Issue No. 11, November 2002
With proper editing, the material could have been compressed into three episodes and nothing important would have been lost. Several people describe their experiences and give their opinions but the same few people are used over and over. It becomes tiring and you hope that they will be the next to leave the ship. The program has, of course, been compared to the awful reality series that fill the television screens these days and there is some validity in this opinion.
The purpose of the program was to follow a new volunteer crew as it joins the Endeavour replica at Cairns, which then attempts to follow the track taken by Cook in 1770. By recreating Cook's journey, it was hoped to understand better what Cook achieved and what he and his crew experienced. The ship sets off north, intending to sail to Jakarta in Indonesia but the attack on New York occurs as they cross the Arafura Sea, causing them to change their destination to Bali.
Footage recreating the events experienced by Cook and his crew is interspersed with film of the modern voyage but it adds little to the understanding or enjoyment of the series. A great improvement could have been achieved by using Captain Chris Blake and his regular crew more. As it is they only have bit parts.
However, the Endeavour keeps stealing the show and shots of it at sea and of the crew learning how to sail the ship ensure you stay watching. That, the realisation of how difficult life on board an eighteenth century ship must have been and how great a seaman James Cook must have been. (see Internet link below).
I have just read Vanessa Collingridge's excellent and interesting book 'Captain Cook: Obsession and Betrayal in the New World', and it stirred a memory from my own research.
She relates the obsession of her relation George Collingridge, who was convinced that it was the Portuguese who were the first to discover the east coast of Australia, and that there was a possibility that Captain Cook had seen, or even had on board, Portuguese maps during his first voyage of discovery.
The evidence produced in her book seems to demonstrate that Cook did indeed have foreknowledge of the Portuguese maps at the time he charted the coastline, which leaves the question, where and how had they been obtained. One theory that has been proposed is that the original Portuguese maps were somehow acquired at the time when Lisbon lay devastated after the earthquake of 1755.
The epicenter of the earthquake, which struck at 9.30 on the 1st November 1755, is thought to have been in the Atlantic about 200 km WSW of Cape St.Vincent. There were three major jolts over a period of 10 minutes. About 30 minutes after the quake, a tsunami swept around the coast and up the Tagus swamping all before it. The great city of Lisbon was largely destroyed and 30,000 to 40.000 people were killed; damage occurred over a wide area in Portugal, Spain and Morocco. The shocks were felt throughout an enormous area in Europe; the tsunami crossed the Atlantic and had reached the Antilles by the afternoon of the quake. But it was a week or more before news reached England.
England had a particular interest as the main trading partner of Portugal and there was an 'English Factory' and a large expatriate population. The factory was destroyed by the quake and many English perished. But the first ship to arrive the next day, apparently unaffected by the quake, was British; a vessel owned by the Wm Denison and Company of Leeds and London.
The company was already a successful as wool merchants in Leeds, Yorkshire. The owner was William Denison of Leeds; and his partners were his brother Robert, and John Wilkinson of London. It is not known what goods the vessel was carrying but it is recorded that, when William died in 1782, he left a great fortune, "a large portion of which, it is said, he gained by one ship's cargo, which arrived at Lisbon immediately after that city had been destroyed by an earthquake". As to precisely how Denison's fortune was so beneficially enhanced by this one shipment, when all around was ruin, and fortunes shattered, history does not record. No doubt, he was the one individual in the whole city who was able to supply essential requirements and, presumably, he had to barter for payment.
All the records of Portugal's maritime exploits were held in the basement of the Casa da India e Mina, a Government office and warehouse on the banks of the river near the harbour. If the contents were not actually burnt or otherwise destroyed, they were doubtless looted, never to be seen again, that is, in Portugal. But if there was anyone who was able to acquire such precious manuscripts, by one means or another, and pass them on discretely to naval authorities in London, doubtless at a suitable price, it surely was the skipper of William Denison's vessel. But Portugal was an ally of long standing so utmost secrecy would be essential and nothing could be recorded.
The earthquake itself was said to represent a watershed in European history creating enormous interest and initiating scientific research into natural science. Whether it also motivated greater interest in discovering new lands on the other side of the world is not so certain - but possible nevertheless.
There is an interesting postscript to the above events which I do not believe has previously been recorded. In 1846, Mr William Gladstone , Colonial Secretary and future Prime Minister, was looking for a Lt-Governor for Van Diemen's Land. He chose a young military engineer working at Woolwich dockyard by the name of William Thomas Denison - who also happened to be great nephew of William Denison. It is worth noting that Gladstone would have known the Denison family very well as he was elected MP for their constituency, Newark; and both men had been educated at Eton.
In 1854, Denison, now Sir William, was appointed Governor of New South Wales - with the title of Governor-General of Australia, although it is said that Denison opposed the use of the latter title. He was subsequently appointed to the Government of Madras, and for two months he even filled in as Governor of all India, the most prestigious appointment in the Empire. The history of his terms of office will of course be well known to Australian historians.
What a strange quirk of fate that there was this connection between the quake of 1755 and the early government of Australia. Whether one can read anything else into the connection is a matter for speculation.
The occasion of Denison's arrival at Lisbon was clearly of extraordinary importance to his descendants as it is recorded by a monument to William which is said to stand in the church of Ossington, Nottinghamshire. It consists of a full length figure of marble, standing upon a pedestal, having a scroll in his hand, with his ship unloading in the haven of Lisbon. But it is a pity that the goods which he loaded for his return trip to London remain unrecorded.
© A.Houghton-Brown October 2002.
"I thought some one might like to see what is available in a "What's new in my collection" type page. I am interested in collecting postcards showing scenes that are similar to what Cook saw and cards of paintings which I mount on pages with an extract from Cook's log".
I am very happy to post news such as this in future issues. If you have news about recent acquisitions, exhibitions attended, Cook sites visited, please let me know.
I was very fortunate to be able to travel to the United Kingdom to take part in the international conference on Captain Cook that was held in September at the University of Teesside. During Captain Cook - Explorations and Reassessments, a series of academics and other Cook scholars considered James Cook and his achievements afresh, in the light of recent research and from modern perspectives.
Unfortunately, the conference had not been promoted as well as it might have been, which resulted in a much lower number of people being present. Those that did were rewarded with a series of stimulating papers and the opportunity to mix with experts on all aspects of Cook. Being able to discuss Cook with the likes of Glyn Williams, Andrew Cook, Anne Salmond, Andrew Lambert and many more over coffee or breakfast was an experience to savour. It is also pleasing to report that the Captain Cook Society was very well represented and made many useful and pertinent contributions to the overall success of the conference.
I will list all the papers at the end of this report but will describe some of the highlights. Glyn Williams contributed two excellent sesions. Called upon a few days before the conference began to give the welcoming keynote address, Glyn gave a talk in which he magnificently summed up the history of Cook scholarship, including the many strands of current research, and signalled some of the papers that would follow during the conference. The last session of the conference was a round table with Glyn and four other speakers. His able chairmanship ensured a very stimulating discussion. It was also remarkable for the number of speakers from the audience who contributed.
Anne Salmond, who has been working on a new book (due in 2003 from Penguin) on the impact and influence that Polynesians had on Cook, gave a very polished and all-embracing talk, based on her research, for the second keynote address. The talk augers well for a most interesting new book in the new year.
As an antidote to the papers, there were lighter moments such as a reception buffet held at the Captain Cook Birthplace Museum in nearby Marton, The Museum has recently been refurbished and we had the opportunity to tour the exhibits as well as partaking of the meal that Ian Stubbs, the Museum Curator, had laid on. Another afternoon was given over to a bus excursion to Whitby where we visited the Captain Cook Memorial Museum and The Whitby Museum. The Memorial Museum has been extended and well worth a visit while the Whitby Museum is delightful, being a museum in itself with none of the technological trappings so prevalent in most other museums these days.
The third keynote address was given by Andrew Lambert, in which he described his time on board the Endeavour replica during the filming of the BBC documentary, The Ship. The BBC was showing the five-part series at the time (hopefully one of the television channels in New Zealand will show it soon) and we were soon able to watch and sympathise with Andrew in his distress. He was airlifted by helicopter from Possession Island, near Cape York, suffering from pneumonia. Andrew described the conditions on board most vivedly.
The catering at the conference was not of the highest order but the meals and coffee breaks did provide ample opportunities to meet new friends and establish useful contacts for the future. The relatively low turnout did not prevent an international presence with several from Canada, from Hawaii and other parts of the USA, and two from New Zealand. (Surprisingly, nobody attended from Australia.)
Of the other papers, I enjoyed most the cluster of papers in session 1, which provided insights into various aspects of Cook's early life, suggesting ideas and beliefs that probably shaped Cook. The second session was no less interesting with Andrew Cook detailing a new line of research into who attended Royal Society dinners, who might have talked to whom, and what other events might have eventuated. Victor Suthren's excellent paper highlighted the manner in which Cook's time in Canada has been overlooked and the need for more work in that area.
I wish I could have appreciated Simon Werrett's talk about Cook's reputation in Russia (what I took in was very good) but as I was talking next, I was somewhat on edge. I was one of the few speakers to use new technology - Powerpoint - and I had found to my horror on my arrival in England that the cdrom I was carrying did not have the presentation on it! Frantic emails to New Zealand resulted in the arrival (the night before my talk!) of a replacement disc. I had organised several contingencies but the relief of having the disc was enormous. I think the talk was successful but you will need to ask someonee else for an impartial comment.
A disappointing aspect of the conference was that none of the papers was available in printed form for you to take away. It is intended that some, if not all the papers, will be included in a book to be published at some unspecified time by Boydell and Brewer. In the meantime, we who were able to attend are left with our recollections of a very good conference.
Program:
Keynote Address. Prof Glyndwr Williams. Reassessing Captain Cook: Political and other agendas.
Session 1 - The Early years.
(a) Rosalin Barker (Whitby). Cook's Nursery: Whitby's Eighteenth Century
Merchant Fleet.
(b) Tony Barrow (Newcastle College). Regional Shipping and Trade in the age of
Captain Cook, 1730 - 1780.
(c) Richard Allen (Univ of Northumbria). James Cook and the North Yorkshire
Quakers.
Session 2 - The Men behind Cook.
(a) Andrew Cook (India Office Library). Discussions over dinners at the Royal
Society Club.
(b) Christopher Ware (Univ Greenwich). The Ark of Science: an enlightened
Navy?
(c) Victor Suthren (Canada). From Seaman to Surveyor: Cook and the Canadian
Period.
Session 3 - Cook and the Anthropologists.
(a) Pauline King (Univ of Hawaii). Some Thoughts on Native Hawaiian Attitudes
Toward Captain James Cook.
(b) Michael Bravo. Cook's Legacy: an Anti-Anthropology?.
Keynote address. Professor Dame Anne Salmond (University of Auckland). "Toote" - the impact of the Pacific on Captain Cook.
Session 5 - European Responses.
(a) Robin Inglis (North Vancouver Museum). Successors and rivals: France and
Spain.
(b) Simon Werrett (Max Planck Institut). Responses to Cook in Russia.
(c) John Robson (Univ of Waikato Library). Comparing the cartographic results
of the voyages of Bougainville & Cook.
Session 6 - The Influence of Cook
(a) Sujit Sivasundaram (Cambridge Univ.). Typologies of Martyrdom: Captain
James Cook and Rev John Williams.
Keynote Address. Andrew Lambert. Retracing the Captain: "Extreme History", Hard Tack and Scurvy.
Session 7 - Reading Cook's Journals.
(a) Stuart Murray (Univ of Leeds). Textuality and Authority in the Endeavour
journal: Some thoughts from the Endeavour River, June-August 1770.
(b) Scott Ashley, (Newcastle). What did James Burney see through his
telescope? Problems in the history and anthropology of Cook's Death.
Session 8 - Round Table - Unanswered Questions
A panel of four speakers, chaired by Glyndwr Williams, led the discussion.
The Captain Cook Society held its Annual Meeting in Marton in September in Marton. The timing was both good and bad. It was good in that it followed on the Cook Conference, described above, and was just a few kilometres down the road. However, it was bad in that the two events overlapped and there was even duplication in events, eg visiting the refurbished Birthplace Museum at Marton. Some of us had to choose which to attend and consequently we missed some events.
The mood at Marton was much lighter than at the Conference and it was great to catch up with friends, some of whom I met at the meeting held at Greenwich a few years ago and others who have managed to reach New Zealand. There was a more formal session when Tony Horwitz, Vanessa Collingridge, Victor Suthren and John Robson talked about the writing of their recent books and the problems in getting them published.
It was good to be present when Andrew Bardell received his Life Membership for all the work he has done for many years as Treasurer of the Society. The award is well deserved.
Salmond, Anne. The trial of the cannibal dog: or why did Captain Cook die.
London: Allen Lane, 2003. 0718996617.
Thomas, Nicholas. Captain Cook. London: Allen Lane, 2003. 0713995572.
A title that has been listed for many months as being by Ian McCalman and published by Leicester University Press has still not appeared. However, I now understand it to be a new edited version of David Samwell's account of Cook's death at Kealakekua Bay.
Review by John Robson of
Hayes, Derek. Historical atlas of the Pacific Northwest. Seattle: Sasquatch
Books, 2000. 1570612153.
Hayes, Derek. Historical atlas of the North Pacific Ocean. Seattle: Sasquatch
Books, 2001. 1570613117.
While neither of these books is about James Cook as such, they contain huge amounts of
information for anyone interested in exploration. Hayes has scoured libraries and
archives around the world to find maps and charts that represent the regions covered by
these titles. Each atlas reproduces, in colour, approximately 300 maps (sadly but
realistically nowhere near full size) in chronological order so that you can clearly see
how the geographical knowledge was gradually built up.
Of course, Cook features in both volumes and they show how and where Cook fits into the greater scheme of things. The Pacific Northwest volume also covers many of the charts drawn by Cook "disciples" such as Portlock, Dixon and Colnett during their time in the fur trade. Many pages are given over to Vancouver and his wondeful charts of the American coast.
At US$40.00 each, they represent wonderful additions to anyone's library. Hayes has just had published a third volume covering Canada, which I look forward to seeing. I have suggested to him that the South Pacific should be his next task.
15 November 2002
John Robson
232 b Old Farm Road, Hamilton
home ph 07-856-4807 jcr@quicksilver.net.nz
work ph 07-856-2889 x 6522 j.robson@waikato.ac.nz