CHAPTER 19. APPRECIATION AND CHARACTER.

Of course as nothing had been heard of the expedition for a considerable time, a certain amount of anxiety was felt, which at length found vent in paragraphs in the public press, and on 11th January 1780 the London Gazette contained the following:

"Captain Clerke of His Majesty's Sloop the Resolution, in a letter to Mr. Stephens, dated the 8th of June 1779, in the harbour of St. Peter and St. Paul, Kampschatka, which was received yesterday, gives the melancholy account of the celebrated Captain Cook, late Commander of that Sloop, with four of his private Marines having been killed on the 14th of February last at the island of Owhyhe, one of a Group of new-discovered Islands in the 22nd degree of North Latitude, in an affray with a numerous and tumultuous Body of the Natives."

"Captain Clerke adds, that he received every friendly supply from the Russian Government; and that as the Companies of the Resolution and her Consort, the Discovery, were in perfect Health, and the two Sloops had twelve months Stores and Provisions on board, he was preparing to make another Attempt to explore a Northern Passage to Europe."