A LINK WITH COOK

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 94, 17 October 1940, Page 5

A LINK WITH COOK

ENGLAND TO N.Z.

NEW LAND OFFERS SHELTER

Just over 170 years after Captain James Cook rediscovered New Zealand, two descendants of the great navigator have arrived here to seek shelter from a menace unknown in the days of wooden ships and sea battles fought broadside to broadside.

Sheila Hardie and Kathleen Wynn, aged 14 and 16 respectively, arrived in Auckland from England a little over two weeks ago, and are now staying with relations in Freyberg Street, Lyall Bay. They hail from Norton-on-Tees, which they left in mid-August on the long journey to New Zealand. Once here, they have not been long in settling down to their new life, for when interviewed they were busily occupied with their homework after a day at school.

The line of descent from Captain Cook to the youngest representatives of the family is not a direct one, but the ties of relationship -are quite strong, nevertheless. Mrs. Hardie, the mother of Sheila, advises by letter that her father's great-uncle was a nephew of the great navigator. The girls are cousins.

They are very proud of certain family heirlooms which have come with them half-way across the world. Chief among these is an elegant cream-jug of beaten silver, engraved with the initials P. and E.C., and the date 1797. Half a dozen spoons bear the same initials. These were the property of Paul Cook, Captain Cook's nephew.

The girls' home for the duration of the war is not far removed, as the crows flies, from Queen Charlotte Sound, where Cook hoisted the Union Jack on February 1, 1770. It is possible that during their school holidays they may visit the famous spot.

James Cook was born at Merton, in North Yorkshire, on October 27, 1728, almost exactly 212 years ago. His birthplace, and the place of his apprenticeship, near Whitby, is not far from the girls' home town, Norton-on-Tees. Two street-names, Endeavour and Resolution, associate Lyall Bay with Cook's voyages. The Endeavour made the first voyage of 1768-1771, and the 462-ton Resolution, a larger vessel, was his flagship on the second cruise of 1772-1775.