Lot 424

[COOK, CAPT. JAMES]

AN ABRIDGEMENT OF A JOURNAL OF THE ADVENTURES VOYAGE ROUND THE GLOBE

Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photography

Auction: 31 January 2019 at 11:00 GMT

£3,250

Description

Manuscript, folio (391 x 255mm.), 3pp., in a neat copper plate hand, written largely in the first person plural, providing an overview of the voyage of the Adventure, under the command of Capt. Tobias Furneaux, with small inset "Circumpolar Chart of the South Pole with the Adventures track round the Globe" on third page, undated & unattributed, small split at fold, small tear at inner margin touching a few letters but without loss, on laid paper watermarked with a capital "H" and "D"

Footnote

Note: The Adventure was the companion ship under the command of Capt. Tobias Furneaux, which accompanied Capt. James Cook, on the Resolution on his second voyage to the South Pacific in 1772-1775. The two ships crossed the Antarctic circle in January 1773 and became separated in heavy fog, following which the Adventure sailed along the southern and eastern coasts of Van Diemen’s Land before reuniting with the Resolution at Queen Charlotte Sound in New Zealand. The ships explored the Society and Friendly Islands before they again became separated in October 1773 near Cook Strait in a gale. Nine of Furneaux's men were murdered by Maoris at Queen Charlotte Sound, an episode which is related in this abridgement.
The account is largely in the first person plural, implying that the author may have been on the expedition, but the account occasionally lapses into the third person plural: "in the adjoining Coves to where the Boat was sent they saw a canoe paddling in shore.... we rowed in after them." Where Furneaux's account reads "we saw about 20 baskets, tied up, and a dog eating a piece of broiled flesh which, upon examining we suspected to be human", the present account reads "The lieutenant and some of the people went on shore to the fire and found five heads lying on it and five entrails lying about it".
A pencilled note at the head of page 1 reads "p.134, volume 1" but the text of the present manuscript does not appear to tally with page 134, volume 1, of any of the editions of Cook's voyages consulted.
The manuscript is accompanied by a 20th century typescript of the text.