The log covers the period of the "phoney" war before Britain (in May 1756) and France (in June 1756) formally declared war on each other. It then continues when the war proper had begun in Europe.
Cook's first experience at sea aboard the Eagle began in August 1755 when Captain Joseph Hamar took the ship to patrol off Cape Clear on the southwestern coast of Ireland. The Eagle put into Plymouth in early September and Hamar left the ship to be replaced by Hugh Palliser. Palliser and Cook would become close friends. Palliser and the Eagle returned to sea in October. This time the Eagle patrolled further south to the west of the French port of Brest on the Brittany peninsula. This cruise lasted six weeks before the ship returned to Plymouth in mid November.
The location of these two patrols can be seen at Map 1: Eagle 1755. I have plotted longitude and latitude co-ordinates from Cook's log for positions of the ship at noon. In some cases the figures were not recorded, in others the figures are illegible and in a few the position was recorded as a bearing and distance from a fixed point on land. The line joining the points is obviously hypothetical but serves to show the approximate route taken.
In March 1756, after wintering in Plymouth, Cook, Palliser and the Eagle resumed patrol duties. They sailed across the English Channel to be off Cap de Barfleur, to the east of the port of Cherbourg in Normandy. After about ten days, the Eagle sailed west to lie off the north coast of Brittany, near Morlaix.
On 05 April, a most important event in James Cook's career took place. He transferred to take charge of the Cruizer. The details of this event are very sketchy. It is not known why a lowly boatswain's or master's mate, as Cook was at the time, was chosen to command a vessel, normally entrusted to persons with at least the rank of lieutenant. Details of the Cruizer are also few. Cook refers to the vessel as a cutter but in the Royal Navy of the time the terms sloop and cutter were sometimes interchangeable. A sloop called the Cruizer had been built at Deptford in 1752 and it is very possible that this was the vessel entrusted to Cook. (This Cruizer was 141bm, 75.5 x 20.5 feet and carried 8 guns. It was lost off South Carolina in 1776).
This part of the research is still very much a work in progress. The information about the Cruizer and the relationship bewteen sloops and cutters is still to be confirmed. Researching from New Zealand is always difficult when most of the original documents are in the U.K. Any advice or comment would be gratefully received.
Cook and the Cruizer patrolled off the coast of Brittany, concentrating near the Ile de Batz at the mouth of the Morlaix River. At one point they went as far east as Guernsey for some repairs. They operated as far west as the Aber Wrac'h Rocks. Ships were observed, some were chased and some were fired upon. The Cruizer was often in company with the Ferret sloop and the John and Robert cutter. The Eagle had returned to Plymouth so Cook reported to and obtained provisions from the Falmouth. Beaglehole stated that Cook returned to Plymouth on the Falmouth but this is incorrect. After two weeks patrolling, Cook sailed the Cruizer across the Channel to Plymouth, which was reached on 24 April 1756. The location of this patrol can be seen at Map 2: Cruizer 1756.
After only a few days in port, Cook joined the St. Albans, which took him out to join a new patrol in the Western Approaches to the English Channel. The Seven Years War proper was about to begin in earnest. Cook's log lists him being on the St. Albans on 02 May and on the Eagle on 03 May. However, there is no mention of actually transferring. The ships were part of a fleet patrolling west of Brest.
The Eagle, St. Albans and Romney parted with the fleet on 09 May and sailed south to be off Cape Ortegal on the north coast of Spain on 13 May. Over the next few days they intercepted and captured sveral French merchant ships returning from the West Indies. On 21 May, Cook was put onto his second command, the captured vessel, the Triton, with instructions to sail it to Plymouth. The Triton prize reached Plymouth safely on the 30th. However, Cook was then instructed to take the prize round to London. After restocking, Cook left on 16 June and delivered his charge at the Tower of London on the 23rd. The location of this patrol can be seen at Map 3: Triton 1756.
Cook made his way back to Plymouth overland and rejoined the Eagle. On 04 August, the Eagle left for what would prove a three month patrol. The patrol involved a tremendous amount of sailing back and forth, the boredom broken by the occasional chase and interception. The Eagle returned to Plymouth on 11 November. The location of this patrol can be seen at Map 4: Eagle 1756. Once again the tracks are very approximate.
Cook's log finishes at the end of December 1756, just as the Eagle has left
Plymouth and is on its way to Spithead. I have begun transcribing the log with permission
from the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Wellington, New
Zealand. The original held by them is:
Cook, James. Log book on board His Majesty's ship Eagle, kept by James Cook, Master's
Mate, commencing 27th June 1755 and ending the 31st December 1756.qMS-0537.
Alexander Turnbull Library.
I welcome any comments or contributions.
John Robson, New Zealand.