CAPTAIN COOK. 



Captain. He was also appointed a Captain in Greenwich Hospital, and this position 

 provided him for life with a residence, if he chose to live there. He was unanimously 

 elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and he received its gold medal for 1776 for 

 the best experimental research of the year. This honour was bestowed upon the great 

 circumnavigator for his paper on " The Preservation of Seamen Engaged on Long 

 Voyages from Scurvy." 

 He was every-where re- 

 ceived with the highest 

 marks of distinction, and 

 had he so chosen might 

 have enjoyed the re- 

 mainder of his life in 

 peace and security in the 

 bosom of his family. 



But little more than 

 a year of rest had passed 

 before he was again at 



THE "ENDEAVOUR ON A REEK. 



ESTUARY NEAR WHICH THE "ENDEAVOUR STRUCK. 



sea, this time on his third and last 

 voyage. The discovery of a North- 

 West Passage to the East Indies 

 had long been a dream of English 

 enterprise, and the Earl of Sand- 

 wich, who was still First Lord of 



the Admiralty, was specially desirous of achieving something in that direction. 

 While disclaiming any intention of interfering with Captain Cook's well-earned leisure, 

 it was felt that he was the person best qualified to give advice and counsel on 

 such a subject. Lord Sandwich therefore invited Cook, Sir Hugh Palliser, and Mr. 

 Secretary Stephens who first recommended the navigator to the notice of the Board 

 of Admiralty to dine with him together one day, and in the course of an after-dinner 

 conversation, so wrought on the imagination of Cook, and so fired his ambition, that he 

 leapt to his feet and at once volunteered to take command of an expedition to be sent 

 out in search of a North-West Passage to the East Indies. The proposal was at once 

 laid before the King, a bounty of twenty thousand pounds was promised for division 

 amongst the crew on the successful return of the ships, and in June, 1776, the expedi- 



