CAPT. COOK RELIC

Hokitika Guardian, 26 October 1929, Page 5

CAPT. COOK RELIC

DISCOVERY IN ENGLAND REPORTED. United Press Elecvrie Telegraph—Copyright). LONDON, October 24. The figurehead of Captain Cook’s ship, the Endeavour, in which lie explored the Australian coast,‘the South Seas, and New Zealand, is said to have been discovered at Summerhouse, a little Derbyshire village near Chester- , field. The figurehead is the wocden carved form of a woman nine tfeet in height. It was covered with many coats of whitewash which, when removed, disclosed a white robe, a' flowing blue, sash, and a string of red beads round, the throat. It appears that Sir Hugh Palliser was the First Lord of the Admiralty when Captain Cook first set out, and later, when the Endeavour was broken up, her figurehead came into the possession of Sir Hugh’s family. Finally it passed to his njece, who, at the end of the eighteenth century, married a Derbyshire gentleman, who was the ancestor of the man who owned the figurehead, which is now in ,an antique shop at Sheffield. Inquiries showed that Mr Charles S. Clarke, residing at; Nocth. Auckland, -and who left England in 1863, wrote to ..Sir James Parr stating that he was a descendant of Sir: Hugh Palliser, and dislosing that the figurehead was at Siimmerhouse, but ■ he gave the name /of the ship: as the ■ industry. Captain' Cook never had a ship of'this name. i Sir* James Parr inquired, and found the figurehead; but*’it is in a bad state. was set in, and the figurehead ' is not worth acquiring. Australia House, however, doubts the authenticity of the figurehead.

FURTHER PARTICULARS. (Received this day at If) a.m.) LONDON, October 25. Inquiries of M. Jarvis, an antique dealer at Sheffield, at present in possession of the' figurehead, indicate its authenticity. The head was found in a summerhouse and the body was discovered lying in another corner. JarVis says an Auckland gentleman made a bid for the figurehead some years rgo with .a view to presenting it to Auckland 'museum,'' but negotiations were not completed., At the end of the-eighteenth cetitury a niece of Sir Hugh Palliser, owner of the figurehead, married the ancestor of thef Derbyshire farmer upon whose farm it was found. Jarvis cannot fix a price but 1 it is valuable, despite having the dry rot.