THE VOYAGE OF THE ENDEAVOUR

Hokitika Guardian, 6 August 1926, Page 3

THE VOYAGE OF THE ENDEAVOUR

“Tho Voyage of the Endeavour,” by Professor G. Arnold Wood, is, in a sense ,a pendant to his “Discovery of Australia,” which, published in 1922, is recognised as the standard authority on the subject. In that book Cook received due attention, but, of course, bo was only one of a number of navigators who bad visited Australian waters, and in this one bis voyage is dealt with more fully. Also. Professor Wood has had at his disposal important sources of information which were not available when the other work was written. One is the original of Cook’s journal, which had previously been thought to

be lost, and which throws valuable light on various matters. There are, besides, plans of tho Endeavour, made at Deptford before and after her conversion from a collier to a ship of discovery.

After a brief survey of the'curlier voyages we embark upon the Endeavour as she came transformed from the shipwright’s yard. Professor Wood is concerned to bring out the human interest of the story and does so very effectively. What manner of men were they who sailed on the Endeavour? How did they live? What was the daily routine on board? AH these questions, are answered. We inspect this little vessel, half the length of a Manly ferry boat, and note the alterations which fitted her for her long cruise. We read the menu, and come to the conclusion that, while there was no stint, the dietary must have become very monotonous in the course of three years. It is not surprising that in Australia, in the words of Joseph Banks, “a hawk or a crow was to us as delicate, and perhaps a letter relished meal than a partridge or a pheasant to those who had plenty of dainties.” We are introduced to the ship’s company.

First and foremost there is John Thompson, the cook, who appears to have known his business. Mr Joseph Banks puts it on record that a shark prepared by an artist was so y.ood that everyone, “from the captain to the swabber, dined heartily upon it,” and declares a soup made by Thompson out of a cuttlefish to he one of the best he had ever tasted. Then there, is the dashing Mr Char-

les Clerke, master’s mate, a jolly seadog, equal to anything. .Ho is ready to sail to the South Pole with Mr Banks, if Mr Banks insists, in a vessel so unsafe that the pilot will not oven take her down the river. “I’ll go to sea in a grog-tul> if required,” announces Clerke. There is John Gore, the second lieutenant, an experienced

mariner, and t.lie first Englishman that ever shot a kangaroo. There is midshipman Isaac Smith, who later, as an admiral, is fond of recalling that ho was the first man to jump ashore at Botany Bay. There is Orton, the clerk, a bibulous individual, and the victim of an occurrence which Cook rightly describes as “extraordinary.” One night, while Orton was asleep, “some mischievous person or persons took advantage of his being drunk” to cutoff the ends of both his ears. He suspected the culprit to be 51a,gra, one ot the midshipmen who had on previous occasions threatened and maltreated him. Cook, in the circumstances, thought that “sfagra was not altogether innocent,” and disrated him. Three weeks later lie reinstated Magra, on the ground that he was not guilty of tlic charge. But Professor Wood suspects that the real reason was some brave unrecorded action of the offender, perhaps, when, after striking the coral reef, the vessel groped her way into the Endeavour River. " In. the original of Cook’s journal the name given to Botany Bay is “Stingray Harbour.” That is crossed out. and “Botanist Bay” substituted. A second correction makes it “Botany Bay.” In that form it is a better advertisement, suggesting the profusion and variety of the native flora. But “Stingray Harbour” was more picturesque. Nine years later, in his evidence to the Parliamentary committee, Banks unhesitatingly recommended Botany Bay as a site for a penal station, and from this one would suppose that he had conceived a good opinion of the place. In point of fact, from his journal we learn that he had not. It is a very good place for the colonist. This mi favourable impression extends to the whole length of the coast-line along which they sailed. It is described as sterile, ill-supplied with water, and thinly wooded. New Holland, indeed, is, “in every respect the most barren country” Banks had ever seen, though subsequently', when they visited Capetown, he reversed his estimate, and conferred that unenviable distinction upon South Africa. Had the Endeavour chanced to put in on the south coast of New South Wales, or the northern rivers, Banks might have been more complimentary.