size, colour, and features did not differ much from those of the men; and though their countenances were remarkably open and agreeable, there were few traces of delicacy to be seen, either in their faces, or other proportions.”

“The only difference in their dress, was their having a piece of cloth about the body, reaching from near the middle to half-way down the thighs, instead of the maro worn by the other sex.”

“They would as readily have favoured us with their company on board as the men; but I wished to prevent all connection, which might, too probably, convey an irreparable injury to themselves, and through their means, to the whole nation.”

“Another necessary precaution was taken, by strictly enjoining, that no person, known to be capable of propagating the infection, should be sent upon duty out of the ships.”

“Whether these regulations, dictated by humanity, had the desired effect, or no, time only can discover. I had been equally attentive to the same object, when I first visited the Friendly Islands; yet I afterward found, with real concern, that I had not succeeded.”

“And I am much afraid, that this will always be the case, in such voyages as ours, whenever it is necessary to have a number of people on shore.”

“The opportunities and inducements to an intercourse between the sexes are then too numerous to be guarded against; and however confident we may be of the health of our men, we are often undeceived too late.”

“It is even a matter of doubt with me, if it be always in the power of the most skilful of the faculty to pronounce, with any certainty, whether a person who has been under their care, in certain stages of this malady, is so effectually cured, as to leave no possibility of his being still capable of communicating the taint.”

“I think I could mention some instances which justify my presuming to hazard this opinion. It is likewise well known, that, amongst a number of men, there are generally to be found some so bashful as to endeavour to conceal their labouring under any symptoms of this disorder.”

“And there are others, again, so profligate, as not to care to whom they communicate it. Of this last, we had an instance at Tongataboo, in the gunner of the Discovery, who had been stationed on shore to manage the trade for that ship.”

“After he knew that he had contracted this disease, he continued to have connections with different women, who were supposed not to have already contracted it.”

“His companions expostulated with him without effect, till Captain Clerke, hearing of this dangerous irregularity of conduct, ordered him on board.” (Cook’s Journals)

“In spite of Cook’s precautions however, it is certain that venereal disease was passed on to the Hawaiian population during this visit. Because of high surf, a party of 20 men and an officer had to be left on Niihau for two days.” (Pirie)

“The Captain was very uneasy at their staying on shore, being apprehinsive, that his endeavours in hindring any connexions with the women would now be frustrat’d”. (King)

“… and by this unfortunate circumstance, the very thing happened, which, as I have already mentioned, I wished so heartily to prevent, and vainly imagined I had effectually guarded against.” (Cook’s Journal)

When Cook returned to the Islands, “On the 5th in the morning, we passed the south point of the island, … On this point stands a pretty large village, the inhabitants of which thronged off to the ship with hogs and women.”

“It was not possible to keep the latter from coming on board; and no women I ever met with were less reserved. Indeed it appeared to me that they visited us with no other view than to make a surrender of their persons.” (Cook’s Journal)

When they anchored at Kealakekua, Cook continued his fight against spreading venereal disease, a crewman, Will Bradley was given 2 dozen lashes for “having connections with women knowing himself to be injured with the Veneral disorder.” (Beagleton)

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Filed Under: General, Prominent People, Sailing, Shipping & Shipwrecks, Economy Tagged With: Venereal Disease, Hawaii, Captain Cook, James Cook, Disease

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