Plymouth: This afternoon, at 2 o'Clock, HIS MAJESTY's Bark Endeavour, with a fair wind behind her, weighed anchor and set sail for the South Pacific Island of Tahiti.
In command was Lieutenant James Cook, whom we revealed last week is believed to be carrying with him Secret Orders from the Admiralty instructing him to search the uncharted waters of the far South. This belief has been strengthened since a Person of Considerable Repute committed a minor indiscretion at a Dinner in London this past week in the house of a Certain Lady by referring to destinations beyond Tahiti.
Lieutenant Cook yesterday loosed the top sail of Endeavour as a signal for sailing, and Mr Banks and Dr Solander went on board.
Much work has been done these few days past to refit the Gentlemen's Cabins on Endeavour, and remaining Stores were loaded. Yesterday morning plentiful supplies of fresh water and Beer were taken aboard.
Mr Banks, a Fellow of the Royal Society, and a Gentleman of Large Fortune, well-versed in Natural History, is accompanied by a suite of seven. As well as Dr Solander, they are Mr Herman Sporing, assistant naturalist; Mr Sydney Parkinson, Natural History artist; Mr Alexander Buchan, artist; Mr Charles Green, Astronomer; and two servants. Mr Green, who is assistant to the Astronomer Royal, will be employed with Lieutenant Cook in observing the transit of Venus across the face of the Sun. It is believed Lieutenant Cook received a gratuity of one hundred guineas from the Royal Society for this appointment.
Mr Banks' party has at its disposal a fine Library of Natural History, and all manner of devices for catching and preserving insects and fish. As well, Mr Banks has a strange aparatus understood to be made from a telescope which, when put into the water, enables the viewer to see the bottom with amazing clarity. Many cases of bottles and stoppers of all sizes will enable the Botanists to preserve specimens in Spirits.
There has been much carousing in the dockside taverns by the crew, who received two months payment in advance and anticipate being away from England's shores for a considerable period of time. They were informed they will receive no additional monies until the end of the Voyage.
The officers and Gentlemen of the Endeavour farewelled their loved ones before the Ship departed. Lieutenant Cook has not seen his Family since he departed from Deptford late in May.
Mr Banks came to Plymouth only one week since, and in the evening before he left London he was seen at the Opera with his betrothed, Miss Blosset, where they watched a performance of La Buona Figliuola.
Purchase and extensive alterations to the three-masted Endeavour, which has been converted from a Whitby-collier, in preparation for the long expedition to Tahiti and Beyond have cost the Navy Board an immense sum believed to be in the region of Eight Thousand Pounds.
Provisions now stowed in the hold of Endeavour as she starts her long journey include nine thousand pounds of flour, four thousand pieces of beef, six thousand pieces of pork, twenty bushells of salt, and nearly eight thousand pounds of Sour Krout, which Lieutenant Cook proposes to use as a Preventative to scurvy. In addition, there is livestock consisting of seventeen sheep, five fowls, four ducks, a boar, sow and piglets, and a goat to supply milk for the Officers. Lieutenant Cook proposes to replenish supplies with fish at sea, and fruit, animal life and water at various landfalls.
We convey to [the entire Ship's Company] and Lieutenant Cook our wishes for a Successful Voyage and a Safe Return. To their loved ones at home, our every Confidence in their safe passage.
Last Thursday evening Mr Cyril Thornhill, a much travelled Gentleman of the World, delivered a lecture in St James Hall about his journey through the West Indies.
He described in most exciting detail his experiences in those mysterious tropical Islands. He brought several gasps of horror from his audience when he revealed having witnessed primitive native rites which involved the shedding of human blood and the worshipping of snakes. To the further dismay and alarm of his audience, Mr Thornhill stated that these natives believed that their gods would be more pleased if they spilled the blood of a white child. So impassioned were his listeners at the very thought of this that a number of delicate ladies swooned and had to be assisted to their carriages.
In his dissertation Mr Thornhill described the perils which HIS MAJESTY's Ships incur daily in those waters from marauding privateers who have no respect for life or the sanctity of the Crown. The threat to innocent voyagers is constant.
On Mr Thornhill's return to England the Ship in which he travelled was threatened with disaster by a gale of terryfying magnitude off the coast of Ireland. One unfortunate member of the crew was swept into the broiling sea. Attempts to save the poor wretch failed, and he perished.
Mr Thornhill was heartily cheered by his audience at the conclusion of his lecture. Next month Mr Thornhill will depart for Bengal. He assured his enraptured audience that he would return with more accounts of adventure.
Thomas Higgins, a scurrilous rogue who for more than two years past has harassed and robbed innocent travellers on the London to York road, was yesterday hanged on the gallows at Tyburn.
He made his last journey from the prison at St George's Field to Tyburn in an open cart. As the cart approached Edgware-road it was jostled by a cheering crowd. About the gallows stood hundreds of men, women and children, many of whom had travelled many miles to witness the Execution. Several of the Gentry took their seats by the gallows to observe Justice extract its Vengeance from the villain. Those assembled hissed and booed as Higgins was dragged with much struggling from the cart to his Fate.
The end to the outrageous career of Higgins came when he brazenly walked into an alehouse in Cheapside, where two Bow Street Runners were investigating an incident. He was recognised and detained after a violent skirmish. Only this month past, the scoundrel waylaid Lord Grantchester and his Lady, and relieved them of their valuables.
A roar arose from the crowd as the hangman placed the noose over Higgins's head, and a clergyman committed his soul to the mercy of Heaven. Higgins was summarily dispatched. His body was later gibbeted as a warning to others who might feel inclined to imitate his foul ways.
An unfortunate incident marred the occasion for Mr John Henly who travelled twenty miles to see the Execution. On leaving Tyburn he discovered to his great distress that he had been relieved of his pocket watch and purse which contained money to pay for his return journey home. Felons of this nature at such public assemblies are greatly on the increase and are to be much deplored.
The hunting of Human Beings for the purpose of making slaves of them is a practice to be much abhored. It is therefore of great comfort to English-men of Christian Ideals to note that the group of Evangelicals continues to be active in condemning the trading of slaves. It would be approximate to say that some 50,000 Negro slaves are transported a year from the Continent of Africa to the American colonies, in conditions of the most appalling suffering. We are sure all thinking men will deem the work of the Evangelicals to be of ultimate necessity and will encourage them to continue in it. MISTAKEN IDENTITY A west-country gentleman, not much acquainted with the ways of London, expressed great surprise a few nights ago at the flocks of young ladies which he observed in the Strand, and which he actually mistook for the pupils of some large boarding-school. One of the young misses, however, soon convinced him of his error by granting a favour, which will probably retard his journey home for some time. |
The prodigious talent of Wolfgang Mozart continues to cause astonishment in Europe. Readers will recall to mind his visit to England in 1764, when he was in his eighth year, and with what marvel he did amaze THEIR MAJESTIES by playing at sight, and accompanying HER MAJESTY in a song. The young man, who is now almost in his thirteenth year, continues to display his genius with great effect, in the Courts of Europe, and news has been received that he has been given an Appointment as Maestri di Capella by the Archbishop of Salzburg in the kingdom of Austria. THE BLACK PIRATE The following description of a French privateer, seen on the 30th ultimo, in the neighbourhood of Saltees, may be useful to masters of vessels trading from South Wales to Ireland:- She is a three-master schooner, with three square top sails, mounting from 24 to 26 guns; all black; she changes her appearance occasionally, by sailing as a lugger or schooner, with three masts.
OFFENDER WHIPPED For stealing two loaves of bread, Arthur Brimsley, was last Tuesday, whipped through the streets of Blackheath by the Hangman at the end of a cart. He was whipped from the Stag Inn to the Three Doves, where the crowd and the Hangman paused for refreshment, and then back again. As he was an old offender a collection of 30s. was taken up and given to the Hangman to do him Justice. |
© 2001 Michael Dickinson
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