CHAPTER TWO

South Pacific, 1776

Captain Cook’s final voyage

Resolution made slow progress down the English Channel on her way to the wide open waters of the North Atlantic, achieving an average of around four knots until she passed the first of many milestones, Ile d’Ouessant (Isle of Ushant), the westernmost point of France and a graveyard for the many ships that had failed to clear its treacherous rocks in rough weather.

At this stage Cook was comfortable with Resolution, the vessel he had referred to as ‘the ship of my choice … the fittest for service of any I have seen’. However, he would soon be rethinking that statement, simply because of the poor way the ship had been prepared in Deptford for this expedition. If only he had spent more time there, supervising the often slipshod and sometimes corrupt workers.

While Resolution’s displacement was 100 tons greater than the famous HMS Endeavour, there were distinct similarities between the two ships – including both being designed as colliers. The similarities pleased the captain: both featured long, straight buttock lines; the underbody sections of the hull were wide and flat for much of the overall length; and each had buoyant and bulbous apple-cheeked bow sections. It was likely that Cook’s all-too-vivid memories of the near disaster he faced on his first voyage with Endeavour, becoming stranded on the Great Barrier Reef, influenced his enthusiasm for Resolution. The exceptional buoyancy of the Endeavour, provided by her underwater shape, certainly contributed to her being floated free and saved.

Originally launched in 1770 as the Marquis of Granby, Resolution was renamed when she was purchased for £4115 by the Navy Board fourteen months later. Her one distinct difference from Endeavour was that she was a more modern, three-masted, ship-rigged sloop-of-war, while Endeavour was a simple bark.

Prior to her departing England in 1772 for Cook’s second Pacific odyssey, Resolution underwent a major rebuild, including the addition of an upper deck and raised poop, primarily to accommodate the requirements of botanist Sir Joseph Banks, who was to be aboard. However, it quickly became apparent in sea trials that the ship was then disturbingly top-heavy and would prove very difficult to handle in strong winds and high seas: she would certainly be more prone to capsize if caught in a Southern Ocean storm with too much sail set. As a consequence of these doubts, it was decided that the new structures should be removed. Banks was so disgusted by this decision that he subsequently refused to join the expedition.

This time around, as good a ship as she was, Resolution retained the inherent poor manoeuvrability of any similar square-rigged ship of the era, something that became all too evident for sailing master Bligh, his captain and the entire crew at an early stage of the voyage when she nearly foundered. After stopping at Tenerife, off the north-west coast of Africa, on 1 August for three days to repair leaks, Bligh, as Cook’s navigating officer, set a course to the south towards the Cape Verde Islands. It was around nine o’clock in the evening and on the captain’s watch when the surgeon, William Anderson, who happened to be on deck, peered through the darkness and was shocked by what he saw. Bonavista Island was lying dead ahead, and he could see white water breaking on rocks at an alarmingly close distance. Obviously it had gone unnoticed by everyone else on deck. He was about to shout a warning to Cook, when the captain also spotted the danger, which he too realised was perilously close. He immediately ordered the helmsman to change course and the crew on deck to rush to their stations and man the heavy hemp braces, sheets and tacks to change the angle of the yards, so the sails would be set most effectively for the new course to safety. It was a crisis moment. Resolution slowly responded to the helm then began to heel in response to the pressure that came with the new wind angle, a pressure that saw the ship gradually claw her way forward and escape the impending danger by the narrowest of margins. Anderson’s account of the incident, in part, read:

…just as I was going to mention my suspicions he [Cook] observed something of the same sort and ordered them to starboard the helm. In less than a minute the cry of hard-a-starboard became general and we could now see a range of breakers at a very small distance: upon which we were steering a direct course. Orders were given to brace the yards sharp up; but I who could only be an idle spectator in this scene of confusion went abaft and had a clear prospect of our impending danger. For the space of ten minutes I thought it utterly impossible we should avoid striking on the rocks: but the manoeuvre with the sails being pretty quick I had the pleasure to see the ship lie parallel to them.

Cook’s grave concern for the safety of his ship was still evident in his more modest account of the incident:

…at 9 o’clock in the evening we saw the island of Bonavista bearing south distant little more than a league, though at this time we thought ourselves much further off, but this proved a mistake; for after hauling to the eastward until 12 o’clock to clear the sunken rocks that lie about a league from the SE point of the island, we found ourselves at that time close upon them, and did but just weather the breakers. Our situation for a few minutes was very alarming…

While Bligh held the important role of sailing master there are surprisingly few references to him in Cook’s lengthy record of this voyage, right up until the time of the captain’s murder. Intriguingly, no logbook or journal – which the always meticulous Bligh would have inevitably kept for the duration of the voyage – has ever been found. This might be explained by the fact that at the conclusion of any voyage it was the responsibility of commissioned officers to lodge their accounts of the voyage with the Admiralty, but Bligh, being still only a warrant officer, was not required to hand over any of his documents.

The first significant mention of Lieutenant William Bligh came when his captain decided a feature of the Kerguelen Islands should take Bligh’s name. Resolution had sailed from Cape Town in company with Discovery on the first of its numerous missions: to locate and confirm the position of this rugged and barren archipelago of 300 islands, which had been discovered four years earlier, in 1772, by French navigator Yves-Joseph de Kerguelen de Trémarec when he was searching for ‘the Great Southern Continent’.

The two ships were pressed hard and deep into the Southern Ocean before a frosty and fog-laden westerly wind until they reached what Cook believed was the likely latitude of the Kerguelen Islands – 49 degrees south. They continued east on that latitude until they were close to the longitude where they expected to actually locate the islands, and once at that point Cook initiated his plan to sail a zigzag course to the east to maximise the chance of finding their goal. The lookouts aloft, who were scanning the horizon ten nautical miles away, were rewarded on Christmas Eve. Cook’s journal read:

…at six o’clock in the morning, as we were steering to the eastward, the fog clearing away a little, we saw land, bearing south-south-east, which upon nearer approach we found to be an island of considerable height … Soon after, we saw another of the same magnitude, one league to the eastward; and between these two, in the direction of south-east, some smaller ones … A third high island was seen … a high round rock, which was named Bligh’s Cap. Perhaps this is the same that Monsieur de Kerguelen called the Isle of Rendezvous; but I know nothing that can rendezvous at it, but fowls of the air; for it is certainly inaccessible to every other animal.

The young sailing master was impressing his captain with his abilities and dedication; it was a huge honour for Bligh, a man ever willing to learn, to have his name immortalised on a chart he would have created with his legendary captain. This chart and the many others that would come from this voyage would prove invaluable for the growing number of explorers and seafarers who would sail in the wake of Resolution.

On Christmas Day 1776, both Resolution and Discovery anchored in an inlet on the eastern side of the northern tip of the main island, and fittingly Cook named it Christmas Harbour. Over the next forty-eight hours Bligh carried out directions from his captain to survey the shoreline and sound the depths of this harbour and another to the south. To do this, Bligh boarded a pinnace and left the ship, which remained at anchor, and directed the crew with him to row or sail to various points within the bay. As they progressed, Bligh made pencil sketches of the outline of the bay and the general topography. At the same time, using a lead-line, the depth of water at various points was noted so that a relatively accurate idea of the sea floor could also be established. On returning to the ship he transferred all the information from his notebook onto a large-scale chart – which was so accurate it could be used safely today by anyone travelling to this isolated domain.

While conducting his surveys, Cook also requested Bligh to ‘look for wood; for not a shrub was to be seen from the ship’. He reported back to his captain that he had landed on both shores of the harbour and found them to be barren and rocky with no sign whatsoever of a tree or shrub. ‘I could have very properly called the island Desolation Island to signalise its sterility, but in order not to deprive M. de Kerguelen of the glory of having discovered it, I have called it Kerguelen Land,’ Cook mused.

The one thing that was in ample supply was pure, clear water, so both ships fully replenished their supplies. With that done, it was very much time to set sail for two reasons: a schedule that was becoming tighter by the day because of the late departure from England; and because a number of the animals that had been put aboard Resolution by King George – with a view to them being used to establish herds on South Pacific islands – were dying as a result of the sub-Antarctic conditions.

If the animals were feeling the cold one can only imagine how brutal the conditions at these high latitudes must have been for the crew. While their clothing was comfortable in a practical sense, it did little to protect them from the elements. Most wore long trousers and short-waisted vests for the majority of the time, but when it was cold they donned heavy woollen pullovers. Few, if any, of those working on deck or aloft wore leather shoes of any type as they found bare feet gave them far better grip on the wet timber or when climbing the ratlines.

With the clewlines and buntlines eased and the sails then falling away from their yards, everything that was set was trimmed to harness the prevailing westerly wind. Before long Resolution’s figurehead, a proud white horse, was showing the way eastwards to the next stop, New Zealand. Discovery was in close company.

However, a few days later, in the middle of the inhospitable Southern Ocean, fate intervened and the intended course had to be changed. A cold and savage squall hammered the ship, catching the crew unawares. Suddenly Resolution was being pressed far too hard – the sound of tortured timber, rig and sails left no doubt everything was grossly overloaded. Before the crew could react and reduce sail the fore topmast carried away, snapping like a dry stick. The backstays and shrouds supporting it had failed due to the enormous stress the squall had brought to the highest sail on the foremast, the fore top-gallant. For the next twenty-four hours, while the ship rolled awkwardly on the large Southern Ocean swells, crew scrambled up and down the ratlines, first going aloft to clear the broken mast, sail and rigging, and then to install replacements.

While the ship was being repaired mid-ocean, Cook took stock of his situation, especially the amount of provisioning that remained. He quickly realised a new problem had emerged: the need for firewood and water for the ship, plus fodder and water for the animals, was becoming urgent. There was not enough to get them to New Zealand. Something needed to be done, so the moment repairs were completed and the ship was back on course under full sail he declared there would be a change of plan: Resolution and Discovery, both of which had remained in visual contact throughout this time, would alter their course to the north once they reached the southern tip of Van Diemen’s Land and then anchor in Adventure Bay.

Cook was well aware of this destination: Captain Tobias Furneaux, commander of Adventure, the support ship to Resolution during Cook’s previous Pacific expedition, had anchored there in 1773. On that voyage, the two ships had become separated and lost contact in a dense fog. On realising he was on his own, Furneaux decided to sail towards what he knew to be Van Diemen’s Land, now Tasmania, the southern point of which had been discovered by Abel Tasman 131 years earlier, and consequently positioned on charts. On 11 March Adventure dropped anchor in a superbly sheltered, east-facing bay that lies thirty miles south of where the state capital, Hobart, is located today. It was a true haven – a long ribbon-like strip of golden sand with a dense forest as the backdrop and high hills beyond: a place where his men soon gathered an abundant supply of wood and water for the ship. After a brief stay, Adventure headed east once more and a few weeks later Furneaux rendezvoused with Cook in New Zealand. He reported most favourably on the attributes of the bay, which he had named after his ship.

Cook’s change of plan this time around would prove to be a fortunate, and inevitably historic, twist of fate in Bligh’s favour because, once arriving there on 27 January 1777, the young sailing master was again able to apply his exceptional surveying abilities and chart in fine detail Adventure Bay and much of the adjacent Storm Bay. It was the first time this part of the world had been explored and surveyed to any extent, yet it is only in more recent times that Bligh has been properly recognised for the important contribution he made to the early exploration of this region. It was also during this exercise that he made his first observations of indigenous people on a foreign shore, although there is no record of him coming into direct contact with them himself. What initial contact there was came to an abrupt end when, after the Aboriginals demonstrated their skills with spears, a Resolution crewman decided to demonstrate to them his firearm, so raised his musket and fired. This was enough to send the Aboriginals into a panic: they put their hands over their ears and took fright, quickly disappearing into the bushland.

Having discovered the east coast of New Holland only seven years earlier, and there being no further exploration of the region since then, Cook voiced a theory while in Adventure Bay that he believed Van Diemen’s Land was part of New Holland, in fact the southern point of the continent. This belief stood unchallenged until the discovery by Matthew Flinders and George Bass in 1798 of what would become known as Bass Strait – the stretch of water separating mainland Australia from the island state of Tasmania.

Once water, wood and fodder was collected and put aboard both ships, and Cook presented the Aboriginals with a pair of pigs for breeding purposes, Resolution and Discovery weighed anchor three days after their arrival. A course was set towards Cape Farewell on the north-western corner of New Zealand’s south island. After averaging four knots over the next eleven days the Cape was sighted, and once it was abeam the two ships moved further east to Queen Charlotte Sound before anchoring in Ship Cove, which Cook had named when he stopped there on his first expedition with Endeavour in 1770. Cook presented some of the livestock that was aboard Resolution to the local Maoris, and then, quite innocently, he initiated what would become a future environmental problem for the region: he released two pairs of rabbits into the wild.

The ships remained in this anchorage for almost two weeks, and in that time both vessels were refurbished with some new rigging and spars which it was hoped would see out the remainder of the planned circumnavigation. The next scheduled destination was Tahiti, but when New Zealand faded over the western horizon and the ships entered the South Pacific, the weather turned against them: the strong east-south-east trade wind they were expecting had a mood change – it became very light in strength and variable in direction, making for what Discovery’s captain, Charles Clerke, described as ‘an exceedingly tedious passage’.

During this leg, Bligh and other officers observed with concern a change in the behaviour of their captain, a man they always saw as being very considerate of his crew, especially when it came to their health. Cook was informed that food had been stolen from the ship’s stores, and when the perpetrators were not found he became so incensed that he halved the meat ration for each man, only to have the majority of his crew baulk at this punishment and refuse to take any. This act ignited the captain’s temper to the degree where he declared their actions to be mutinous.

With the gentle winds continuing unabated the progress towards Tahiti remained slow, compounding a problem that began with the late departure from England: it was no longer possible to complete this voyage in the time frame originally designated. Cook and every one of his men had to accept they would now lose an entire season, and as a result they would fall behind schedule by almost a year. That realised, and with water supplies aboard both ships dangerously low, Cook decided that the course would be changed away from the Society Islands and Tahiti, and set towards the Friendly (or Tongan) Islands to the north-east, where supplies could be obtained. This led to the two ships cruising through the island-laced tropical waters in the north of the group for many weeks, and Bligh charted and sketched for his captain many of the islands they had sailed past or visited. The information he gathered, which included the latitude and longitude of islands, and the depth of water around them, led to Bligh creating charts which, providentially, would greatly benefit him after the Bounty mutiny twelve years later.

Resolution and Discovery eventually sailed south to Tongataboo, and once there Cook decided they should stay for a month so he could observe an eclipse of the sun on 5 July 1777. Soon after arriving, the captain’s temperament again showed disturbing signs of being unexpectedly volatile. The most disconcerting time came after Cook had become obsessed by the fact that a considerable number of islanders were pilfering whatever they could from his men and the ship. The captain decided the only way to bring this to a rapid end was by meting out a brutal punishment to the guilty. It was a level of retribution that shocked everyone. Midshipman George Gilbert noted in his log:

This [thieving], which is very prevalent here, Captain Cook punished in a manner rather unbecoming of a European, viz by cutting off their ears, firing at them with small shot, or ball, as they were swimming or paddling to the shore; and suffering the people as he rowed after them to beat them with the oars, and stick the boat hook into them…

Bligh described his captain’s actions as ‘a most ludicrous performance’.

Additionally, there was confusion among the two crews: they could not understand why they were spending so much time in Tongataboo when their actual destination was Tahiti. Questions were also asked as to why, during this time, Cook – a man who lived to explore – did not dispatch Bligh and others to search for a group of nearby islands known to the islanders, yet undiscovered by the Europeans. These islands were only three days’ sailing time to the north of Tongataboo. The islanders referred to this place as ‘Fidgee’ – today, Fiji – a place which, ironically, Bligh was to discover after the Bounty mutiny.

When Resolution and Discovery finally departed Tongataboo they took a long, looping course to the south then east, so they could sail the safest and fastest possible route to Tahiti and make their final approach riding the trade winds towards the north. They arrived there on 12 August, and almost immediately Bligh had his first taste of breadfruit, a local food that would have a major impact on his life.

During the six weeks they were in Tahiti, Cook grew even more irrational: his outbursts were so extreme that some of his crew were beginning to think he was in the early stages of a mental illness. This view was reinforced when two of the ship’s goats tethered on shore were stolen. Contemporary opinion on what ailed Cook varies, one diagnosis of his symptoms of fatigue, loss of health, loss of interest and depression may indicate that he was suffering from a parasitic infection of the lower intestine. Nevertheless, Cook’s totally unwarranted reprisal was to burn down the islanders’ huts and destroy canoes.

On departing Tahiti, Resolution and Discovery embarked on the most important stage of the exploration. It was a long passage to the north into a region unknown to them: the North Pacific, where their quest was to find an ice-free route around the top of North America and into the Atlantic. The voyage was uneventful until Christmas Eve 1777 when they were about 1200 nautical miles to the north-west of Tahiti and almost on the equator – which was when a low-lying and undiscovered coral atoll loomed over the horizon. After both ships anchored off the atoll, Cook once again showed his faith in Bligh’s ability as a navigator and seaman when, only hours after having named it Christmas Island, he sent him on a mission to find a safe passage through the outer reef and into the island’s lagoon, something other members of the crew sent before him had failed to achieve. Bligh did this, but the only passage he could find was too narrow for the ships to navigate.

In mid-January 1778, some two weeks after leaving Christmas Island, when the two ships were sailing deeper into the northern hemisphere, Cook made yet another discovery. The call ‘Land ho!’ came from the lookout aloft, then soon after there was another shout: an additional island was in sight. With that Cook had become the first European to discover what he named the Sandwich Islands in honour of his close ally and patron, the 4th Earl of Sandwich, John Montagu. It was Hawaii.

Cook went ashore at the first opportunity with the express desire to befriend the local inhabitants and with this achieved, he set about exploring the surrounding expansive chain of rugged and spectacular islands. As part of his exploration he commissioned Bligh to conduct surveys as they went and chart the region to the best of his ability.

Five weeks later, Resolution and Discovery were back on the high seas, heading for the north-western tip of North America. Three weeks of extreme, punishing weather challenged their endeavours, with conditions so bad that by the time they reached Nootka Sound, on what is today Vancouver Island, Resolution’s rig was in such poor condition that she was in danger of being dismasted. Cook had to call for major repair work to be carried out, including making replacement masts. By 26 April they were again under sail and heading towards Bering Strait, a passage that would later see them recognised as the first British ships to sail the north-west coast of North America. From this point the mission became nothing short of a daring and highly dangerous exercise in which ice would become the chief adversary. But before they even reached the strait, Resolution went extremely close to being wrecked on rocks off Unalaska Island. Cook had his ship sailing fast in strong winds and a thick fog when, fortunately, an extremely alert lookout high up the mast shouted to the deck that he could hear breakers ahead. The immediate reaction was to change course and slow the ship: something that was achieved with less than 200 yards to spare.

On 12 August, Resolution passed through Bering Strait and six days later crossed into the Arctic Circle. Soon after, when they were north of Icy Cape, their passage was blocked when they were confronted by a wall of ice which Cook described as being 12 feet high and stretching from horizon to horizon. For the next three days the expedition leader did everything possible to complete his mission, but on 21 August he had no alternative but to surrender to nature and abandon his plans.

By the end of October, five months after they began their quest and with the threat of winter looming, Cook decided it was time to retreat and head south so they could winter in safety, the plan being to continue the expedition beyond Bering Strait the following year. However, with this call came a surprise: instead of staying in an ice-free zone relatively close to this region, Cook elected to return all the way back to the Sandwich Islands. This wasn’t to be an easy passage. They departed Unalaska on 26 October, and the following day – Cook’s birthday – the two ships were battered by a severe gale and huge seas; three crewmen were badly injured by the violent motion of their ships, but worse still, John Mackintosh, Captain Clerke’s servant aboard Discovery, died when he fell down the main hatchway.

After thirty days of sailing they arrived in the waters of the Sandwich Islands, and much to Cook’s delight, the first island to come into sight was a new find, Maui, followed soon after by ‘the big island’, Hawaii. Cook initiated an extensive exploration of these islands and regularly called on Bligh to survey the coastline, and it was following one of these missions, after the ships had rounded the southern tip of Hawaii, that Bligh recommended to his captain that Kealakekua Bay, which he had visited in the ship’s launch, was a sheltered anchorage with a suitable landing spot on shore. As part of his survey of this bay Bligh had checked the depth of the water, then went ashore to search for fresh water. In doing so he became the first European to set foot on the island of Hawaii.

Early on 16 January 1779, Cook took his quill, dipped it in ink and penned in the ship’s journal what would be his final note:

Seeing the appearance of a bay I sent Mr Bligh with a boat from each ship to examine it, being at this time three leagues off. Canoes now began to arrive from all parts, so that before 10 o’clock there were not fewer than a thousand about the two ships, most of them crowded with people and well laden with hogs and other productions of the island. One of our visitors took out of the ship a boat’s rudder. He was discovered, but too late to recover it. I thought this a good opportunity to show these people the use of firearms, and two or three muskets and as many four-pounders were fired over the canoe which carried off the rudder. As it was not intended that any of the shot should take effect the surrounding multitude of natives seemed rather more surprised than frightened. In the evening Mr Bligh returned, and reported that he had found a bay in which was good anchorage and fresh water. Here I resolved to carry the ships to refit and supply ourselves with every refreshment the place could afford.

In the first days of February, Cook had both ships weigh anchor and began a slow passage north along the coast of the island. On 8 February, when they were near its northernmost tip, a severe storm blasted in and caused damage to Resolution’s foremast, so serious that both ships were forced to return to Kealakekua Bay for repairs to be made. Once Resolution was anchored securely, the crew noted with some level of concern that the previously friendly attitude of the islanders had all but evaporated, and they didn’t know why. One theory is that the islanders believed Cook was their god, Lono, and that they had lost faith in him when he sailed from the bay.

Regardless of this change of attitude, Cook sent his men ashore to set up camp so they could begin work on a replacement foremast and repair torn sails. The disquiet among the islanders remained evident, but it wasn’t enough to deter Cook from going ashore to inspect his carpenters’ progress. While there he and some of the men with him became embroiled in an incident involving an islander who had stolen items from Discovery. The situation escalated and soon the islanders were pelting rocks at the Englishmen, who defended themselves by firing rounds of shot high into the air in the hope of frightening their assailants. By nightfall tempers had calmed, but the next morning, 14 February, a major confrontation was inevitable: Discovery’s largest cutter had been stolen. In response, Cook decided that if he was to recover this boat and find the culprits, he should blockade the bay.

Bligh, firm in the belief that a heavy hand must be shown to defuse the situation, was directed by Cook to take command of Resolution’s cutters and some small boats from Discovery, lead them on to the bay and confront the islanders. Bligh, as sailing master, opted to take no chances and insisted that his men load their muskets with ball instead of shot so they could be most effective in the event of a mass attack. It was already clear to the Englishmen that such an attack was highly likely, simply because of the number of warriors appearing around the bay and on the hills behind. As he headed to the shore, Bligh took the initiative by intercepting, then firing upon, a number of canoes that had been launched into the bay, killing some of the occupants. After observing this, Cook decided he too should go ashore so he could confront the local king, Kalaniopu’u, and his warriors over the theft of the cutter. On reaching the beach, the captain went straight to the king’s hut, intending that the king might return with him to Resolution so the two of them could, hopefully, resolve the warlike atmosphere on shore. Also, by having Kalaniopu’u aboard Resolution, Cook would hold a valuable hostage. The king agreed to go with him, but as Cook and his guard of marines led the men towards the beach there was high confusion on both sides, partly because some islanders thought their king was being kidnapped.

In a flash, fierce fighting erupted and spread rapidly. The islanders began stabbing, stoning and spearing the Englishmen, who retaliated with shot as quickly as their muskets could be reloaded. When Cook found himself abandoned by his guard of marines, who had taken up the fight to protect him, he came under attack. David Samwell, a surgeon aboard Discovery, described the bloodcurdling scenario as it unfolded:

An Indian [sic] came running behind him, stopping once or twice as he advanced, as if he was afraid that he [Cook] should turn round. Then, taking him unaware, he sprung to him, knocked him on the back of his head with a large club taken out of a fence, and instantly fled with the greatest precipitation. The blow made Captain Cook stagger two or three paces. He then fell on his hand and one knee and dropped his musket. As he was rising another Indian came running at him, and before he could recover himself from the fall, drew out an iron dagger he concealed under his feathered cloak and stuck it with all his force into the back of his neck. This made Captain Cook tumble into the water where it is about knee deep.

Here he was followed by a crowd of people who endeavoured to keep him under the water, but struggling very strongly with them he got his head up, and, looking towards the pinnacle which was not above a boat’s hook length from him, waved his hands to them for assistance, which it seems was not in their power to give.

Finally, it took just one massive blow to Cook’s head from a club wielded by a warrior to end his life. His body was dragged onto the rocks, where a frenzied attack continued on the corpse.

Bligh watched in horror from the cutter as his captain was struck down, along with four marines. Outraged, he determined to do whatever he could to reinstate English authority over the scene. The second highest ranking officer, Charles Clerke, immediately and rightfully assumed leadership of the expedition and command of Resolution, even though he was so seriously ill that he could barely stand. He declared they should depart the bay as soon as possible, so ordered Bligh, among others, to go ashore with the strongest possible group of armed men, primarily marines, to support those left there, expedite the evacuation of the camp and bring back, among other equipment, the partially repaired foremast and sails.

Once on the beach, Bligh and his men came under attack from islanders throwing spears and rocks. Retaliating with shots from their muskets, Bligh and his men bravely carried out Clerke’s orders and coordinated the recovery of the foremast and sails.

Despite the best efforts to prepare the ships for sea, they were in no position to weigh anchor so remained in the bay overnight. By morning the tension between the two warring sides had receded, but later, during the afternoon, the situation took a macabre turn when a parcel was delivered to Clerke aboard Resolution by one of the king’s priests. Clerke took the parcel to his cabin, opened it and discovered the grisly contents – burnt portions of Cook’s dismembered corpse.

Simmering hatred for the islanders among the crews of the two ships exploded with the news of this ghoulish presentation and they took an opportunity for revenge when a watering party that went ashore to collect supplies was attacked. In the melee that followed many islanders were killed and the village razed.

At this stage Clerke was convinced the bodies of the four marines who had died on the beach alongside Cook – John Allen, Thomas Fatchett, Theophilus Hinks and James Thomas – would not be found, but he was determined to recover all he could of Cook’s remains. Five days after their captain’s death, Clerke was summoned ashore to receive, as the Resolution’s Lieutenant King recalled in his journal, ‘a bundle wrapped very decently’. It contained more body parts, mainly bones and two hands still with the flesh attached which were identified as Cook’s. During the evening of 22 February the contents of both parcels were then consigned to the deep in a ceremony in accordance with Royal Navy tradition. As a final salute, ten rounds from the four-pounder cannons boomed across the bay at thirty-second intervals.

With that solemn ceremony completed, Clerke called for the ships to be readied for sea. This order was accelerated by the fear that word of the battle at Kealakekua Bay, and Cook’s death, might precede them to other destinations among the islands where they might want to make landfall.

Clerke, a popular captain, decided to stand by Cook’s decision to return to the frozen waters of the north-west region of North America and try to find a safe route into the Atlantic, but not before a more extensive exploration of the Sandwich Islands. Over the ensuing weeks, as the two ships sailed in company from magnificent island to magnificent island, life was ebbing from the new commander – the victim of consumption (tuberculosis). Before long he accepted that he could no longer carry out his duties effectively, so he implemented a new chain of command among his senior officers. John Gore, a much-admired American-born seafarer, who joined Resolution as a third lieutenant having already logged two circumnavigations, was appointed as the new leader and captain of Resolution, and Lieutenant King took up the captaincy of Discovery. Then, when it came time for Clerke to delegate the vital role of navigator for the expedition, without hesitation he chose twenty-four-year-old Lieutenant Bligh, who subsequently noted in his journal: ‘Captain Clerke being very ill in a decline he could not attend the deck, and thus he publicly gave me the power solely for conducting the ships & moving as I thought proper.’

By August, as the two ships retraced their course towards the Bering Sea, Clerke was on the verge of surrendering to his illness. On 10 August he managed to write one last letter, this one to his great friend, Sir Joseph Banks:

My ever honoured Friend,

The disorder I was attacked with in the King’s bench prison has proved consumptive, with which I have battled with varying success, although without one single day’s health since I took leave of you in Burlington Street. It has now so far got the better of me, that I am not able to turn myself in my bed, so that my stay in this world must be of very short duration …

Now my dear and honoured friend, I must bid you a final adieu. May you enjoy many happy years in this world and in the end attain that fame your indefatigable industry so richly deserves. These are the most sincerely and warmest wishes of your devoted, affectionate and departing servant,

Chas. Clerke

Clerke, who died ten days later aged thirty-eight, was for everyone who knew him, a good man. He had been aboard for all three of Captain Cook’s voyages of discovery, and prior to those completed a circumnavigation aboard HMS Dolphin. Before Cook’s third voyage he had committed himself to serving time in the fleet debtor’s prison for a debt a brother, Sir John Clerke, had incurred, and it was there that he developed the tuberculosis that would eventually kill him.

Bligh held dear the directive from Clerke when he was appointed navigator for the expedition: ‘to explore the Sandwich Isles as much as you can & from thence carry the ships to Kamchatka & thence to do your utmost endeavours to discover the NW passage’. Making his task even more satisfying was the fine rapport he established with Resolution’s new captain, one that lasted for the remaining fourteen months of the voyage.

The charter for the two ships to search for the Northwest Passage proceeded without great incident, but also without success. The ice confronting them once again formed an insurmountable barrier through to the Atlantic.

It is easy to understand why discovery of a north-western route from the Atlantic to the North Pacific was so important to the British because, at the point where the ice became impassable, the two ships were little more than 4000 nautical miles in a direct line from England – less than two months’ sailing time. But, with no other option, they were forced to turn back and take the long route home – a course that saw the ships sail along the coast of Siberia (some of which Bligh sketched and mapped) then via Japan, Macau, the Cape of Good Hope and finally north into the Atlantic to England, a distance of more than 18,000 nautical miles.

Four years and three months after their departure, on 4 October 1780, Resolution and Discovery dropped anchor at the Nore, a sandbank on the River Thames. When twenty-six-year-old Lieutenant William Bligh stepped onto the dock from one of Resolution’s launches and was welcomed home, he was a changed man in so many ways: his skills as a navigator, seafarer, cartographer and sailor had been honed under the guidance of one of the great navigators and explorers. He had sailed around the world, witnessing all at once the beauty and brutality of the South Pacific. He had excelled in the fourteen months after Cook’s death when it was his duty as navigator to guide the two ships through uncharted territory beyond Bering Strait, back home safely to England.

As he walked confidently along the cobblestone street leading away from the dock, Bligh could afford to stand proud: few navy lieutenants his age, if any, had achieved as much. Surprisingly, though, there were no direct rewards, especially in the form of an immediate promotion, but what was most relevant for this ambitious young naval officer was the fact that he was now very much in the gaze of his superiors, and most importantly, Sir Joseph Banks.

Inevitably he would have been wondering what would come next, and within two months that course was set. In December 1780 England declared war on the Dutch – the Fourth Anglo–Dutch War. Destiny would now take Bligh into battle.