A VOYAGE TO THE PACIFIC OCEAN. PART I. BOOK I. TRANSACTIONS FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE VOYAGE TILL OUR DEPARTURE FROM NEW ZEALAND. CHAPTER I.-VARIOUS PREPARATIONS FOR THE VOYAGE.-OMAI'S BEHAVIOUR ON EMBARKING.-OBSERVATIONS FOR DETERMINING THE LONGITUDE OF SHEERNESS AND THE NORTH FORELAND.-PASSAGE OF THE RESOLUTION FROM DEPTFORD TO PLYMOUTH.EMPLOYMENTS THERE.-COMPLEMENTS OF THE CREWS OF BOTH SHIPS, AND NAMES OF THE OFFICERS.— OBSERVATIONS TO FIX THE LONGITUDE OF PLYMOUTH.-DEPARTURE OF THE RESOLUTION. HAVING, on the 9th day of February, 1776, received a commission to command his Majesty's sloop the Resolution, I went on board the next day, hoisted the pendant, and began to enter men. At the same time, the Discovery, of three hundred tons' burthen, was purchased into the service, and the command of her given to Captain Clerke, who had been my second Lieutenant on board the Resolution, in my second voyage round the world, from which we had lately returned. These two ships were, at this time, in the dock at Deptford, under the hands of the shipwrights, being ordered to be equipped to make farther discoveries in the Pacific Ocean, under my direction. On the 9th of March the Resolution was hauled out of dock into the river, where we completed our rigging, and took on board the stores and provisions requisite for a voyage of such duration. Both ships, indeed, were supplied with as much of every necessary article as we could conveniently stow, and with the best of every kind that could be procured. And, besides this, everything that had been found, by the experience acquired during our former extensive voyages, to be of any utility in preserving the health of seamen, was supplied in abundance. It was our intention to have sailed to Long Reach on the 6th of May, when a pilot came on board to carry us thither; but it was the 29th before the wind would permit us to move; and the 30th before we arrived at that station, where our artillery, powder, shot, and other ordnance stores were received. While we lay in Long Reach, thus employed, the Earl of Sandwich, Sir Hugh Palliser, and others of the Board of Admiralty, as the least mark of the very great attention they had all along shown to this equipment, paid us a visit on the 8th of June, to examine whether everything had been completed conformably to their intentions and orders, and to the satisfaction of all who were to embark in the voyage. They, and several other noblemen and gentlemen, their friends, honoured me with their company at dinner on that day; and, on their coming on board, and also on their going ashore, we saluted them with seventeen guns, and three cheers. With the benevolent view of conveying some permanent benefit to the inhabitants of Otaheite, and of the other islands in the Pacific Ocean, whom we might happen to visit, his Majesty having commanded some useful animals to be carried out, we took on board, on the 10th, a bull, two cows, with their calves, and some sheep, with hay and corn for their subsistence; intending to add to these other useful animals, when I should arrive at the Cape of Good Hope. I was also, from the same laudable motives, furnished with a sufficient quantity of such of our European garden-seeds as could not fail to be a valuable present to our newly-discovered islands, by adding fresh supplies of food to their own vegetable productions. Many other articles, calculated to improve the condition of our friends in the other hemisphere in various ways, were, at the same time, delivered to us by order of the Board of Admiralty. And both ships were provided with a proper assortment of iron tools and trinkets, as the means of enabling us to traffic and to cultivate a friendly intercourse with the inhabitants of such new countries as we might be fortunate enough to meet with. The same humane attention was extended to our own wants. Some additional clothing, adapted to a cold climate, was ordered for our crews; and nothing was denied to us that could be supposed in the least conducive to health or even to convenience. Nor did the extraordinary care of those at the head of the naval department stop here. They were equally solicitous to afford us every assistance towards rendering our voyage of public utility. Accordingly, we received on board, next day, several astronomical and nautical instruments, which the Board of Longitude intrusted to me and to Mr. King, my second lieutenant; we having engaged to that board to make all the necessary observations during the voyage, for the improvement of astronomy and navigation; and, by our joint labours, to supply the place of a professed observator. Such a person had been originally intended to be sent out in my ship. The Board likewise put into our possession the same watch, or time-keeper, which I had carried out in my last voyage, and had performed its part so well. It was a copy of Mr. Harrison's, constructed by Mr. Kendall. This day, at noon, it was found to be too slow for mean time at Greenwich, by 3′ 31′′ .890; and by its rate of going, it lost on mean time, 1" .209 per day. Another time-keeper, and the same number and sort of instruments for making observations, were put on board the Discovery, under the care of Mr. William Baily, who, having already given satisfactory proofs of his skill and diligence as an observator, while employed in Captain Furneaux' ship, during the late voyage, was engaged a second time in that capacity, to embark with Captain Clerke. Mr. Anderson, my surgeon, who, to skill in his immediate profession, added great proficiency in natural history, was as willing as he was qualified to describe everything in that branch of science which should occur worthy of notice. As he had already visited the South Sea Islands in the same ship, and been of singular service, by enabling me to enrich my relation of that voyage with various useful remarks on men and things, I reasonably expected to derive considerable assistance from him in recording our new proceedings. I had several young men amongst my sea-officers who, under my direction, could be usefully employed in constructing charts, in taking views of the coasts and headlands near which we should pass, and in drawing plans of the bays and harbours in which we should anchor. A constant attention to this I knew to be highly requisite, if we would render our discoveries profitable to future navigators. And that we might go out with every help that could serve to make the result of our voyage entertaining to the generality of readers, as well as instructive to the sailor and scholar, Mr. Webber was pitched upon, and engaged to embark with me, for the express purpose of supplying the unavoidable imperfections of written accounts, by enabling us to preserve and to bring home such drawings of the most memorable scenes of our transactions as could only be executed by a professed and skilful artist. Every preparation being now completed, I received an order to proceed to Plymouth, and to take the Discovery under my command. I accordingly gave Captain Clerke two orders; one to put himself under my command, and the other to carry his ship round to Plymouth. On the 15th, the Resolution sailed from Long Reach, with the Discovery in company, and the same evening they anchored at the Nore. Next day the Discovery proceeded, in obedience to my order; but the Resolution was ordered to remain at the Nore till I should join her, being at this time in London. As we were to touch at Otaheite and the Society Islands, in our way to the intended scene of our fresh operations, it had been determined not to omit this opportunity (the only one ever likely to happen) of carrying Omai back to his native country *. Accordingly, everything being ready for our departure, he and I set out together from London on the 24th, at six o'clock in the morning. We reached Chatham between ten and eleven o'clock; and after dining with Commissioner Proby, he very obligingly ordered his yacht to carry us to Sheerness, where my boat was waiting to take us on board. Omai left London with a mixture of regret and satisfaction. When we talked about England and about those who, during his stay, had honoured him with their protection or friendship, I could observe that his spirits were sensibly affected, and that it was with difficulty he could refrain from tears. But the instant the conversation turned to his own islands, his eyes began to sparkle with joy. He was deeply impressed with a sense of the good treatment he had met with in England, and entertained the highest ideas of the country and of the people. But the pleasing prospect he now had before him of returning home, loaded with what he well knew would be esteemed invaluable treasures there; and the flattering hope which the possession of these gave him, of attaining to a distinguished superiority amongst his countrymen, were considerations which operated by degrees to suppress every uneasy sensation; and he seemed * Omai, or, more properly, Mai (the o being only a particle prefixed in the native language to nouns in the nominative case), was a native of Raiatea, who having taken shelter in Huahine, after a defeat which his countrymen had sustained from the people of Borabora, persuaded Captain Furneaux, when he was at Huahine in Sept. 1775, to convey him to Britain, somewhat against the wishes of Captain Cook, who did not consider that his qualifications were such as to promise any great advantages to himself or his countrymen from such an expedition. Captain Cook's objections were well-founded; for Omai, although not destitute of intelligence, and, like the generality of the South Sea Islanders, possessing much quickness of apprehension and readiness to conform to the manners and customs of those by whom they are surrounded, was a man of very inferior capabilities to Tupia, the Otaheitan chief and priest, whom Captain Cook took with him, on his return from his first voyage, but who unfortunately died at Batavia. Omai possessed no rank in his own country beyond that, as he himself stated, of a hoa, or attendant upon the king, and therefore was not a person who could be expected, even had every advantage been afforded him in England, to exercise much moral influence on his return. But the treatment he experienced here was as injudicious as the project of bringing him over at all. Being the first native of the South Sea Islands brought to England, he was sought after as a wonder, and became the "lion" of a season; he was introduced to fashionable parties, conducted to the splendid entertainments of the highest classes, and presented at court. In all these positions, the pliancy natural to the Tabitans and their congeners, enabled him to preserve a perfect propriety of demeanour, and his natural lively disposition, rendered him, with his imperfect English (a lauguage varying so much from the idiom of his native tongue, as to render its perfect acquirement very difficult), an exceedingly entertaining guest. As such he was welcomed everywhere, and carried about from one public exhibition to another, without time being allowed him to comprehend any; but no effort was made to instruct him in any useful art, or to enable him to comprehend the wonders he beheld, or the condition of the society by which he was surrounded. Of all those who took an interest in him, Mr. Granville Sharp alone exerted himself to turn his attention to rational pursuits, by teaching him to write, and instructing him in some degree in the principles of Christianity. When he departed from England, he was loaded with presents, but few of which were calculated to be of real service. He carried with him a coat of mail, a suit of armour, a musket, pistols, cartouch-box, cutlasses, powder and ball; a portable organ and an electrical machine; but no implements of agriculture or useful tools are included in the catalogue of his treasures. The account of his final settlement in Huahine will be found in the subsequent pages. Captain Cook procured for him a grant of land, on which a house in the European style was erected for him; and he was furnished with seeds, plants, horses, goats, and other useful animals. His warlike stores rendered him a man of consequence to the king, who gave him his daughter in marriage, and honoured him with the name of Paari (wise, or instructed), by which name, Mr. Ellis informs us, he is now always spoken of by the natives, several of whom still remember him. So far, however, from becoming the instructor or improver of the natives, he seems to have sunk into the mere compliant tool of the king, who, Mr. Ellis states, "not only availed himself of the effects of his fire-arms in periods of war, but frequently ordered him to shoot at a man at a certain distance, in order to see how far the musket would do execution, or to despatch with his pistol, in the presence of the king, the ill-fated objects of his deadly anger." Mr. Ellis further informs us (Polynesian Researches, vol. ii. p. 370, second edition, 12mo, 1831), that "the spot where Mai's house stood is still called Beretani, or Britain, by the inhabitants of Huahine. A shaddock-tree, which the natives say was planted by Captain Cook himself, while the vessels lay at anchor, is still growing on what was once part of his garden. The animals, with the exception of the goats and pigs, have all died; and in this instance, the benevolent intentions of the British government, in sending out horses, cattle, &c., proved abortive. The helmet, and some other parts of his armour, with several cutlasses, are still preserved, and, when we arrived in Huahine, were displayed on the sides of the house standing on the spot where Mai's dwelling was erected by Captain Cook. A few of the trinkets, such as a jack-inthe-box, a kind of serpent that darts out of a cylindrical case when the lid is removed, were preserved with care by one of the principal chiefs, who, when we first saw them, considered them great curiosities, and exhibited them as a mark of his condescension, to particular favourites. What became of the organ and the electrical machine, I never knew. Among the curiosities preserved by the young chief of Tahaa, there was an article that I was very glad to see; it was a large quarto English Bible, with numerous coloured engravings, which were the only objects of attraction with the natives. I was told it belonged to Paari, or Mai, and hope it was given him among the presents from England, although no mention whatever is made of a Bible, or any other book, among the various articles enumerated by those who conveyed him to his native shores.”—ED.. to be quite happy when he got on board the ship. He was furnished by his Majesty with an ample provision of every article which, during our intercourse with his country, we had observed to be in any estimation there, either as useful or as ornamental. He had, besides, received many presents of the same nature from Lord Sandwich, Mr. Banks, and several other gentlemen and ladies of his acquaintance. In short, every method had been employed, both during his abode in England and at his departure, to make him the instrument of conveying to the inhabitants of the islands of the Pacific Ocean the most exalted opinion of the greatness and generosity of the British nation. While the Resolution lay at the Nore, Mr. King made several observations for finding the longitude by the watch. The mean of them all gave 0° 44′ 0′′, for the longitude of the ship. This, reduced to Sheerness, by the bearing and estimated distance, will make that place to be 0° 37′ 0′′ east of Greenwich; which is more by seven miles than Mr. Lyons made it, by the watch which Lord Mulgrave had with him, on his voyage towards the North Pole. Whoever knows anything of the distance between Sheerness and Greenwich, will be a judge which of these two observations is nearest the truth. The variation of the needle here, by a mean of different sets, taken with different compasses, was 20° 37' west. On the 25th, about noon, we weighed anchor, and made sail for the Downs, through the Queen's Channel, with a gentle breeze at north-west by west. At nine in the evening we anchored, with the North Foreland bearing south by east, and Margate Point south-west by south. Next morning, at two o'clock, we weighed and stood round the Foreland; and when it bore north, allowing for the variation of the compass, the watch gave 1° 24' east longitude, which, reduced to the Foreland, will be 1° 21′ east. Lunar observations, made the preceding evening, fixed it at 1° 20' east. At eight o'clock the same morning, we anchored in the Downs. Two boats had been built for us at Deal, and I immediately sent on shore for them. I was told that many people had assembled there to see Omai; but to their great disappointment he did not land. Having received the boats on board, and a light breeze at south-south-east springing up, we got under sail the next day at two o'clock in the afternoon. But the breeze soon died away, and we were obliged to anchor again till ten o'clock at night. We then weighed, with the wind at east, and proceeded down the channel. On the 30th, at three o'clock in the afternoon, we anchored in Plymouth Sound, where the Discovery had arrived only three days before. I saluted Admiral Amherst, whose flag was flying on board the Ocean, with thirteen guns, and he returned the compliment with eleven. It was the first object of our care, on arriving at Plymouth, to replace the water and provisions that we had expended, and to receive on board a supply of Port wine. This was the employment which occupied us on the 1st and 2d of July. During our stay here, the crews were served with fresh beef every day: and I should not do justice to Mr. Ommanney, the agent-victualler, if I did not take this opportunity to mention, that he showed a very obliging readiness to furnish me with the best of every thing that lay within his department. I had been under the like obligations to him on my setting out upon my last voyage. Commissioner Ourry, with equal zeal for the service, gave us every assistance that we wanted from the naval yard. It could not but occur to us as a singular and affecting circumstance, that at the very instant of our departure upon a voyage, the object of which was to benefit Europe by making fresh discoveries in North America, there should be the unhappy necessity of employing others of his Majesty's ships, and of conveying numerous bodies of land forces, to secure the obedience of those parts of that continent which had been discovered and settled by our countrymen in the last century. On the 6th, his Majesty's ships Diamond, Ambuscade, and Unicorn, with a fleet of transports, consisting of sixty-two sail, bound to America, with the last division of the Hessian troops, and some horse, were forced into the Sound by a strong north-west wind. On the 8th, I received, by express, my instructions for the voyage, and an order to proceed to the Cape of Good Hope with the Resolution. I was also directed to leave an order for Captain Clerke to follow us, as soon as he should join his ship; he being, at this time, detained in London. Our first discoverers of the New World, and navigators of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, |