Cook Navigation Manuscript

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0103 MS ANGL 7
Held at	: University College London   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Library/special-coll ›
Full title	: Cook Navigation Manuscript
Date(s)	: c1760
Level of description	: Collection (fonds)
Extent	: 1 volume containing 20 leaves
Name of creator(s)	: Cook | James | 1728-1779 | explorer

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Born in Marton, Cleveland, 1728; became an apprentice to shipowners in Whitby; became master of his own ship, HMS Northumberland, 1759; the following winter, while laid up in Halifax, studied mathematics and attained a sound knowledge of astronomical navigation; went on to become an eminent circumnavigator and made many geographical discoveries, including establishing knowledge of the Southern Pacific; kept a crew at sea without serious losses from sickness and death, which was unusual at that time; killed by natives of Hawaii, 1779.

From c1750 Masters of HM Ships were required by the Admiralty to keep Remark Books of details of coasts and ports they visited. James Cook followed this practice when serving in HMS Pembroke and HMS Northumberland on the North American Station from 1758 to 1762.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Manuscript, c1760, entitled 'Directions for sailing from the harbour of Halifax to Quebec, by James Cook, Master of His Majesty's Ship Northumberland'. The text is written in Cook's hand throughout. Pasted into the manuscript are a table showing latitude and longitude of capes etc (f 17r) and a list of names, mostly of native chiefs encountered in the Pacific on Cook's first and second voyages (f 18r).

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

Conditions governing access:

Open.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Normal copyright restrictions apply.

Finding aids:

Dorothy K Coveney, A Descriptive Catalogue of Manuscripts in the Library of University College London (London, 1935).

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Unknown.

Allied Materials

Related material:

British Library, Manuscript Collections, holds log books, journal, drawings, charts, maps, letters and papers, summarised on the National Register of Archives. The National Maritime Museum, Manuscripts Section, holds drafts of a narrative of Cook's second voyage, 1772-1775 (Ref: REC/20). The Captain Cook Memorial Museum, Whitby, holds letters. The National Library of Ireland, Dublin, holds a journal, 1772-1775. The National Library of New Zealand, Alexander Turnbull Library, holds a log book, 1755-1756 (Ref: qMS 537-39). The National Library of Australia holds a journal, letterbook, notebook and papers, 1768-1778 (Ref: MSS 1-6, 108). The National Archives of Canada, Ottawa, holds directions for sailing from the island of Scaterie to Quebec, 1760 (Ref: MG 18, M). Peabody and Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts, USA, holds correspondence, 1766-1776 (6 items). The Huntington Library, San Marino, California, holds a fragment of journal relating to the discovery of Botany Bay, 1770 (Ref: HM 965). Other Remark Books of James Cook, or fragments, or other papers of Cook survive at the Hydrographic Department, Ministry of Defence, Taunton, and at Harvard University, Houghton Library.

National Register of Archives: Click here to view NRA record

Publication note:

Andrew David, 'James Cook's Manuscript Sailing Directions in Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and the St Lawrence River' (typescript, 1979) at University College London Special Collections discusses manuscripts relating to Cook, including the one at University College London.

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Sources: Andrew David, 'James Cook's Manuscript Sailing Directions in Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and the St Lawrence River' (typescript, 1979); National Register of Archives. Description revised by Rachel Kemsley as part of the RSLP AIM25 project.

Rules or conventions:
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
1999, revised Jul 2001