Tidings of great joy!

[emfrat]

I recently downloaded from Project Gutenberg, Captain Cook's own Log and Journal - not the sanitised one "improved" by some Admiralty bureaucrat.
Spent this morning reading his account of his exploration of the North Island coast, and then took off from Dannevirke in a Beagle 206, before heading E to Turnaround Point then following Cook's trail northward.
I am delighted to say that the accuracy of the VLC and GZ sceneries is completely verified by none other the Capt Cook himself - you can't ask better than that.
Well done Rob and Timmo.

[Ian Warren]

QUOTE (emfrat @ Dec 29 2014,9:44 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I am delighted to say that the accuracy of the VLC and GZ sceneries is completely verified by none other the Capt Cook himself - you can't ask better than that.
Well done Rob and Timmo.

Ole Captain Cook got a few things wrong back in his day satellites had not been invented, but you look at the original plan/drawing/map of New Zealand he did over two hundred and fifty years back really puts him into the clever bastards department.

[omitchell]

QUOTE (Ian Warren @ Dec 30 2014,7:30 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ole Captain Cook got a few things wrong back in his day satellites had not been invented, but you look at the original plan/drawing/map of New Zealand he did over two hundred and fifty years back really puts him into the clever bastards department.

Indeed, he didn't exactly have Google maps to fall back on back then. Didn't do too badly really...

[Ian Warren]

QUOTE (omitchell @ Dec 30 2014,9:35 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Indeed, he didn't exactly have Google maps to fall back on back then. Didn't do too badly really...

I would love to step back in time and really see .. surely the map was drawn on board and corrected and corrected again ... had I been there tho ... I would have said "how bout a little colour then"

[emfrat]

QUOTE (Ian Warren @ Dec 30 2014,6:45 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I would love to step back in time and really see .. surely the map was drawn on board and corrected and corrected again ... had I been there tho ... I would have said "how bout a little colour then"

No Instagram or tweets then either - but he wrote down what he saw, and gave his reasons for naming things, and it all matches up...

[Splitpin]

Nice post Mike. I love reading about James Cook , there was a great series on tv , not long ago , following his NZ visit in a replica Endeavour .
He was ahead of his time with regard to the health of his crew .... almost nobody got the dreaded scurvy , probably got a few other things after their various Pacific stops , but no scurvy.

[emfrat]

I think he only lost three or four people on that voyage. None to scurvy. One to something acquired in England, before he boarded, a couple to drowning, and I think one from natural causes. Cook was aware that VD (syphilis) was present in Tahiti, and went to some trouble to establish that his ship was not the source of the infection. He records deaths after Tahiti, but does not put them down to VD, which was 'curable' even then.
Hope you're enjoying your tea

[Splitpin]

And to add to your post (title at least) " Tidings of great joy!" a merry Christmas (not xmas) and a happy new year to you all ...... after all the first 6 letters in Christmas , are the reason for the season !
If that wont fit your model ..... then take it some place else..... because its CHRISTMAS .

QUOTE (emfrat @ Dec 30 2014,8:58 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think he only lost three or four people on that voyage. None to scurvy. One to something acquired in England, before he boarded, a couple to drowning, and I think one from natural causes. Cook was aware that VD (syphilis) was present in Tahiti, and went to some trouble to establish that his ship was not the source of the infection. He records deaths after Tahiti, but does not put them down to VD, which was 'curable' even then.
Hope you're enjoying your tea

I am Mike Tea tree tea , and boiled cabbage tree leaves

[emfrat]

- You won't get scurvy, then.
Best wishes for a happy and prosperous 2015.
(and Christmas is Christmas for me, too.)

[Ian Warren]

QUOTE (emfrat @ Dec 30 2014,8:58 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think he only lost three or four people on that voyage. None to scurvy. One to something acquired in England, before he boarded, a couple to drowning, and I think one from natural causes. Cook was aware that VD (syphilis) was present in Tahiti, and went to some trouble to establish that his ship was not the source of the infection. He records deaths after Tahiti, but does not put them down to VD, which was 'curable' even then.

It is amazing how much information they did have for the time, specific to record details and to have them on hand, some say the Endeavour ended up in the USA as a coal barge?, one thing I have not researched.

[emfrat]

QUOTE (Ian Warren @ Dec 31 2014,6:20 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It is amazing how much information they did have for the time, specific to record details and to have them on hand, some say the Endeavour ended up in the USA as a coal barge?, one thing I have not researched.

http://www.captaincooksociety.com/home/detail/endeavour

[Ian Warren]

Cheers Mike , that is a very interesting read, even the time costing between the refits and it final sold price, a bark or 'barque' , I did study the model when in the Canterbury museum researching the four ships into Lyttleton in 1850 .. to me the hull was simply a square box .. least a rectangle, still a hell of a impressive build to go Tiki touring around the world, Allan - Al my brother and his soon to be wife was in Perth in 1993/4 during the replica build, that would been something to document.

[emfrat]

QUOTE (Splitpin @ Dec 30 2014,5:01 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

He was ahead of his time with regard to the health of his crew .... almost nobody got the dreaded scurvy , probably got a few other things after their various Pacific stops , but no scurvy.

Marty, just to clarify. When I replied above, we were still off Central Qld and had not yet run aground on the Reef. Having finished Cook's Journal, and read the link I posted for Ian (and your good self),
I realise he lost over 40 people in the voyage, but none from scurvy. He reached Batavia with almost his original crew intact, in good health and free from scurvy, unlike several ships which had lately arrived from London
after a nine-months' voyage. Batavia was a notoriously unhealthy spot. He left Batavia "in charge of a hospital ship" and between there and Cape Town many people succumbed to fevers and dysentery, acquired in the Dutch port.


PS: This could well be the most successful hijack/red herring I ever started

[Ian Warren]

QUOTE (emfrat @ Dec 31 2014,9:15 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

PS: This could well be the most successful hijack/red herring I ever started

Tidings of great joy! a red herring .. is that in tomato sauce or has that been hijacked .. something smells fishy here

The Captain had a second ship , the HMS Resolution , not much mention off his coastline mapping with that one tho from memory the ship did run aground or was deliberate for repair.

[emfrat]

That website I linked in the earlier post has heaps of info, including Cook's other ships.
It was common for ships to be careened, or 'hauled down' to clean the hull or make repairs to it. You found a good spot where you could easily refloat the ship, then emptied the hold and moved into very shallow water with a good sandy bottom. Once the ship 'took the ground', you attached tackles to the masts and tipped the ship over to work on one side of the hull. Then you tipped it the other way and cleaned the other half.

We made our own fun in them days

[Ian Warren]

QUOTE (emfrat @ Jan 1 2015,9:19 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

We made our own fun in them days

Sorta little like Captain Jack Sparrow

[Splitpin]

" This could well be the most successful hijack/red herring I ever started " .... but very interesting , hijack away Captain Mike.