CHAPTER 12. 1771. PREPARATIONS FOR SECOND VOYAGE.

After reporting himself to the Admiralty on his arrival in England, Cook proceeded to his home at Mile End Old Town, where he was for some time employed in completing his Charts and Journals, and on 14th August, the Annual Register announces, he was introduced to His Majesty at St. James's, when he:

"presented his Journal of his Voyage, with some curious maps and charts of different places that he had drawn during the voyage; he was presented with a captain's commission."

He also found time to write two long and instructive letters to his old master and good friend, Mr. John Walker of Whitby, which are to be found in Dr. Young's work. They give a rapid glance at the different places visited, with a few pithy remarks as to their peoples and productions; mention the pleasing reception he had from the king, and he alludes to the probability of being despatched on a second voyage with two ships.

Edgeworth, in his Memoirs, states that about this time Cook was a frequent visitor at Denham Place, the home of Mr. Louis Way, F.R.S., but as that gentleman died in this year, and Edgeworth also refers to events of a later date as occurring at the same time, it is more probable that these visits were paid after the Second Voyage to Mr. Benjamin Way, also F.R.S., and a Director of the South Sea Company. In another place Edgeworth infers that Banks, Solander, and Cook were members of a club which met at Slaughter's Coffee House in 1765. Of course, this is an error, for Cook was then engaged in Newfoundland, and unknown to the Royal Society, whose members composed the club spoken of; in fact, Cook, though a frequent guest in after times, was never a member of the Royal Societies Club.

Fanny Burney (Madame d'Arblay) says that in September her father, Dr. Charles Burney, spent a few days at Hinchinbroke, Lord Sandwich's place, in order to meet Cook, Banks, and Solander, and it is evident that the second voyage had been resolved on, for Dr. Burney's son, James, was introduced to Cook by Lord Sandwich, with a view to going on the expedition. Shortly after this, Sandwich met Dr. Burney at Lord Oxford's, Houghton, and asked him if he could recommend any one capable of writing the history of the voyage of the Endeavour; he gave Dr. Hawkesworth's name, and was requested to introduce him to Lord Sandwich on his return to town.

The object of the Second Voyage was, to use Cook's own words:

"To put an end to all diversity of opinion about a matter so curious and important, was His Majesty's principal motive in directing this voyage to be undertaken, the history of which is now submitted to the public, i.e., the existence of another continent in the South."

The discussion on the subject had been resumed with renewed vigour after the return of the Endeavour, and Dalrymple led one party, who held that Cook had not set the matter at rest as he had left far too much space untraversed.

WHITBY SHIPS AGAIN.

The two ships that were to be employed were probably selected in the Thames by Cook himself, and, like the good ship Endeavour, were built by Fishburn of Whitby, and purchased from Captain W. Hammond of Hull. The reasoning which guided Cook in his selection is thus laid down by him in his introduction to the account of the Second Voyage:

"The success of such undertakings as making discoveries in distant parts of the world, will principally depend on the preparations being well adapted to what ought to be the first consideration, namely, the preservation of the adventurers and ships; and this will chiefly depend on the kind, the size, and the properties of the ships chosen for the service. These primary considerations will not admit of any other, that may interfere with the necessary properties of the ships. Therefore, in chusing the ships, should any of the most advantageous properties be wanting, and the necessary room in them be, in any degree, diminished for less important purposes, such a step would be laying a foundation for rendering the undertaking abortive in the first instance. The ship must not be of great draught, but of sufficient capacity to carry a proper quantity of provisions and stores for the crew, and of such construction that she will bear to take the ground, and of such a size that she can be conveniently laid on shore if necessary for repairing any damages or defects, and these qualities are to be found in North Country built ships, such as are built for the coal trade, and in none other."

The larger of the two chosen was 462 tons, purchased for 4,151 pounds, and received into the Royal Navy under the name of the Drake. She was fitted as a sloop at Deptford, at a cost of 6,568 pounds (this sum, probably, covering both the original alterations which proved unsatisfactory and those made immediately before sailing), and at the time of her purchase was about fourteen months old. The second ship was of 336 tons, also fitted at Deptford as a sloop, was eighteen months old at time of purchase, cost 2,103 pounds, and was received under the name of Raleigh.

The complement of the Raleigh was eighty, but two additional carpenters' mates were added to each ship later on. Cook was also instructed not to bear, as was then usual, any servants on the books, but to enter A.B.s instead, and each officer who was entitled to a servant was "to be paid an allowance by Bill equal to the wages of the number of servants respectively allowed them."

On 25th December the names of the two ships were changed, the Drake becoming the Resolution, and the Raleigh the Adventure. The lieutenants appointed to the Resolution were Robert Pallisser Cooper, Charles Clerke, and Richard Pickersgill, and Mr. Tobias Furneaux, Commander, and Joseph Shank first lieutenant, of the Adventure. Of these officers Cook writes: