Captain Cook Sights Maui

We have met Captain Cook several times here at the salon. Here we have read of his trips to Botany Bay and Possession Island, learnt the story behind a famed portrait and even been present at his most gruesome death. Today we welcome the good Captain once more and though this story might have been one of another landing on foreign soil, Cook found his plans beaten by weather and tide.

In November 1778, Cook's ship, HMS Resolution, was continuing her second voyage under the Captain's command. The eventful expedition had been underway since July 1776 and would, of course, be Cook's last adventure though for now, he knew nothing of the fate that awaited on Hawaii. this was a voyage of exploration, a time to discover new lands and, in particular, the famed Northwest Passage. 

Captain James Cook by Nathaniel Dance-Holland, 1776

After a difficult voyage beset with illness and problems with their vessel, the crew of the Resolution spotted land on 26th November 1778. As the first Europeans to lay eyes on Maui, Cook resolved to land there and explore but found his plans vexed by nature itself. With no natural harbour and high waves, he eventually had to face defeat and abandon his plans to land. With no other option he sailed onwards, leaving Maui so that another might one day make the first landing.

That day would not come until nearly ten years later and the first European to set foot on Maui was French explorer, Jean-François de La Pérouse. He arrived on the island in May 1786, by which time Captain Cook was dead, though his name and voyages were anything but forgotten. 

Captain Cook by Nathaniel Dance-Holland

Sir Nathaniel Dance-Holland, 1st Baronet RA (London, England, 8th May 1735 – Winchester, England, 15th October 1811) 

Self Portrait, 1773

On the three occasions that I have told tales of Captain James Cook, I have featured the same 1776 portrait of the famed explorer. That portrait was painted by Sir Nathaniel Dance-Holland and, since today marks the anniversary of the artist's death, I thought the time was right to offer a little insight into iconic portrait of Cook. Of course, all of us Georgians know the Captain by reputation and there's many a seafaring gent pays his bar bill with stories of adventures alongside the Captain, half of them as fanciful as they false! Still, if today's post piques an interest in his voyages, you can also join him on Possession Island, Botany Bay and learn more of his grisly murder elsewhere on the Guide.

In this rather fine portrait, Cook is certainly in his Sunday best and sports full dress uniform, as well as a suitable grave expression. As befits a gentleman given to exploration and charting the furthest oceans, the items depicted with the Captain are suitably iconic and chosen with great care. On the table what could be any chart is actually Cook's own chart of the Southern Ocean. With his finger he gestures to the east coast of Australia which, of course, he chartered. This hand is notable for what it doesn't show too, as Dance-Holland has elected not to paint Cook's right hand with a scar left by a burn some twelve years earlier.

The portrait was commissioned by Sir Joseph Banks, who had sailed with Cook in the past, and the captain sat for Dance-Holland portrait on 25th May 1776 so that he might begin work. Whether Cook sat for the artist again we do not know but what is certain is that, upon its completion, the portrait was hung over the fireplace in Banks's home in London. Here it remained until Banks died in 1820 when it went first to Greenwich Hospital and then on to the National Maritime Museum, where it remains to this day.

Captain Cook Lands on Possession Island

We have met Captain James Cook on a couple of occasions in the past, sharing the landing at Botany Bay and witnessing his murder after a disastrous foray into Hawaii's Kealakekua Bay. Today marks another anniversary for Cook, that of the discovery of Possession Island off the coast of Queensland, Australia.

Captain James Cook by Nathaniel Dance-Holland, 1776

Following his discovery of Botany Bay, Cook sailed on and eventually discovered a group of islands in the Torres Straits. These islands were home to the Kaurareg people and Cook eventually made landfall on an island that its inhabitants knew as Bedanug or Bedhan Lag. 

However, the Captain came ashore and raised the flag as the sunset on 22nd August, 1770, claiming the eastern coast for Britain in the name of King George III and declaring it as New South Wales.

More than two centuries later, the Kaurareg people were successful in their petition to have the native title rights of Possession Island and its neighbours returned to them in perpetuity. Today the island is celebrated for its rich flora and fauna and Cook's landing is marked by a monument on the spot where he once raised his flag and claimed the land for the king.

Captain Cook Lands at Botany Bay

We have met Captain James Cook here at the Guide before, when I told the story of his somewhat grisly Hawaiian end. Today we welcome the Captain back to the salon to commemorate his first landing at what came to be known as Botany Bay.

James Cook by Nathaniel Dance-Holland, 1776

In 1770, though Cook's rank was that of lieutenant, he served as captain of HMS Endeavour, engaged in a mission to charter the coastline of southern Australia and observe the transit of Venus. It was whilst undertaking these important tasks that Cook identified a place of safe anchorage in a natural bay located between what is now Cape Banks and Point Solander. With Cook keen to go ashore and discover more about this new territory, it was decided that the Endeavour would drop anchor so members of her crew could investigate further. 

Botany Bay by Charles Gore, 1789

The area was inhabited by the Gweagal, a tribe of Indigenous Australians. As the ship drew near, a few Gweagal warriors gathered on the rocks to watch its approach whilst the majority took shelter further inland. In fact there was to be no further action that day as the crew waited overnight and on 29th April 1770, a party from the ship went ashore. The contact between the Gweagal and the Europeans was understandably tense. When the local people remonstrated with the landing party, shots were fired by the British but there was no escalation in conflict.

In fact, in the eight days that the British were on land, the Gweagal did their best to avoid their visitors. Though the men from the Endeavour attempted to make contact their efforts were in vain. Instead the local people went about their daily routines, all the while keeping a close eye on their visitors.

The crew of the Endeavour come ashore; from Australia: the first hundred years, by Andrew Garran, 1886

As the Endeavour lay at anchor, the crew coined the name Stingrays Harbour, to reflect the large number of that fish in the bay. However, as Cook wrote in his own journal, so verdant were the flora of the region and so many specimens were available to the ship's botanists that he renamed the area Botanist's Bay, later amending this to Botany Bay.

Eventually the Endeavour resumed its iconic voyage; four months later, Cook claimed his newly-chartered coastline as British territory and set sail for home.

Landing of Captain Cook at Botany Bay, 1770 by E. Phillips Fox, 1902

The Murder of Captain James Cook

Captain James Cook, FRS, RN (Marton, Middlesbrough, England, 7th November 1728 – Kealakekua Bay, Hawaii, 14th February 1779)

Captain James Cook by Nathaniel Dance-Holland, 1776

Well, it occurs to me that today's post should be one with a little romance but I've plumped for something a little darker! It is off to Hawaii for a tale of murder and the final hours of Captain James Cook.

By February 1779 Captain James Cook was well-embarked on his exploration of the Hawaiin Islands, then known as the Sandwich Islands, and had spent an enjoyable period at Kealakekua Bay where he participated in festivities for the Makahiki, a Hawaiian celebration. However as the Resolution resumed her exploration of the ocean her foremast broke, and Cook ordered her return to Kealakekua Bay.

With their festivities concluded the islanders did not welcome the returning crew and tensions rose between the Hawaiians and their visitors that reached a head on 14th February. With thefts not uncommon, the theft of one of Cook's smallest boats was hardly unexpected, nor was the method of taking hostages that would be held as collateral for the stolen property. However, Cook decided to make a point by taking the King of Hawaiʻi, Kalaniʻōpuʻu, as hostage against the stolen boat.

The Death of Captain James Cook, 14 February 1779 by Johann Zoffany, 1795

The Hawaiians furiously defended their king and in the confusion a chief named Kalimu was shot dead. Pursued by the islanders, Cook and his men were forced to retreat to the beach, intending to return to their boats. However, before they could flee Cook was struck on the head by the pursuing villagers and fell to the ground, where he was stabbed to death. According to Hawaiian lore Cook's killer was a chief named Kalaimanokahoʻowaha or Kanaʻina, and following Cook's death and that of some of his men, the murdered captain's body was carried away by the islanders.

Due to their earlier respect for Cook, the Hawaiians prepared his corpse according to rituals reserved for their most illustrious people. His body was first disemboweled before being baked in order for the flesh to be removed and boned cleaned to be presented as religious icons. Some of the captain's remains were eventually presented to his crew and were buried at sea.

Sir Percivall Pott: A Doctor from Threadneedle Street

Sir Percivall Pott (London, England, 6th January 1714 – London, England, 22nd December 1788)

Percivall Pott, engraved from an original picture by Nathaniel Dance-Holland, 1785

It's no secret to regular visitors that I have a very fine medical friend in the considerable form of Dr James Dillingham of Edinburgh, favoured physician of our queen and known to have unquestioned access to Buckingham House, no less. It is he who shared with me the story of Sir Percivall Pott, surgeon of renown and our guest today.

Pott's start in life was not a promising one; he was only three years old when his father died and the family were plunged into penury. Luckily for the young man, he could count the Bishop of Rochester as a relative and it was the Bishop who met the costs of his education. Bright and inquisitive, Pott decided in childhood that he wished to pursue a career in medicine, the field in whch he make his name. 

the young Pott was apprentice to Edward Nourse at St Bartholomew's Hospital at the age of 15 and learned his immense surgical skill from Nourse. He was awarded his license to practise at the age of 22 and within a decade was assistant surgeon at St Bartholomew's, attaining the role of surgeon in 1749, a role he held until just a year before his death.

Pott became a groundbreaking surgeon, pioneering new techniques and using a serious compound fracture to his own leg to direct doctors on a new technique intended to save the leg, where amputation would usually be the first option. In 1765 he was elected Master of the Company of Surgeons and three years later went on to publish the hugely influential Some Few Remarks upon Fractures and Dislocations, among other seminal medical texts.

In 1775 Pott made an important discovery when he discovered a correlation between exposure to soot and scrotal cancer in chimney sweeps. He was the first person to establish a link between environmental carcinogens and cancer and it was partly due to him that the 1788 Chimney Sweeper's Act came into being.

Pott counted the finest names in London amongst his patients and today his name lives on in a number of the disorders he chronicled, not bad for a lad from Threadneedle Street!

Tobias Smollett, A Satirical Surgeon

Tobias George Smollett (Dalquhurn, Scotland, baptised 19th March 1721 – Livorno, Italy, 17th September 1771) 

My grandpa Gilflurt was never without a book on his hands or a story on his lips and many's the night we sat around his chair listening to him reading tales of adventure and daring. When he was in his cups he liked a bit of poetry too and one of his favourites was Tobias Smollett, a writer whose works he would recite with no little enthusiasm!

Smollett was born to Barbara Cunningham and Archibold Smollett, a landowner and judge in what is now West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Enjoying a very comfortable upbringing, the young man found himself with a burgeoning interest in medicine and went to study at the University of Glasgow, where he trained as a surgeon. However, even as he found himself well-qualified for a medical career and apprenticed to William Stirling and John Gordon, Smollett's true ambitions lay elsewhere. He did not complete his studies and at the age of 18 decided to take his chances in London, envisioning a successful future as a novelist and dramatist.

Like so many other who travelled to the capital chasing their dreams, Smollett found his ambitions thwarted as he could raise no interest in his works. Frustrated and disappointed, he returned to his vocation and took a post as ship's surgeon on HMS Chichester, bound for Jamaica. He spent some time on the island and struck up a courtship with heiress Anne "Nancy" Lascelles before returning to the sea, serving at the Battle of Cartagena.

After the battle he finally set sail for England and established a hugely successful society practice in Downing Street. He married Nancy and together the couple had one child, a daughter. However, his marriage to Nancy was to prove somewhat troublesome as her generous dowry was tied up in her homeland and Smollett would spend a fortune in legal costs in his unsuccessful efforts to obtain it in the form of cash.

The Battle of Cartagena by Luis Fernández Gordillo

Despite the disappointments of his earlier literary efforts, Smollett continued to write and in 1746 published a poem of Culloden, The Tears of Scotland. However, his first true success was to come in 1748 with The Adventures of Roderick Random, a picaresque tale of an adventurous traveller that became a popular success and laid bare life naval life. Buoyed by this triumph he travelled to France to research his second novel, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle, which added to his already considerable reputation and sold in great numbers. The publication in 1753 of a third work, The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom, cemented Smollett's reputation and he moved in the highest literary circles in London, basking in the respect of his readers and peers.

Smollett's personal dealings went from bad to worse despite his professional successes; he wrote a scathing report on the medicinal resort of Bath that gained him few friends and became involved with a dubious figure named Peter Gordon, who borrowed and refused to repay large sums of money. A failed novel proved costly and Smollett found himself in financial dire straits, borrowing large sums of money until he gained regular employment as the editor of The Critical Review in 1756. With life once again on the up he published his hugely successful work, Complete History of England and  continued to write and publish poetry and translate works from overseas.

Tobias Smollett by Nathaniel Dance-Holland, 1764

However, things were to take a darker turn for Smollett once more in the 1760s when The Critical Review libelled Admiral Sir Charles Knowles and our hero found himself serving three months in prison. However, he was able to afford a relatively comfortable incarceration and even used the experience as research for another novel! 

In 1762 Smollett's teenaged daughter, Elizabeth, died. Her heartbroken parents left England to travel the continent, the writer's creative output never slowing and just months before his death he saw the publication of his last and arguably finest novel, The Expedition of Humphrey Clinker. With his health failing, Smollett retired to Livorno, the final destination in his well-travelled life. He died at the age of 50, laid to rest in the city he had made his home. 

Smollett left behind a rich legacy of satire, his novels providing a wonderfully witty account of life in the navy, on the continent and in our wonderful Georgian world!