COPPER SHEATHING.

Admiral Wharton assumes that as Cook expresses himself averse from having exploring ships sheathed in copper, owing to the difficulty of making repairs in case of accident far from proper facilities, and from the frequent mention of "heeling and boot-topping" in the Journal of the Endeavour, it is most probable that she was sheathed in wood. This assumption is correct, for there is no mention of copper sheathing in the Surveyor's books, nor at the time of her being repaired at the Endeavour River, nor at Batavia, when it is impossible that any account of her damaged bottom could be given without the mention of copper if any such sheathing had been used. The Naval Chronicle says the first ship of the Royal Navy to be sheathed with copper was the Alarm frigate in 1758; and it is also said that the Dolphin, the ship in which Captain Wallis sailed round the world, was the only coppered ship in the service at this time, and she remained the only one for some years.

On 5th May, at a Council Meeting of the Royal Society, Captain John Campbell, R.N., proposed that Cook, who was in attendance, and had been appointed by the Admiralty to the command of the Endeavour, was a fit and proper person to be one of the observers for the Society in the Southern Seas. Cook was called in, and accepted the position in consideration of such a gratuity as the Society should think proper, and an allowance of 120 pounds per year "for victualling himself and another observer in every particular." Mr. Green was also called in, and accepted the place as the other observer for the gratuity of 200 guineas for the two years the voyage was expected to take, and at the rate of 100 guineas a year afterwards. A list of the instruments to be supplied by the Society was also prepared at the same meeting, and the workmen engaged on them were ordered to show them to Messrs. Green and Cook, and give any desired information. A portable observatory, said to have been designed by Smeaton, the builder of the Eddystone Lighthouse, framed of wood and covered with canvas, was also prepared. Mr. Maskelyne, knowing the value of a good watch when observing for longitude, lent the Society one of his own, made by Graham, to be entrusted to Mr. Green, and it was signed for with the other instruments supplied. Chronometers, of course, at that time were in process of evolution, several makers were endeavouring to gain the prize which had been offered for a reliable timekeeper. Shortly after, at a second meeting, Cook agreed to accept a gratuity from the Society of 100 guineas for taking the observations, and was paid 120 pounds sustenance money for Mr. Green and himself, with authority to draw on the Society during the voyage for a further amount not exceeding 120 pounds.

In the Commissions and Warrants Book, under date 26th May 1768, appears the following entry:

MR. JAMES COOK (2nd) 1st Lieutenant Endeavour Bark. E.H., C.T., C.S.

The initials signify Edward Hawke, Charles Townshend, and Lord Charles Spencer. The "(2nd)" evidently refers to the fact that there was already one James Cook, a lieutenant in the Navy, namely, the former Master of the Mercury, and Third Lieutenant of the Gosport.