It is the final southward steaming day today as we near our first 'proper' station at the western end of the North Scotia Ridge. We are about to pass 53°S, putting us at roughly the equivalent southern hemisphere latitude to Wales and the English Midlands in the northern hemisphere. The latest news is that we should arrive around 1 a.m. local time, though the weather conditions may delay the start of operations as both wind and wave heights are forecast to increase this evening.
During any breaks in our science schedule,
we thought it would be nice to let you know a little bit more about our
research vessel. Today, we focus on the man who lends his name to our ship, the
great 18th century navigator James Cook.
Copy of an original 1775 portrait of James
Cook by Nathaniel Dance in the library on the ship. The original is now housed
in the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London.
James Cook was born on 27th October 1728 in
a small village near Middlesbrough in Yorkshire. At the age of 17, Cook began
work with a coal merchant and in 1755 enlisted in the Royal Navy. During his
career, he commanded three major voyages of discovery for Great Britain and
sailed around the world twice.
For his first voyage, he was placed in
command of the Endeavour, which was to take a number of scientists to the
Pacific Ocean to observe Venus. Cook was also issued secret orders to find the
great southern continent. He landed in New Zealand in October 17th, 1769,
before exploring Australia.
On his second expedition, Cook set out to
answer a question that had long engaged the attention of the maritime powers of
Europe: was the unexplored part of the southern hemisphere an immense ocean, or
did it contain another continent? Cook embarked on the expedition with his
flagship, the Resolution (only 110 feet long and 35 feet across) and the
Adventure. They battled through heavy storms and dangerous seas filled with
huge icebergs, christening both South Georgia (which we will be passing on our
expedition) and the South Sandwich Islands. However, Cook was eventually forced
to turn back by the cold. According to his account, the ice "extended east
and west far beyond the reach of our sight, while the southern half of the
horizon was illuminated by rays of light which were reflected from the ice to a
considerable height...It was indeed my opinion that this ice extends quite to
the Pole, or perhaps joins to some land to which it has been fixed since
creation". The voyage, which returned to England in 1775 without the loss
of a single seaman, lasted three years and eight days and covered more than 60,000
miles. It was then left to the owners of whaling fleets in Europe and America
to continue exploration into the Antarctic waters.
In July of 1776, Cook set sail on his third
voyage, again on Resolution. His mission was to look for a possible northern
sea route between Europe and Asia. Great walls of ice in the Arctic Circle
blocked the expedition, but he did become the first known European to reach
Vancouver Island and the Hawaiian Islands. It was here, on February 14th, 1779,
that Cook was stabbed to death by Hawaiian natives.
From a humble background, Cook was said to
be particularly sympathetic to the needs of ordinary sailors. Cook was the first British commander to
prevent the outbreak of scurvy by regulating his crew’s diet, serving them
citrus fruit and sauerkraut to prevent the disease. No such worries for us on
board the RRS James Cook!
A copy of James Cook's first map of New Zealand, on board RRS James Cook
Ben and Lou jam in the main laboratory!
Finally, many happy returns to Brian King
who celebrates his birthday onboard ship today!
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