William Parker spent three years working closely with James Cook in Newfoundland as his assistant on the Grenville. They were together from 1764 until 1766 surveying the island's coastline. In 1764, they surveyed the Northern Peninsula while in 1765 and 1766 they covered the south coast from the Burin Peninsula to Cape Anguille.

Parker was born on 01 January 1743 at Queenborough in Kent, the son of Augustine and Elizabeth Parker. William entered the navy in late 1756, serving briefly on the Portland and Ipswich before joining the Centurion, captained by William Mantell, on 18 February 1757. He remained on the Centurion as midshipman and master's mate for the next six years and was present during the captures of Louisbourg in 1758 and of Quebec in 1759. From 1760 until 1762, the Centurion was in the West Indies and on his return to Britain he passed his lieutenant's examination on 03 November 1762.

Parker was part of the compliment of HMS Guernsey, which carried James Cook to Newfoundland to begin surveying that island's coastline in 1764. Parker was transferred to the Grenville and became the master's mate and assistant surveyor with Cook for the next three seasons. As mate, Parker's role was to remain on board the schooner/brig and make soundings and coastal observations while Cook went off in small boats to carry out inshore work. Parker maintained the log and journal and, as such, is rarely mentioned himself. In August 1764, while Cook was recovering from an injury, Parker had a more prominent role when he led the survey of Griquet.

Parker left the Grenville at the end of 1766 when he was promoted to lieutenant on 29 November. He also found time to marry Jane Collingwood on 28 December 1766 at Queenborough. Jane, born October 1740 at Greenwich, was the daughter of Edward (a naval officer) and Jane Collingwood. Parker then joined HMS Niger and returned Newfoundland waters. He spent the next six years on the Niger, Aldborough and Egmont before being promoted commander on 25 June 1773.

In March 1775, he commissioned the Martin, again for service on the Newfoundland station. On 28 August 1777, Parker was promoted captain and in late 1778 he took the Deal Castle to the West Indies. Two short spells on the Maidstone and the Iphigenia in 1782/1783 were followed by three years commanding the guardship, the Dictator, in the River Medway. From 1787 to 1790, Parker was commander-in-chief on the Leeward Islands station on board the Jupiter.

In 1792, Parker commanded the Audacious in the Channel fleet under Admiral Richard Howe. Parker and the Audacious played a prominent role in the action with the French on 28 May 1794. In support of the Leviathan, the Audacious attacked the Revolutionnaire (120 guns). After the Leviathan moved on, the Audacious continued the attack and the French ship struck to her. However, Parker was unable to take possession of the Revolutionnaire as the Audacious, which he had to nurse back to Plymouth, was too disabled. The Revolutionnaire was retaken by the French.

As reward, Parker was promoted to rear admiral in July 1794. He returned to the West Indies in early 1795 as commander-in-chief in Jamaica with his flag in the Raisonnable. Illness forced his return to Britain in 1796 but he recovered to take a squadron to reinforce Sir John Jervis, commanding the Mediterranean Fleet. Flying his flag in the Prince George, Parker joined Jervis in time to take an active part in the battle of Cape St Vincent on 14 February 1797.

Nelson received most of the plaudits for the British victory but Parker felt that the actions of the Prince George had contributed significantly and had been overlooked so drew up his own narrative of the event. Jervis diplomatically praised everyone:

More rewards flowed Parker's way. He was made a baronet, presented with the freedom of the City of London and received the thanks of both Houses of Parliament. Parker remained with Jervis, becoming his second in command. However, in 1798 he felt slighted by the promotion of Nelson, his junior, to a command in the Mediterranean. He angered Jervis by being associated with criticism of the appointment and it caused an irrevocable split between the two men.

Parker became a vice admiral in February 1799 and joined in the pursuit of the French out of the Mediterranean and into Brest, after which he went to Spithead and struck his flag. Parker was appointed commander-in-chief of the Halifax station in March 1800 but was recalled to Britain in 1801 for having sent two of his ships to the West Indies contrary to orders. One of the ships was captained by his son-in-law, Joseph Bingham. Parker was court-martialled and acquitted of misconduct but with the rider that had been indiscreet. The Annual Register of 1801 reported:

Parker saw no further active service and he died suddenly at his home in Ham in Surrey on 31 December 1802 aged 59. The Annual Register of 1802 recorded:

Jane Parker died in 1815. She and William had had eight daughters before having one son. That son, William George Parker, born in 1787, followed his father into the navy, rising to be a vice admiral. He married Elizabeth Still in 1808. Two of the daughters married naval officers. Sarah Parker married Joseph Bingham (the officer involved in the lead up to Parker's court-martial in 1801) in 1797 and Bingham was a rear admiral when he died in 1825. Susanna Parker married William Bowen in 1795 and Bowen was a captain in the navy when he died in 1813.

Parker left will (PROB 11/1387), proven on 08 February 1803. There are some features around Pistolet Bay on the Northern Peninsula in Newfoundland such as Parker River and Parker's Pond that may honour Parker's time surveying the island.

Sydney Parkinson sailed on the first voyage on the Endeavour, having been employed by Joseph Banks to accompany him as an artist. His primary role was to draw natural history specimens and he is best known for his botanical work. He also drew landscapes, portraits, and coastal views.

Sydney Parkinson was born in 1745 in Edinburgh, the son of Joel and Elizabeth Parkinson. The family, which also included two brothers and three sisters, were Quakers. Interestingly though, his five siblings were all baptised at St. Cuthbert's Church in Edinburgh. Parkinson's father was a brewer but he died in 1749. After his father's death, Sydney was apprenticed to a woollen draper. However his real ability was drawing and painting and, when the family moved to London, he exhibited flower paintings at the Society of Artists exhibition of 1765.

Parkinson gained employment for James Lee at the Vineyard Nursery at Hammersmith to give painting lessons to Lee's daughter, Ann. Ann Lee would become a very good natural history painter and Parkinson left her his painting utensils to in his will.

Jane Gomeldon, the early feminist, was a cousin of the Parkinsons (though the exact nature of the relationship remains unclear - June 2007). Sydney had agreed to collect specimens for her small museum at Walknowles near Newcastle. He wrote to her on 06 October 1770 from Batavia/Jakarta:

Jane Gomeldon died in 1780 and an obituary in a Newcastle paper stated::

It may be wondered if it was Cook or Sydney Parkinson that she wished to accompany?

By early 1767, Lee introduced Parkinson to Joseph Banks, who employed him to draw the insects and birds collected during Banks's visit to Labrador and Newfoundland. Parkinson joined the Endeavour as part of Banks's retinue to draw botanical and zoological specimens during the voyage. He also kept a journal, which later became a bone of contention, as to its ownership, between Banks and Sydney's brother, Stanfield. Another of Banks's artists, Alexander Buchan, died in Tahiti in April 1769, after which Parkinson was expected to take over his duties, drawing landscapes, portraits and coastal views. Parkinson also collected several vocabularies during the voyage.

Parkinson became ill during the stay at Java while the Endeavour was being repaired and died on 26 January 1771, during the passage to the Cape Town. He was just 25 years of age. Parkinson's output during the voyage was prodigious, completing 280 botanically accurate paintings and over 900 sketches and paintings, which are now at the Natural History Museum in London.

After the voyage, his brother, Stanfield, claimed all Sydney's written and painted work and a dispute ensued with Banks, as Parkinson's employer, and Hawkesworth, as author of the official account of the voyage. Even though he was paid for the papers, Stanfield secretly arranged for Sydney's journal to be published in 1773. Stanfield was declared insane shortly after and died in an asylum in 1776.

Stanfield Parkinson had married Sarah Taylor on 01 January 1759 at St. James's, Westminster. They had two sons, Sydney and Stanfield, who were placed with their aunt, Jane Parkinson, as guardian after Stanfield's death. The younger Stanfield Parkinson married a Prudence and they had at least two children (Stanford and Sarah), who were baptised at St. Leonard's, Shoreditch in London. A possible third child, John Parkinson, married Penelope Page in Richmond in 1821.

John Parkinson was British consul in Pernambuco (Recife), Brazil and two children (Charles and Sophia Eliza) were born there. A third child, George Seaborn, was born at sea (hence the name) in 1827 as the family returned to Britain. Seventy years later, George Parkinson gifted a self-portrait of Sydney Parkinson to the Natural History Museum.

Ficus parkinsonii was named in Parkinson's honour. In 2000, a reef was named after Parkinson, just north of Cape Grenville in northern Queensland. The best memorial to Parkinson happened when the Natural History Museum published over 700 engravings of his beautiful botanical paintings as the Banks's Florilegium in the 1980s.

James Patten, who sailed on Cook's second voyage as surgeon on the Resolution, is believed to have been born in Streamville in County Antrim, Ireland about 1744, one of six sons of the Reverend William Patten. James trained as a surgeon and a property document for Boynagh, County Meath, in 1770 mentions him as such. It is signed by Patten. His early naval career is not documented but he was surgeon on the Squirrel in 1763.

Patten joined the Resolution from HMS Senegal on 12 December 1771 and helped stock the ship with medical supplies.

During the voyage he is credited with nursing Cook back to health after his serious illness in early 1774, helped by Johann Reinhold Forster. Cook wrote:

Forster was also full of praise for Patten:

Sir John Pringle gave a paper to the Royal Society in November 1776 on the prevention of scurvy, drawing information from the medical journal of Mr Patten. Unfortunately, the journal is now lost.

After the voyage, Patten gave "curiosities" he had acquired in the Pacific to Trinity College Dublin. Patten married Elizabeth Greene of Ardee, Louth.on 06 September 1777 and set up in South King Street, Dublin as a "Practioner in Midwifery". Trinity College bestowed an honorary degree of Doctor of Physick in 1780. Patten died on 03 March 1797. He and Elizabeth had three daughters (Jane, Mary and Susan) and a son (John).

Various features in South Island, New Zealand are named after Patten. Mount Patten overlooks Acheron Passage, linking Dusky and Breaksea Sounds. Patten Passage is located in Queen Charlotte Sound.

Much of this piece is drawn from the excellent series of articles by Kieran McGovern.

Bibliography.

McGovern, Kieran. Surgeon James Patten (c1744-1797). Part 1. Cook's Log. Vol.17, no.1., Jan. 1994. pp. 978-984.
---. Surgeon James Patten (c1744-1797). Part 2. Cook's Log. Vol.17, no.2., Apr. 1994. pp. 1013-1019.
---. Postscript tp the Patten piece. Cook's Log. Vol.18, no.4., Oct. 1995. pp. 1203.

Temporary entry May 2007

William Peckover sailed on all three voyages with Cook. He joined the Endeavour voyage on 25 July 1768 as an AB. After the voyage, he petitioned Joseph Banks asking Banks to gain him a berth as a midshipman on the next voyage

Peckover was unsuccessful and joined the Resolution for the second voyage on 04 February 1772 as a gunner's mate. For the third voyage on the Discovery, which he joined on 16 February 1776, Peckover was the gunner. He later went with Bligh on the Bounty voyage as gunner and accompanied Bligh in the longboat when the mutiny took place and the mutineers sailed off near Tofoa, in Tonga in 1788. He survived the arduous long row to Timor.

Peckover was born in Aynho, Northamptonshire on 17 June 1748. William Peckover's parents, Daniel and Mary (née Avies) Peckover, were married at Banbury in Oxfordshire on the 19 November 1747. They had four daughters and William, the only son, all baptised at Aynho.

William's paternal grandparents were Samuel and Jane (née Cleaver) Peckover, who were married at Kings Sutton in 1720. They had six children. Grandfather Samuel Peckover was killed in 1731 in a farming accident.

The Peckovers were poor so William left home to join the navy. Peckover saw service as gunner on a long list of ships until HMS Gelykneid in 1801. He lived in Gun Alley, Wapping.

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Thomas Perry sailed on the third voyage on the Resolution. He joined the shipa as a late replacement from the Solebay on 10 July 1772 as an AB.

Perry was born in London about 1733. He wrote a song about the second voyage.

Molesworth Phillips, who sailed on the third voyage on the Resolution was born in Swords, near Dublin on 15 August 1755. He was the son of John Phillips, himself an illegitimate son of Robert Molesworth, first Viscount Molesworth. Phillips joined the Royal Navy but, apparently on the advice of Joseph Banks, transferred to the Royal Marines.

Phillips joined the Resolution on 12 June 1776 as lieutenant of marines. He was from the Chatham Division whereas his men joined a month later at Plymouth. Phillips was part of the shore party at Kealakekua Bay when Cook was killed. Phillips, himself, was wounded but managed to save one of his privates, John Jackson. He is reported to have fought a duel with John Williamson in connection with Williamson's perceived inaction and failure to save Cook at Kealakekua Bay. After the voyage, Phillips was promoted to captain in November 1780.

James Burney had also sailed on the third voyage and, on 10 January 1782, Phillips married Burney's sister, Susanna Elizabeth. The couple moved in 1784 to live in Mickleham in Surrey, where they had three children (Frances b.1782; Charles Norbury b. 1785; and John William James b. 1791). Through the Burneys, Phillips met and became friends with members of London's literary society.

Living at Mickleham, the Phillips and Burneys encountered French refugees, including Talleyrand, with whom Phillips became friends (his sister-in-law, Fanney Burney, married one of the French emigres, Alexandre-Jean-Baptiste Piochard D'Arblay in 1793. Phillips was promoted brevet major on 01 March 1794, and brevet lieutenant-colonel on 01 January 1798.

As early as 1787, the Phillips's marriage had begun to fail but it was nearly over by 1795, when Phillips left England to live at his estate at Belcotton in Louth, Ireland. He had taken their son, Charles Norbury, with him and Susanna was forced to follow in 1796 to be with her son. By then, Phillips was openly conducting an affair with a cousin. Phillips had proved to be a gambler and womaniser, who mistreated his wife. Susanna's health suffered badly and, faced with the behaviour of her husband, she left Ireland. She died near Chester on 06 January 1800 shortly after returning to England.

The Phillips children had had a tutor during their time in Dublin. This was Henry Maturin and, on 04 October 1800, Molesworth Phillips married Maturin's sister, Anne Maturin. The Maturins were children of the Reverend Charles and Elizabeth (née Denson) Maturin.

The Phillips visited France without visas and were detained by the French government from 1802 until 1804. Phillips appealed to Talleyrand, at first without success, but was eventually paroled and the Phillips returned to Britain where a daughter, Elizabeth, was born in 1805. Back in Britain, seemingly forgiven by the Burneys, Phillips re-entered the whist playing circle of his former brother-in-law, which included Robert Southey and Charles Lamb. Lamb described Phillips as:

Phillips eventually died of cholera at his home in Lambeth, London on 11 September 1832. He is buried in St. Margaret's, Westminster. There is a short biography in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. The National Portrait Gallery in London has two portraits of Phillips.

Of Molesworth Phillips's children, Charles Norbury Phillips died in 1814 and John William James Phillips died in 1833. Frances Phillips married Charles Chamier Raper in 1807 and they lived at Chelsea. Frances Raper remained close to her aunt Fanny Burney. Frances Raper died in north Norfolk in 1860. Elizabeth Phillips married a cousin, Washington Shirley Maturin in Paris on 26 December 1836. Elizabeth and her half-sister obviously remained friends as both Elizabeth (in 1873) and Washington Maturin (in 1876) died in the same Norfolk village, Thurgarton, as Frances. Washington Maturin was rector of Thurgaston.

Richard Pickersgill was baptised in West Tanfield, North Yorkshire on 18 April 1749, the son of Richard and Ann Pickersgill. Richard Pickersgill had married Ann Lee on 09 June 1748 at Wath Juxta Ripon. Ann Pickersgill's brother, John Lee, was the the personal servant of George Jackson, who was employed by the Admiralty. Jackson entered the Navy Board about 1743 and rose to become second secretary to the Admiralty, a post which he occupied from 1766-1782.

Pickersgill joined the Royal Navy in March 1764, most probably though Jackson's influence. He joined the Tartar as captain's servant and stayed in that position for ten months. Remaining on the Tartar, Pickersgill served as an AB for 15 months. Possibly again through Jackson's intervention, Pickersgill obtained a berth on the Dolphin under Samuel Wallis for a voyage to the Pacific. Pickersgill joined the Dolphin on 14 July 1766 as an AB. After five months, he became a master's mate for the remainder of the voyage. Charts survive that Pickersgill drew of the Strait of Magellan.

Shortly after returning to Britain on the Dolphin, Pickersgill joined the Endeavour on 11 June 1768 for Cook's first voyage. He began the voyage as a master's mate but, on 16 April 1771, he then succeeded Robert Molineux as master after Molineux's death near Cape Town. He kept a log (Adm 51/4547/142 Log 10 June 1768 to 29 September 1770) and a journal (Adm 51/4547/140-1 Journal 10 June 1768 to 20 August 1770). Part of his journal is reproduced in the Historical records of New South Wales, vol. 1, part 1: Cook 1762-1780. Pickersgill also produced a number of charts. Pickersgill Reef off Queensland was named for him.

Pickersgill was punished on 12 October 1768 for disobedience:

After the voyage, Cook wrote to the Admiralty Secretary in August 1771:

Cook's endorsement worked as Pickersgill received his lieutenant's certificate on 20 August 1771 and, a few days later, Pickersill joined the Scorpion on 31 August 1771 as lieutenant (under Cook). He was discharged on 10 December 1771 to the Drake / Resolution as third lieutenant for Cook's second voyage.

However, while he was still with the Scorpion, Pickersgill obtained leave and travelled north to see his family in October 1771. He also visited Great Ayton, Cook's boyhood home in Cleveland where he was the guest for a month of Ralph Jackson, a younger brother of George Jackson. Ralph Jackson kept a diary and there are several entries mentioning Pickersgill.

During the second voyage, Pickersgill kept a log (Adm 51/4553/205-6 Log 28 November 1771 to 04 June 1774). He also kept a journal but only a portion has survived and even that finishes in mid sentence. It was published in 1984 as Captain Cook's Second Voyage: the Journals of Lieutenants Elliott and Pickersgill. Pickersgill played a prominent role during the voyage and was something of a personality. He located the safe inlet in Dusky Sound, New Zealand that still carries his name, Pickersgill Harbour. Pickersgill Island off South Georgia was also named for him. John Elliott described Pickersgill as "A good officer and astronomer, but liking ye Grog".

As Cook was preparing to lead an expedition to search for the Northwest Passage from the Pacific, a companion voyage was proposed to search from the Atlantic to the west of Greenland. Pickersgill was given command of that voyage and was allocated the armed brig Lyon. However, Michael Lane (Lane had surveyed Newfoundland with James Cook nine years earlier), who had been in command of the vessel up till then had been replaced but had remained as Pickersgill's number two.

They set off up Davis Strait, to the west of Greenland, in the Lyon and reached Baffin Island but ice prevented further progress. The expedition was badly equipped and had left far too late in the year. Pickersgill returned unsuccessfully. Lane wrote to the Admiralty claiming Pickersgill had been constantly drunk and had been incapable of carrying out his duties. A court-martial on 06 February 1777 found the charges partly proven and Pickersgill was dismissed from the navy for "Drunkenness and other irregularities" (Adm 1/5308). In 1782, a small book called "A Concise Account of Voyages for the Discovery of a North-West Passage" and attributed to "Sea-Officer". Pickersgill is generally believed to be Sea-Officer.

Pickersgill may have obtained command of a privateer. However, he died in 1779 when he drowned in the River Thames (he was possibly drunk again). Johann Reinhold Forster wrote:

Pickersgill left a will (FRC 11/1057). There is no record of Pickersgill having married or having children.

Temporary entry May 2007

Joseph Poole sailed on the Discovery during Cook's third voyage. He joined on 29 July 1776 as a marine private from 33 Company, Plymouth Division. Poole was punished with three other marines for stealing liquor and getting drunk 26 January 1777 at Tasmania.

Poole was born in Staplegrove near Taunton in Somerset in 1754, one of six sons and two daughters of William and Sarah Poole. One of Joseph Poole's nephews, Robert Poole (son of older brother Robert) would later become a whaling captain who rounded Cape Horn at least seventeen times. Joseph Poole died on 03 October 1791 and was buried at St. John's Church, Staplegrove in the family vault.

Nathaniel Portlock was born in Norfolk, Virginia about 1749 into a family with a small shipping business, founded and run by his grandfather, Paul Portlock. Nathaniel's father, also a Nathaniel, was a tavern keeper, who died in 1752 when only 25 and the young Nathaniel was only three. Nathaniel Portlock had married Rebecca Ballard about 1747 and his widow remarried in December 1752, this time to Richard Scott.

Portlock had a half-brother Stephen Scott and the pair went to sea on one of the family's brigs that traded out of Norfolk. In 1771, when employed as sailing master on a ship in the West Indies trade, Portlock and Scott, were threatened with being pressed on to HMS St. Albans. Portlock volunteered and within two months was rated as a midshipman. After two years on the St. Albans he transferred to spend time in the Ardent (19 months) and in the Ramillies (11 months). By choosing to stay with the Royal Navy, Portlock alienated his family in America and eventually lost land and property bequested to him. Stephen Scott, became a Commodore in the Russian Navy, according to Portlock's grandson in a letter to the Times in 1893.

Portlock joined the Discovery for Cook's third voyage on 12 March 1776 as an AB and was a master's mate from 30 March 1776. After Charles Clerke's death off Kamchatka, John Gore transferred back to the Resolution on 24 August 1779 taking Portlock with him as a master's mate. Gore was also a Viginian and came from only a few kilometres away from Portlock's home in Norfolk and it is possible that Gore knew members of the Portlock family before he joined the Royal Navy. It appears that a friendship developed during the voyage with the older Gore keeping a parental eye over the younger Virginian. Beaglehole attributes to Portlock a log (Adm 51/4531/67-9 and 51/452/70), which he describes as "a good log, in which there sounds an individual voice".

At Cape Town, Gore, by now in command of the expedition, needed to send someone ahead to London by a faster ship with copies of logs and journals and it was Portlock whom Gore selected. Portlock obtained passage to Britain on the Syren. Such a move was sought after as it usually led to promotion and this proved to be the case for Nathaniel Portlock, who was made Lieutenant on 14 September 1780 (before his colleagues had even reached home).

In 1781, Portlock married Elizabeth Gilmour (the surname appears variously spelt as Gilmour and Gilmore) on 18 December 1781 at St. Mary Aldermary, London. Elizabeth Gilmour was the older daughter of John and Mary Gilmour, part of a successful business family, originally from Inverness in Scotland. Nathaniel Gilmour, one of John's brothers was one of the partners in a company, the King George's Sound Company, set up in May 1785 to exploit the sea otter pelt trade, the possibilities of which had been identified during Cook's third voyage.

After sailing with Cook, Nathaniel Portlock remained in the Royal Navy for four years, serving for part of the time as lieutenant of the Firebrand in the Channel Fleet. However, the suspension of war in 1783 left him and many other officers competing for a much smaller number of positions. Portlock was lucky therefore when he was selected to lead one of the King George's Sound Company's expeditions to the Northwest Coast of North America, no doubt through his wife's uncle's influence. Portlock was given command of the King George, while George Dixon, another veteran of Cook's third voyage, was given command of the companion vessel, the Queen Charlotte. As well as carrying its regular crew, the King George was required to take several young boys, including John Gore, the son of Captain John Gore, who had sailed with Cook and Portlock.

The expedition left Gravesend on 29 August 1785 and reached Hawai'i in late May 1786. By 19 July 1786, they had reached the Northwest coast of America at Cook Inlet. Collecting sea otter pelts along the way, they sailed along the coast to be off Nootka Sound in late September. They were unable to enter the inlet and headed back to Hawai'i, where they wintered. The ships left Hawai'i in March 1787 and returned to Alaska, this time entering Prince William Sound. Here they encountered John Meares and his beleaguered crew and rescued them. Portlock and Dixon separated and Portlock worked his way along the coast again putting into an inlet still known as Portlock Harbor on Chichagof Island. Portlock returned to Hawai'i to refurbish and then sailed on to Macao, arriving there in November 1787. Portlock sold his furs at Canton and sailed back to Britain reaching Margate on 24 August 1788. Portlock published a narrative of the expedition, A Voyage Round the World; but more particularly to the North-West Coast of America, performed in 1785, 1786, 1787, and 1788, in London in 1789.

Nathaniel Portlock rejoined the Royal Navy and commanded the companion vessel, HMS Assistant, on Bligh's second breadfruit voyage in 1791. After picking up breadfruit at Tahiti, the two ships sailed via Fiji and through the Torres Strait back to the Atlantic and on to the Caribbean where the breadfruit were left at Jamaica and St. Kitts. The Assistant reached Britain in August 1793.

Portlock was promoted to commander and given the command of HMS Reliance, about to depart for Australia. However, he was replaced at the last moment. In 1797, he was in charge of HMS Arrow, a 20 gun sloop, on the Downs station. Two actions mark this period; in September 1799 the Arrow destroyed a Dutch friage, the Draak; and on the night of 09-10 October 1799, the frigate HMS Lutine, was wrecked in the Zuyder Zee, Netherlands. The Arrow picked up the lone survivor. The bell of the Lutine was salvaged in 1858 and it is this bell that is rung in Lloyds of London whenever a ship sinks. Portlock was made captain in 1799 after these actions.

In May 1802, Portlock was appointed to command HMS Glatton on a voyage to New South Wales to transport 270 male and 130 female convicts. However, by June, Portlock was writing to the Admiralty, resigning his command through a recurrence of a rupture. He was replaced by James Colnett, who had sailed on Cook's second voyage.

From 1803 to 1806, Portlock served with the Sea Fencibles on the south coast of England, based first at Poole and later at Dartmouth. On 20 January 1805, he directed the rescue of the Danish vessel Den Lille Catherina from the Thurlestone Rock in Bigbury Bay. The owners rewarded Portlock with an inscribed silver goblet, later given by Portlock's son to the Royal Marines.

Nathaniel Portlock was appointed one of the Captains of Greenwich Hospital in 1816 but he died on 12 September 1817. Portlock was buried in the Hospital burial ground and a memorial tablet was erected. However, the vault was destroyed by bombing in World War II. Portlock left a will (PROB 11/1600).

There are several places around the world commemorating Portlock. In Alaska there are: Portlock, a village at southern end of Kenai Peninsula; the Portlock Glacier is situated on the Kenai Peninsula; Portlock Harbor is in southeast Alaska; while the Portlock Bank is a bank in the Gulf of Alaska, east of Afognak Island and south of the Kenai Peninsula. In the Torres Strait between Australia and Papua New Guinea are located Portlock's Reef and Portlock Island, off the eastern side of Thursday Island. O'ahu in Hawai'i has Portlock, a small community on Maunalua Bay and British Columbia has Portlock Point at the southern point of Prevost Island, one of the Gulf Islands to the east of Vancouver Island. There is a portrait in the National Maritime Museum.

Elizabeth Portlock lived on until 1843. She and Nathaniel had had six children of whom two boys named Nathaniel and one named Henry died in infancy. Of the other children, Joseph Ellison Portlock became a successful engineer and geologist after following an army career. Joseph married firstly Julia Brown on 24 February 1831 at Kilmaine Castle. He next married Frances Turner on 11 December 1849. There were no children from either marriage. Joseph Ellison Portlock died at Black Rock in Ireland on 14 February 1864.

The Portlock's older daughter, Eliza Portlock, married Brown Collison at St. Clement Danes in September 1808 and they had three children. Eliza Collison died on 21 March 1880, aged 95, at Monk Wearmouth Vicarage in County Durham where her grandson, Frederic Green was a cleric.

Portlock's younger daughter, Mary Campbell Portlock, married William Dadson, on 18 April 1830. They had three children. In the 1851 census they were living in Rochester in Kent. William Dadson was an artist and drawing master. Mary Campbell Dadson died at Hastings in Sussex on 15 January 1893. She was listed as being 94 and from Wakefield House, Great Chaesterford in Essex where her cousin Henrietta Green lived. One of Mary Dadson's children, William Frederick Portlock-Dadson, born 1834, spent time as a colonial civil servant, including time as a JP for Jamaica and British Guiana. He wrote letters to the Times including:

Daniel Preston was a marine private from 48 Company of the Plymouth Division, who sailed on the Endeavour on the first voyage. He joined on 16 August 1768. Nothing is known about Preston prior to joining the Endeavour. He died crossing the Indian Ocean on 15 February 1771.

In his will (PROB 11/971), written on 08 February 1771, a few days before his death, Preston left everything to his brother, William Preston, of Woburn in Bedfordshire.

Temporary entry May 2007

Men called John Ramsay and John Ramsey sailed on all three of Cook's voyages. While it would be easy tp think it was the same man on each occasion, I believe there were, in fact, two different men.

John Ramsay, born in Plymouth about 1747, sailed on the Endeavour. He joined on 27 May 1768 as an AB. At the end of the voyage he followed Cook to the Scorpion, which he joined on 31 August 1771 as cook.On 06 December 1771, he transferred to join the Drake / Resolution for the second voyage, again as cook.

On the third voyage a John Ramsey, different spelling and born in Perthshire about 1732 enlisted. Ramsey joined on 20 February 1776 as an AB and became gunner's mate from 01 July 1777.

Timothy Rarden was born in Cork in 1743. The will below shows that he sailed with James Cook in the sloop Grenville while Cook surveyed the coast of Newfoundland in the 1760s. He and his friend Richard Littleboy then accompanied Cook on the first voyage to the Pacific undertaken in HM Bark Endeavour. The Richard and Susanna Littleboy mentioned in this will were the parents of the Richard Littleboy who sailed with Cook. The only individual mention he warrants in the ship's journals or logs is, unfortunately, his death in Batavia (Jakarta) on 24 December 1770.

Temporary entry May 2007

John Ravenhill sailed on the Endeavour as sailmaker. He joined the ship on 14 June 1768. P 441 p 448 drunk reference

Ravenhill was born in Hull about 1719 and he died in the Indian Ocean on 26 January 1771.

John Redding sailed on the Endeavour during the first voyage was boatswain's mate. He joined the ship on 01 June 1768. Redding was punished on 30 November 1768 for neglect of duty. He died during the voyage on 28 August 1769, apparently drunk on rum.

Redding (whose surname varied as Reading, Reding and Readon) was born in Kinsale, Ireland about 1744. He wrote his will (PROB 11/970) on 22 July 1768 leaving everything to John Sandum of Deptford. No family is mentioned in his will, which was proven by Sandum on 15 August 1771.

Temporary entry May 2007

Peter Reynolds sailed on the Resolution during the second voyage. He joined on 09 December 1771 as carpenter's mate. Reynolds moved to the Ariadne after the voyage but accompanied Cook for the third voyage though on the Discovery, which he joined on 17 February 1776 as carpenter. Clerke had asked for Reynolds (Adm 1/1611):

Reynolds was born in Deptford about 1750.

Very little is known about John Rickman's early life before he sailed on Cook's third voyage. He moved to the Discovery from the Carcass, a bomb ketch. Rickman became a lieutenant on 08 February 1776, shortly before joining the Discovery on 21 March.

Rickman began the voyage as second lieutenant and was transferred as second lieutenant to the Resolution after Clerke's death in August 1779. He kept a log, on which he based an account of the third voyage, which was published anonymously without authorisation from the Admiralty in 1781.

After Cook's third voyage, Rickman transferred to the Sally, a storeship, in 1781. Rickman was on board HMS Goliath, a 3rd rate of 74 guns in 1787. From 1798 to 1799, John Rickman was in command of HMS Victory, a first rate of 100 guns, being used as a hospital ship at Chatham. (This was the sameVictory that was rebuilt in 1801 and used by Nelson as his flagship at Trafalgar in 1805).

Rickman spent his last months from about 1815 at the Greenwich Hospital. While at Greenwich, he married Hannah Jennett and together they had two sons, Edward John Thomas and Abraham James. Sadly, Rickman died in April 1818. Alan Rickman, the actor, is probably a descendant of John Rickman.

Edward Riou was born (possibly in 1758) and baptised in 1762 into a Huguenot family, which had moved to Britain from Switzerland about sixty years earlier. The family originally came from Vernoux in Ardeche, just west of Valence in central southern France. Protestants had lived in France protected by the Edict of Nantes of 1598 but that edict was revoked in 1685 by Louis XIV. As a result many Protestants fled. Among them were Etienne (sometimes Estienne) Riou, baptised on 03 December 1676, and his uncle, Matthieu Labrune and together they took refuge at Berne in Switzerland. Etienne joined the British army in Piedmont under the Duke of Schomberg, entering a Huguenot regiment. In 1698, the uncle and nephew left Berne and went to London.

Labrune and Etienne became merchants in 1700 and were very successful. In 1716, Etienne married Magdalene, daughter of Christopher (Christolphe) Baudoin, another refugee, and they had three children, all baptised at the French Huguenot Church, Threadneedle Street, London. Marie died young while Magdelaine married Hermann Berens in 1742. The Riou and Berens families remained close and his cousin, Joseph Berens, featured in Edward Riou's 1801 will. The third child and only son was Etienne, born in 1720.

Etienne, or Stephen as he became known, joined the army, serving as a captain of horse in the Grenadier Guards. His father died a rich man in 1740 and Stephen was a main beneficiary in his father's will, receiving his legacies on his 25th birthday. He left the army and went to Geneva where he studied architecture at the university. He undertook tours of Italy and accompanied Sir R. K. Porter on his embassy to Constantinople. Stephen Riou was associated with the Society of Dilletantes and wrote several tracts on architecture and designed buildings, including a museum for classical antiquities (never built).

On 06 January 1755 at St. Martins-in-the-Fields, Stephen Riou married Dorothy Dawson from North Ferriby in Yorkshire, just west of Hull. Dorothy, the daughter of George and Dorothy Dawson, was born in 1722. The Rious had three children. The oldest, Philip, served in the Royal Artillery, and died a senior colonel at Woolwich in 1817. The Riou's only daughter, another Dorothy, was born about 1764 and married Colonel Lyde Browne of the 21st Fusileers in 1801. The Brownes had a daughter, Charlotte, who married Moses Benson. Lyde Browne was assassinated in Dublin on 23 July, 1803. Dorothy Browne died in September 1855.

The Riou's second son was Edward. He was baptised in 1762 at Mount Ephraim, Faversham in Kent though his lieutenant's certificate in 1780 has him being aged twenty two, suggesting a birth year of 1758. At the age of 12, Edward went to sea joining the Royal Navy. He served on board HMS Barfleur, flagship of Sir Thomas Pye at Portsmouth and then on the HMS Romney on the Newfoundland station with Vice-Admiral John Montague. Back in Britain, Riou joined HMS Discovery on 22 February 1776 as a midshipman under Captain Charles Clerke on Cook's third voyage. One of Riou's referee's for his Lieutenant's certificate was Captain John Elphinston, whose daughter Anna Charlotte married Francis Chartwell and would become a close friend of the Riou family.

Riou remained on the Discovery until 06 September 1779 when he was transferred to be a midshipman on the Resolution. Riou kept a log (Adm 51/4529/41-4; Log. 5 vol.; 22 February to 29 November 1779 (vol. 4, 18 January 1779 to 25 July 1779 is missing)). He also made surveys and drew charts, including one of Avacha Bay at Kamchatka. During the voyage Riou or "Young Neddy" as he was known acquired a native dog at Queen Charlotte Sound, New Zealand. The dog apparently bit several of Riou's colleagues so when Riou was ashore one day the dog was given a mock trial, found guilty, killed and cooked. This was referred to as the "Trial of the Cannibal Dog". The instigator of the episode was Alexander Home, whose memoirs provided details.

On his return to Britain, Riou was promoted to lieutenant on 28 October 1780, serving first in the West Indies on HMS Scourge though on 03 February 1782 he was ill and discharged from duty to the Royal Navy Hospital at Haslar, opposite Portsmouth. He re-entered service in April 1783 and served on the HMS Ganges, a guardship at Portsmouth until June 1784. This was followed by nearly two years on half pay before he was appointed in March 1786 to HMS Salisbury, flagship of Rear-Admiral John Elliot, again in Newfoundland waters. In November 1788, he was again placed on half pay.

In April 1789, Riou received an appointment, which would change his career. He was given command of the HMS Guardian with orders to sail to Port Jackson (Sydney) with stores, cattle, and convicts. They sailed from Spithead on 08 September and safely reached Cape Town but, near Prince Edward Island on 24 December 1789, Riou attempted to obtain fresh drinking water from a passing iceberg. The ship struck submerged parts of the iceberg and was holed. Riou sent the small boats away with as many men as they could hold aiming for Cape Town. Some were picked up by a French merchant ship, and safely landed at the Cape on 18 January 1790. Meanwhile, Riou, was battling to keep the ship afloat and, with the help of the crew and some convicts who had remained on board, the Guardian was nursed back to the Cape on 21 February 1790. It was towed into False Bay before being run onto the beach and broken up.

Riou returned to Britain, where he was hailed as a hero and promoted to commander in the September 1790. A court martial was held as a formality for having lost his ship but Riou was completely exonerated. Further promotion to captain followed on 04 June 1791. In 1793, Riou took command of HMS Rose and sailed to the West Indies and was present at operations against Martinique and Guadeloupe in 1794. In 1795, he transferred to HMS Beaulieu. However, his health was not good and he returned to Britain. When Riou recovered he had a short period in charge of the royal yacht, Princess Augusta, before, in 1799, he was given command of HMS Amazon, a new 5th rate of 38 guns.

The Amazon joined the Baltic Fleet in 1801 and took part in the Battle of Copenhagen on 02 April 1801. Two days before the battle, Riou took Hyde Parker, the British commander-in-chief, and Lord Nelson inshore to examine the Danish defences around Copenhagen. Riou remained in close attendance on Nelson and all the frigates and small craft were placed under Riou's orders "to perform such service as he is directed by Lord Nelson". During the battle, Riou was severely wounded in the head by a splinter and then killed when cannon-shot cut him in two. Nelson wrote later that "In my poor dear Riou the country has sustained an irreparable loss" and "In that case, poor dear Riou might have been saved; but his bravery attempted what I directed three sail of the line to assist him in".

Neither Edward nor Philip Riou ever married so the male Riou line died out with them. Their niece, Charlotte Brown, had offspring and the Berens became a successful family based around Sidcup in Kent. Edward Riou left a will (PROB 11/1356), proven on 27 April 1801, in which he mentioned his mother, his brother, Philip, and sister, Dorothy. He also mentioned his cousin, Joseph Berens. A further major beneficiary of his will was Charlotte Hartwell, the wife of Francis John Hartwell, a naval officer, who would later be an Admiral. Charlotte had, it appears, helped Riou and his mother and sister at times when they had been ill.

Point Riou in southeast Alaska is named for him and a Second World War British destroyer escort, HMS Riou was also named after him. There is a miniature in oils, painted by Samuel Shelley in 1796, which is held on loan by the National Maritime Museum and there is a memorial to Riou in St. Paul's Cathedral, London: