PRAISES HIS CREW.

"The plans I have drawn of the places I have been at, were made with all the care and accuracy that Time and Circumstances would admit of. Thus far I am certain that the Latitude and Longitude of few parts of the World are better settled than these, in this I was very much assisted by Mr. Green, who let slip no one opportunity for making observations for settling the Longitude during the whole course of the Voyage, and the many valuable discoverys made by Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander in Natural History and other things useful to the learned World, cannot fail of contributing very much to the success of the Voyage. In justice to the officers and the whole of the crew, I must say, they have gone through the fatigues and dangers of the Whole Voyage with that cheerfulness and alertness that will always do honour to the British Seamen, and I have the satisfaction to say that I have not lost one man by Sickness during the whole Voyage. I hope that the repairs wanting to the Ship will not be so great as to detain us any length of time; You may be assured that I shall make no unnecessary delay either here or at any other place, but shall make the best of my way home."

Banks, too, notes that there were no sick on board, and contrasts the rosy, healthy appearance of the crew with the pallid faces of the Europeans of Batavia. But on 26th October a series of disastrous entries commence in the Journal.

"Set up the ship's tents for the reception of the ship's company, several of them begin to be taken ill, owing as I suppose to the extream hot weather."

Batavia had an ill-omened reputation, and it has been estimated that from 1735 to 1755 no less than 1,000,000 deaths took place, chiefly from malarial fever and dysentery, and Cook had soon cause to regret that the Dutch had undertaken the repairs of the ship, leaving his men to look on. He knew well the evil effects of want of occupation in such a climate, though he could not guess what it was to cost him. Up to this time he had only seven deaths to record since leaving Plymouth; three from drowning, two frozen (Mr. Banks's servants), one consumption, and one alcoholic poisoning: probably a record never equalled in the history of navigation. On 5th November Mr. Monkhouse, the surgeon, died, and Cook, Banks, and Solander were very ill. The two last went up into the hills, but Cook would not leave his ship.

Meanwhile the repairs went on; the ship was found to be worse than had been expected; two planks and a half had been rasped by the rocks to the thickness of one eighth of an inch for a distance of six feet:

"and here the worms had made their way quite into the timbers, so that it was a matter of surprise to every one who saw her bottom, how we had kept her above water, and yet in this condition we had sailed some hundreds of leagues in as dangerous a navigation as in any part of the world, happy in being ignorant of the continual danger we were in."

By the 14th her bottom was thoroughly repaired, and Cook speaks highly of the Dutch workmen:

"I do not believe there is a Marine Yard in the World where work is done with more alertness than here, or where there are better conveniences for heaving ships down, both in point of safety and Despatch."

The water, a perquisite of the Commodore of the Dutch East Indian fleet, was very unsatisfactory, and was found to keep very badly at sea, although its keeping properties had been loudly vaunted by the Commodore. Cook was present at his appointment:

"one of the grandest sights Batavia afforded; that may be too, and yet it did not recompense us for our trouble. I thought that the whole was but ill conducted, and the fleet appeared to be very badly mann'd."

A seaman who had run from a Dutch ship entered on the Endeavour, was claimed by the Dutch on the grounds that he was a Dane from Elsinore. Cook promised he should be given up if he proved not to be a British subject, and enquiry by Mr. Hicks resulted in a report to the Governor that he was an Irishman, so the matter dropped. His name was James Marra, and he will be again met with as gunner's mate on the Resolution.