Latest / Life of Captain James Cook / 22 - Life of Captain James Cook by Arthur Octavius Kitson

Transcript

22 - Life of Captain James Cook by Arthur Octavius Kitson · Life of Captain James Cook

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Chapter number nineteen of the Life of Captain James Cook,
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: the Circumnavigator, by Arthur Kitson. This Liberox recording is in
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: the public domain, Chapter nineteen, Appreciation and character. Of course,
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: as nothing had been heard of the expedition for a
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: considerable time, a certain amount of anxiety was felt, which
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: at length found vent in paragraphs in the public press.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: And on the eleventh of January seventeen eighty the London
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: Gazette contained the following Captain Clerk of his Majesty's Sloop.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: The resolution in a letter to mister Stevens, dated the
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: eighth of June seventeen seventy nine, in the harbor of
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Saint Peter and Saint Paul Camchatska, which was received yesterday,
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: gives a melancholy account of the celebrated Captain Cook, late
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: commander of that sloop, with four of his private marines,
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: having been killed on the fourteenth of February last at
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: the island of Owayhi, one of a group of new
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: discovered islands in the twenty second degree of north latitude,
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: in an affray with a numerous and tumultuous body of natives.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: Captain Clerk adds that he received very friendly supply from
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: the Russian government, and that as the companies of the
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: Resolution and her consort the Discovery were in perfect health
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: and the two sloops had twelve months stores and provisions
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: on board, he was prepared to make another attempt to
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: explore a northern passage to Europe. Empress of Russia, the
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: London Gazette of eighth February says the Empress of Russia
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: expressed a most deep concern at the loss of Captain Cook.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: She was the more sensibly affected from her very partial
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: regard to his merits, and when she was informed of
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: the hospitality shown by the Russian government at Kamchatska to
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: Captain Clerk, she said no subject in her Dominions could
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: show too much friendship to the survivors of Captain Cook.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: The letter written by Clerk was sent by express through Petersburg.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: That is to say, it was written in the extreme
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: east of Asia in June, and was sent overland across
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: Siberia to Petersburg and thence via Berlin to London, and
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: was there published in under the six months. A wonderful journey.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: When the difficulties of transit were taken into consideration, in
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: the numerous appreciative notices that appeared in the press relating
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: to Cook and his work. The Morning Chronicle alone strikes
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: a jarring string, which is at once met by a reply,
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: and a day or two after the same paper publishes
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: a long letter signed Columbus. The style suggests the pen
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: of Sir Joseph Banks, in which the character and methods
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: of Cook are most strenuously defended, the writer claiming to
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: have obtained his knowledge of the man through long intercourse
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: with him. The Gazetta of twenty fourth January says his Majesty,
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: who had always the highest opinion of Captain Cook, shed
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: tears when Lord Sandwidge informed him of his death and
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: immediately ordered a pension of three hundred pounds a year
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: for his widow. The amount really granted to missus Cook
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: was two hundred pounds per annum, and the Admiralty, in addition,
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: gave her half the proceeds of the Journal of the
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: Third Voyage, a share in the Journal of the Second Voyage,
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: and a share of the plates used in illustrating the
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: two publications, a very considerable addition to her income. A
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: coat of arms was also granted to the family by
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: order of the King, and Sir W. Bessant records his
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: belief that it was the last one ever granted as
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: a direct recognition of service. His description of it is
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: azure between the two polar stars, or a sphere on
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: the plane of the meridian showing the Pacific Ocean, his
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: track thereon marked by red limes. And for a crest.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: On the wreath of the colors is an arm bode
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: in the uniform of a captain of the Royal Navy.
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: In the hand is the Union jack on staff proper.
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: The arm is encircled by a wreath of palm and laurel,
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: a very noble shield. Indeed, the notes of appreciation of
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: his talent and services came from all parts of the world,
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: and none more kindly than those from the series of
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: brilliant Frenchmen who followed in his footsteps. De Croset did
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: not hesitate to throw away his own charts when he
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: recognized a superiority of cooks, and Dumont d'euval calls him
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: the most illustrious navigator of both the past and future ages,
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: whose name will forever remain at the head of the
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: list of sailors of all nations. Missus Cook's letter. The
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: Royal Society was naturally amongst the first to recognize the
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: great worth of its late fellow and the loss the
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: society had suffered from his death. It had already granted
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: him one of its highest honors, in the form of
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: the Copley Gold Medal, for his successful contest with the scurvy,
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: and it now decided to mark its appreciation by striking
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: a special gold medal in his honor. This was forwarded
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: by Sir Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society, to
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: Missus Cook, and acknowledged by her in the following touching
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: letter Myland, sixteenth of August seventeen eighty four. Sir, I
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: received your exceedingly kind letter of the twelfth instant, and
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: want words to express in any adequate degree my feelings
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: on the very singular honor which you, Sir, and the
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: honorable and learned society over which you so worthily preside,
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: have been pleased to confer on more my late husband
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: and threw him on me and his children, who were
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: left to lament the loss of him, and to be
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: the receivers of those most noble marks of approbations which,
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: if providence had been pleased to permit him to receive
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: would have rendered me very happy. Indeed, be assured, Sir, that,
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: however unequal I may be to the task of expressing it,
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: I feel as I ought the high honor which the
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: Royal Society has been pleased to do me. My greatest
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: pleasure now remains in my sons, who I hope will
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: ever strive to copy, after so good an example, and
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: animated by the honors bestowed on their father's memory, be
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: ambitious of attaining by their own merits your notice and approbation.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: Let me entreat you to add to the many acts
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: of friendship which I have already received at your hand,
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: that of expressing my gratitude and thanks to that learned
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: body in such a manner as may be acceptable to them.
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: I am Sir, et cetera, et cetera, Elizabeth Cook. The
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: medal actually presented to missus Cook is now in the
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: British Museum Deaths of the Suns. It is greatly to
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: be regretted that so little can be ascertained about Cook's
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: private life that would be of service informing an intimate
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: knowledge of his character. But this is accounted for by
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: the fact that after he had joined the navy. His
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: time was so fully occupied by that service that he
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: had but little opportunity to form private friendships such as
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: fall to the lot of most men. The intimacies that
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: he did form were mostly connected very closely with his
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: naval duties, and his opportunities of correspondence were necessarily limited
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: by absence from all ordinary means of communication. For a
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: man of his marked celebrity, it is very curious that
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: there should be such a dearth of anecdote that it
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: is difficult to find anything that is unconnected with his
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: profession of his own family relations, there is also little
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: known as missus Cook, probably esteeming the few letters that
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: she had from him as too sacred to be seen
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: by any other eye than her own, as the late
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: Canon Bennett suggests, destroyed them before her death. Still, some
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: idea of their life together, short as it really was,
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: notwithstanding it lasted in name for over sixteen years, may
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: be gained from the manner in which his widow always
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: spoke of him after his death. She wore a ring
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: containing a lock of his hair, and measured everything by
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: his standard of morality and honor. The greatest disapprobation she
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: could express was mister Cook would never have done so.
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: He was always mister Cook to her. She kept four
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: days each year as solemn fasts, remaining in her own room.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: The days were those on which she lost her husband
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: and three sons, passing them and reading her husband's Bible,
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: prayer and meditation, and during bad weather she could not
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: sleep for thinking of those at sea. For her husband's sake,
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: she befriended her nephews and nieces, whom she never saw.
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: Of her three sons, two entered the navy. One Nathaniel,
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: was lost with his ship, the Thunderer, in a hurricane
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: of Jamaica in seventeen eighty. The eldest James, rose to
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: the rank of commander, and in January seventeen ninety four,
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: was appointed to h M. Sloop Spitfire. He was at
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: Pool when he received his orders to join his ship
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: at Portsmouth without delay. Finding an open boat with sailors
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: returning from leave about to start, he joined them. It
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: was blowing rather hard, and nothing was ever heard of
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: the passengers or crew, except that the broken boat and
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: the dead body of the unfortunate young officer stripped of
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: all money and valuables. With the wound in the head
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: was found ashore on the Isle of Wight. The third son, Hugh,
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: was entered at Christ's College, Cambridge in seventeen ninety three,
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: but contracting scarlet fever, he died on the twenty first
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: of December of that year and was buried in the
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: Church of Saint Andrew the Great, being joined by his
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: brother James a few weeks afterwards, when the mother was
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: left indeed alone. She survived her husband for the long
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: period of fifty six years, living at Clapham with her cousin,
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: Admiral Isaac Smith, and at length joined her two sons
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: at Cambridge at the advanced age of ninety three. Cook's character,
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: as given by those with whom he worked, men who
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: day after day were by his side, was a fine one.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: His greatest fault seems to have been his hasty temper,
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: which he admitted himself often most regretfully. But Captain King
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: says it was disarmed by a disposition the most benevolent,
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: in humane, and it never was displayed in such a
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: manner as to cause the loss of respect and affection
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: of his people. He was healthy and vigorous in mind
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: and body, clare headed and cool in times of danger,
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: broad minded and temperate, and plain and unaffected in manner.
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: His powers of observation were of the first rank. His
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: knowledge of naval mathematics far surpast the ordinary level and
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: amounted to genius. But above all, his devotion to duty
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: was the commanding feature of his character. Nothing was allowed
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: to interfere when he saw his course before him. Personal
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: convenience was not allowed to weigh for one moment. But
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: at the same time he never lost sight of the
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: interests of those under him, and spared them when possible.
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: He was somewhat silent and reserved in manner, but when
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: questioned on any subject on which he felt he was
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: an author, his answers were clearly and distinctly given, and
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: his reasons disclosed. His powers of observation to the full.
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: He was kindly, generous and hospitable, and by no means
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: a stern character that has been painted, for, even in
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: such a matter of fact document as his official journal,
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: a spirit of fun occasionally gleams out. Such was the
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: man whose name will ever stand in the very first
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: ranks of the British Empire builders. Honest, kindly, generous, a
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: faithful servant, and a Noble Leader, end of Chapter nineteen.
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: End of the Life of Captain James Cook, The Circumnavigator,
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: by Arthur Kitson,