On this day ...
26 November 1769
Endeavour Voyage Maps
James Cook's Journal Ms 1, National Library of Australia
Transcript of Cook's Journal
Joseph Banks's Journal
Sydney Parkinson's Journal
Mercury Bay to the Bay of Islands
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At noon, the main land extended from S. by E. to N.W. by W. a remarkable point of land bearing W. distant four or five miles; at three we passed it, and I gave it the name of CAPE BRET, in honour of Sir Piercy. The land of this Cape is considerably higher than any part of the adjacent coast: at the point of it, is a high round hillock, and N.E. by N. at the distance of about a mile, is a small high island or rock, which, like several that have already been described, was perforated quite through, so as to appear like the arch of a bridge. This Cape, or at least some part of it, is by the natives called MOTUGOGOGO, and it lies in latitude 35° 10’ 30"S. longitude 185° 25’ W. On the west side of it is a large and pretty deep bay, lying in S.W. by W. in which there appeared to be several small islands: the point that forms the N.W. entrance, lies W. ' N. at the distance of three or four leagues from Cape Bret, and I distinguished it by the name of POINT POCOCKE. On the west side of the bay we saw several villages, both upon islands and the main, and several very large canoes came off to us, full of people, who made a better appearance than any we had seen yet: they were all stout and well-made; their hair, which was black, was tied up in a bunch on the crown of their heads, and stuck with white feathers. In each of the canoes were two or three Chiefs, whose habits were of the best sort of cloth, and covered with dog’s skin, so as to make an agreeable appearance: most of these people were marked with the Amoco, like those who had been alongside of us before: their manner of trading was also equally fraudulent; and the officers neglecting either to punish or fright them, one of the midshipmen who had been defrauded in his bargain, had recourse, for revenge, to an expedient which was equally ludicrous and severe: he got a fishing line, and when the man who had cheated him was close under the ship’s side in his canoe, he heaved the lead with so good an aim that the hook caught him by the backside; he then pulled the line, and the man holding back, the hook broke in the shank, and the beard was left sticking in the flesh.
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© Derived from Vols. II-III of the London 1773 edition: National Library of Australia call no. FERG 7243, pages 360 - 361, 2004
Published by kind permission of the Library
To cite this page use: https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/hv23/357.html