CHAPTER I 



REST AND PREPARATIONS 



During the year which he spent in England, 

 Cook had scarcely six months' leisure, being em- 

 ployed in corresponding with the Admiralty, to 

 which he sent all his notes, his Journal, his logs, 

 drawings and charts. He also wrote for the 

 Royal Society a monograph on the tides in the 

 South Seas, according to the observations which 

 he had made on board the Endeavour. Mr. 

 Stephens congratulated him in the name of the 

 Lords of the Admiralty on the success of the ex- 

 pedition which he had led. Cook was promoted 

 to the rank of Commander in the Royal Navy. 

 He was disappointed, for he had hoped that he 

 would be rewarded with the rank of Captain; 

 but, having an absolute regard for discipline, he 

 did not complain. It mattered little that he had 

 given his country New Zealand and Australia. 

 The sacred rights of seniority must be respected. 



The joy which Cook experienced at seeing his 

 family again and finding them in the quiet little 

 house in the East End of London, where Eliza- 

 beth had trembled and prayed for him for three 

 years, was sadly darkened when he heard of the 



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