COOK'S THIRD VOYAGE 51 



eighty-nine silver, and five hundred bronze medals were 

 struck for distribution. 



The activity of editors and booksellers was naturally 

 stimulated by the return of the circumnavigators. This 

 third Expedition promised to be of certainly not inferior 

 interest. As it happened, there were startling novelties 

 about it ; and the tragic fate of the Commander was so 

 unexpected and so grievous that the whole nation took it 

 to heart. People had formed a high notion of Cook's 

 character. He was persevering and full of resource ; a 

 first-class seaman and nautical surveyor ; a strict dis- 

 ciplinarian ; he kept watch over the health and morals of 

 his subordinates ; and his uniform success in dealing with 

 savage people, and making friends with them, cannot be 

 said to have been broken in the final catastrophe. Hence 

 the honour paid to his memory, and the general wish to 

 know all the proceedings of the last years of his life. 



The official account of this last voyage was put into 

 capable hands. Lord Sandwich and Mr. Banks were 

 minded to have the thing well done, and they personally 

 superintended during its preparation. Even George III 

 was called into consultation. Dr. John Douglas (after- 

 wards Bishop of Salisbury) took the literary part of the 

 work, while Captains Gore and King and Lieutenant 

 Burney contributed their journals and their personal 

 recollections. 1 



The result was a fine book in three volumes, which, 

 however, did not appear until 1784. The profits of its 



1 In the MS. Dept. of the British Museum (Addl. 8955) is a tran- 

 script of Burney 's Journal, written in a microscopic hand and enclosed 

 in a tiny case ; the weight of the paper only half an ounce. A memo- 

 randum on the enclosure states that, " On the arrival of the Resolution 

 and Discovery in Macao Roads, we learnt that Great Britain was at war 

 with France and with the North American States, which gave us some 

 apprehension of being captured on our passage homeward ; and in such 

 event that we should lose our journals. Under this apprehension, I 

 made a copy of my journal on China paper, in so small a compass as to 

 be easily concealable ; that if bereft of our journals there might be one 

 saved for the Admiralty." 



