James Cook's Endeavour Journal

After the Endeavour set sail from Plymouth on 26 August 1768, Cook used his journal like a logbook, in which he officially recorded every prosaic detail of the expedition, such as wind, weather, bearing, course and distance travelled. As the months passed and the miles wore on, however, he would occasionally write more creatively and express his point of view about what he was observing. Cook would also copy into the journal Joseph Banks’ written accounts of his own observations.

Cook was an experienced maritime officer, but less skilled in the art of writing than Banks. His peculiar spelling owed much to his strong Yorkshire accent and his expression could lack elegance. He would often return to an entry later and make corrections to his original text, adding second thoughts in the margins or on small pieces of paper that were stuck between the pages of the journal.

The journal records the voyage of discovery in minute and engaging detail. It covers topics such as astronomy, nutrition at sea, problems of mapping and navigation, details of natural history, and the temperaments of the crew.

Cook also recorded the details of a series of momentous events, such as his painstaking mapping of New Zealand and eastern Australia, and the near-disastrous foundering of the Endeavour on the Great Barrier Reef on 11 June 1770.

This accident occurred because, by June, Cook was of the opinion that the expedition was running behind schedule. With this in mind, he made the dangerous decision to travel at night. All was well until the ship struck a coral reef on what is now known as the Great Barrier Reef. It took 24 hours to refloat the Endeavour and five days to beach her at the Endeavour River for repairs. During this time, the crew had to work tirelessly to ensure that the Endeavour, and consequently everyone on board, didn’t meet an untimely end at the bottom of the ocean.

Cook’s journal describes the Endeavour, on its return voyage to England, as a ‘hospital ship’. Following the mapping of Australia’s east coast, repairs to the ship’s hull were required. Cook directed the ship to Batavia (now Jakarta) in Dutch-administered Java and the crew remained there for 3 months. During this time, the crew were exposed to and caught tropical diseases, which decimated their numbers, leading to the death of 30 men. This included astronomer Charles Green, artist Sidney Parkinson and naturalist Herman Spöring, who all died in late January 1771. 

Apart from Cook’s valuable charts and observations, other members of the party received acclaim on their return for their contributions to scientific knowledge. When Banks returned to England he set about producing 738 copper engravings that were based on Parkinson’s drawings of the Banks and Solander specimens. The engravings were never published in Banks’ lifetime. On his return, Solander, inspired by the need for such a thing on his voyage with Cook, designed a box for the storage of prints and manuscripts. Known as a Solander Box, it is still regarded in libraries and museums as the most suitable form of storage for archival, paper-based material.  

Upon his return to England, Cook was promoted to the rank of commander. He was not accompanied by Banks or Solander on his second voyage of discovery, as commander of the Resolution, in 1772.