New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-03-20
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
CAPTAIN COOK.
CAPTAIN COOK. BY Walter Besant. 16mo PIP. 1of.
Macmillan & Co.


th. main facts and achievements of which had long
heen familiar as household words, and he could not
hone tn bring new data to light which might give
on air of originality TO his work. since concern
ing Cooks private life and early years next 10
Nothing is known. IL must be acknowledged
that the situation difficult, put we are III
elined to think that Mr.. Besant erred In over
estimating the extent of the popular knowledge
of Cooks VOYAGES. As matter of fact, the
things which, in Macaulay's phrase, every
school-boy knows" are very often not known 10
a great many grOwn-up people. and as for SCHOOL
how eruditon, no existing educational system ne
serves the fattery involved In MacaulaSS as
sumption Besides this. life OF captain OooN
which takes it for granted that everybody knows
oil about his voyages cannot be an adequate chron-
iclc of the man. who is best manifested in his sea-
farinc character, and of whom. as a landsman'
we know little Mr.. Besant begins his story
DELIGHTFULLY."-, with picture of Cooks peasant
father and mother his childhood. and his APP
premiership 10 grocer at The StalthcS, small
,eaport on the Yorkshire coast OF course, the
Imagination of the novelist is responsible for most
Of the color and life in this sketch of the QUAINT
little old port, but the description is none inc
less charming and vivid. Whether it was really
the custom for all the apprentices OF Sahoeison'
the grocer, TO run away to sea. as MI beSah'
intimates rather too confidently, may he doubted
but at all events James Cook fell under the fas-
cination of the sea, and in due course ran away
TO fulfil his destiny
The grocer accused the boy Of stealing shII-
ing from the till. but the charge seems TO De
rather in the nature of calumny than fact ana the
testimony of the till ITSELF which was preserved
as a relic until quite recently, cannot be regarded
as valid on either side of the question. However.
i'm on.
gagged as ship-boy on a collier. was presently APP
prenticed, served his time and rose TO the not
very high place of mate of coasting coal-brig.
During his apprenticeship he learned Stewardship
thoroughly The English coastng trade has always
been a nursery of seamen, and its discipline Is
rough and bracing How young Cook could
have learned navigation during this time, IS
much more difficult question. Mr.. Besant is quite
puzzled by it, but the only possible solution Is
that the lad had brains and ambition, and so
made leisure and found the necessary books. II
Is certain that by the time he had risen TO be
mate he did understand both seamanship and
navigation, and subsequent events proved that
he had more science than the majority of naval
officers Of the period. War set the prcssgans at
work about this time. Cook resolved not. 10 he
pressed. and volunteered. entering the Navy as
an able seaman His requirements became
known, and he was soon promoted to the respon-
sibe position of masters mate In those days cap
tains of men-of-war were not supposed to he sail
ors at all, necessarily They were fighting command
ers and might have been army officers previously
So it was necessary to have masters whose duty
II was to sail and navigate the ship. and who
while ranking below the eutenants, were better
paid and held larger responsibility. Cook rose
from masters mate to master, and having in Can
ada shown skill and courage in accommodating
and surveying in the face of the French, he was
employed on important photographic work, which
brought him to the notice of his superOrs at
home.
Nobody has succeeded in discovering when or
where he acquired the knowledge of marine sur
veying. which he ncontestably displayed that
many charts made by him are even now followed.
II is as great a puzzle as Shakespeares scholar
ship but it is as stubborn fact All through
his life, indeed, James Cook constantly en-
hibiting various kinds of knowledge which no
body knows how he came by. Ii was there wien
needed; that is the insurmountabe fact, and
since there is no ground for supposng that II was
obtained systematically, the only reasonable in
ference is that, like all of genius, lie simply
surpassed his contemporaries by making better
use of his opportunities 1t was rude and bar
barous period in the Navy. The common seaman
were brutal, coarse and ignorant. Both classes
drank heavily whenever they could get liquor.
Flogging, keel-hauling, tricing up by the thumbs,
and In some cases hanging at the yard-arm were
habitual punshments. The cat and the ropes
end were always busy on board On shore the
seaman ran through his pay in brief debaucn,
and so to sea again Cook had no taste for this
kind of life. He was not total abstaner. He
could take his glass with another and smoke his
pipe. But he did not care for the conversation
of his mates, and was always reticent and self
contained man, too, of strong passions and
violent temper, which later sometimes got the
better of him. and led him TO do cruel and I'M
Just things but man of indomitabe resolution
master of his profession, knowing his men com
pletey full of resource. In most respects in adj
vance of his generation.
Mr.. Besant has obtained access TO some unused
sources of information, in the journals Of several
of Cooks companions and subordinates on his
three voyages of exploration. They cannot BIZ
said to throw any new light on the story. Al
they do show is the view held by the officers ant
men, Il always happens that these virtually
irresponsible people dwell strongly upon the dis
comfort of such expeditions, indulge the sailor
traditional propensity for grumbling, and display
their own superior but unaclSnowledged skill a
navigators and explorers In every forccast
.here are half dozen Jacks who know bette
than the captain how to work the ship, and o
course there were several of this kind on Cook
hip. Yet there plenty of real discomfort ant
suffering. The provisioning of ships ther
conducted so badly that rule most Of th'
food spoiled long before the end Of the voyage
The biscuit was of the poorest quality the bee
and pork so oversalted as to be almost uneatablc
and no remedies for scurvy had been invented
Captain Cook was the first commander to provide
metbodically against that scourge of the seas
and he thus introduced reform which woul'
alone entitle him 10 the gratitude of all seamcn
His experience on his first voyage taught him TIN
importance of anti-scorbutics. and on his sccon,
expedition be went so well provided that ne wa
enabled to bring nearly all his men home soun'
and SAFE The practical results of his three voy