Issue No. 1, March 1999
Latest News
Alwyn Peel, the Secretary of the Captain Cook Study Unit, has recently completed a month-long tour of New Zealand meeting local Members of the Unit and visiting locations associated with James Cook as well staying with family and friends. Coinciding with growing interest in the Cook Study Unit, Alwyn's visit is probably just the spur we need here in New Zealand to organise ourselves into a more cohesive and active section of the Society.
Ann Salmond has started research for a book about the people in the Pacific who had dealings with Cook and the role they played in the success or otherwise of Cook's Voyages. Tupaia is mentioned as one of the key figures in a piece in the New Zealand Herald of March 6th about the project. Salmond expects to take four years over the book. (I have a photocopy of the article should anyone wish to read it).
The Providence Journal (from Rhode Island, USA) carried a story recently that has been picked up worldwide. Kathy Abbass, a marine archeologist, believes she has found the hulk of HMB Endeavour in the harbour of Newport, Rhode Island. Research she has carried out shows the Endeavour was renamed the Lord Sandwich and used as a troop transport before being scuttled at Newport during the American Revolutionary War. Divers will next examine the hulk to determine if, indeed, one of the sunken hulks is the Endeavour. (I have a copy of the original article - it even quotes Ian Boreham, in a romantic vein).
New Zealand Representative
John Robson from Hamilton has been asked (and has accepted) to be the New Zealand Representative for the Study Unit. At this stage the position is little more than a title and the duties and responsibilities will need to be determined. The first task he has been asked to look into is Subscriptions.
At present Members in New Zealand pay their subscriptions to the United Kingdom in pounds sterling with each transaction requiring payment of commission to banks for currency exchange, etc.(a few luckier people do have U.K. bank accounts). The Study Unit is not large enough to warrant having credit card facilities. It is proposed, therefore, that New Zealand Members can, from their 2000 subscription onwards, pay John Robson in New Zealand Dollars and he will make one onward payment to Britain. With U.K'S agreement I will devise and distribute a membership form later in 1999.
New Membership
The last two years have seen membership of the CCSU in New Zealand grow from 6 or 7 to over 20. This is very encouraging but why stop at 20. Are there things we could be doing that would attract other Cook people into the fold? Would changing the emphasis of the Study Unit be more appealing? Meetings, a newletter?
Newsletter
I have laid this letter out in the format of a pretend newsletter and I would like your comments about the viability of such a venture. Our Australian colleagues produce "Endeavour Lines" twice a year, admittedly from a much larger membership base, but we could attempt something surely! I would be prepared to collate, contribute to and distribute something as long as other Members were also writing pieces. We could possibly arrange permission to reproduce relevant articles from other journals, newspapers, etc.
Meetings
Unfortunately our 20 Members are spread evenly throughout the country making getting together in large numbers a difficult proposition. However, with sufficient notice most of us would probably be able to get to a convenient location where we could meet each other, visit places with Cook associations, have guest speakers, etc.
For example:
Wellington - Turnbull Library, Te Papa, James Cook Hotel, Government House, Maritime Museum.
Picton - Queen Charlotte Sound, D'Urville Island.
Auckland - my understanding is that the Endeavour Replica is returning in early 2000 as part of the
America's Cup circus.
So perhaps we could arrange a meeting in early 2000. We could invite the Australians or even Members from farther afield to come over to join us.
Book Review by John Robson
Orchiston, Wayne. Nautical Astronomy in New Zealand: the Voyages of James Cook.
Wellington: Carter Observatory, 1998. 0473053039.
This interesting book details the first astronomy carried out in New Zealand by Cook and
others on his Three Voyages and then sets them in the context of the History of the
science in this country. Each of the Astronomers is described as are events such as the
observation of the Transit of Mercury near Whitianga in 1769. The instruments involved
are illustrated and the text is supported by pieces from the original Journals. Sadly,
while there is a large bibliography in the book there is no index. However, at NZ$30,
the book is well worth purchasing.
Possible name change
Some Members have expressed a desire to change the name of our Group, feeling that the term "Study unit" is not entirely appropriate. The term stems from the Group's origins as a subsection of the American Topical Association, a philatelic organisation. The Group, while still dealing with stamps and other philatelic matters to do with Cook, has largely outgrown this background and now concerns itself with all things to do with Captain Cook. Has the time come to change the name to "The Captain Cook Society" or some other new title? What do other people think? There would be costs involved eg reprinting stationery so the matter needs to be considered carefully.
Classified, for sale, wanted, etc
John Robson's book "The Captain Cook Atlas" is set for a November publication by Random House New Zealand. The price is provisionally NZ$49.95 in hardback, with 128 A4 coloured maps and 80pp supporting text.
Letter
Please let me know your thoughts, not about this newsletter as such, but about the matters raised in it. Do you want a newsletter, meetings, name changes, etc? Or are there things that concern you that I have not mentioned? Or are you happy with things as they are. (It is not proposed that we would stop receiving Cook's Log). Best Wishes. John Robson.
John Robson
232 b Old Farm Road, Hamilton
ph home 07-856-4807 work 07-856-2889 x 6511
johnrobs@voyager.co.nz
j.robson@waikato.ac.nz