CAPTAIN COOK. 25 



and followed in the wake of apprentices innumerable since the first boy broke away 

 from the bonds of leaden usage and dull plenty for the coarse fare and the long hours, 

 the hardships and the dangers and adventures of the deep. 



Cook succeeded in realizing the wish of his heart. He re-appears as a ship's boy 

 on board a collier belonging to a Whitby firm, but he did not spend all his time in 

 trading up and down the coast, for he spoke afterwards to Forster, the botanist, of his 

 voyages to Norway. At the age of twenty-seven he held a mate's certificate, and in 

 that capacity he acted until the year 1755, when war broke out between England and 

 France, and the press-gangs actively bestirred themselves in running down merchant 

 sailors with whom to man His Majesty's ships. Now those employed on board the 

 colliers regularly trading between Newcastle and London were smart sailors, and thus 

 became the natural and desirable prey of that terrible institution. Cook, who had no 

 particular ties to bind him to the coal trade, thought it wiser to enlist willingly as a 

 volunteer than to be dragged on board a man-o'-war against his will. The Eagle, of 

 sixty guns, lay at her moorings off Wapping Old Stairs, and thither he repaired in 

 order to enter the Royal Navy as an ordinary seaman under Captain John Hamer, who 

 was six months afterwards succeeded by Sir Hugh Palliser, in whom Cook subsequently 

 found an active and a genuine friend. 



Four years spent by Australia's greatest navigator as an ordinary sailor largely 

 developed both his powers of endurance and his knowledge of practical seamanship, and 

 when, in 1/59, at the solicitation of Mr. Osbaldiston, Member for Scarborough, and by 

 Captain Palliser's support, he was raised to the rank of master, he was found to be 

 fully equal to the demands of the office. He was first appointed to the Grampiis, but 

 when it was discovered that the former master had returned to his ship, Cook was 

 transferred to the Garland. The Garland had, however, already sailed, and Cook 

 ultimately secured his master's rating in the Mercury, destined for service in North 

 American waters, in conjunction with the other ships of the fleet under the command of 

 Sir Charles Saunders. 



At that time the famous expedition of General Wolfe was lying at the mouth of 

 the St. Lawrence, waiting for that opportunity which came at last on the Heights 

 of Abraham, when Wolfe and Montcalm met in the deadly struggle which ended in the 

 capture of Quebec. The Mercury had no sooner arrived at her destination than she 

 was placed under orders to join the fleet, which was then co-operating with the land 

 forces under General \Volfe. However, nothing could be done against Quebec, which 

 was the principal object of attack, until a careful survey of the river had been made, 

 so that when the fight began the heavy ships might take up positions in front of the town 

 without delay, and yet without danger of stranding. 



To take soundings within cannon-range of the enemy was a dangerous task, requir- 

 ing skill, nerve, and presence of mind, as well as a special knowledge of the work to 

 be performed, and it speaks eloquently in Cook's favour that he was recommended 

 for such perilous duty by his constant friend, Captain Palliser. Under cover of night, 

 for several nights in succession, Cook stole cautiously up the St. Lawrence, with oars 

 muffled and every man on the alert, and there, under the very guns of the city, and 

 actually within ear-shot of the sentry's challenge, he silently performed his task and 



