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James Cook: Hornpipes and Country Dances
Hornpipes and Country Dances with a Famous Navigator
Dr Heather Blasdale Clarke’s research began with the discovery of The Transit of Venus in a collection of dances from 1775. Inspired by this significant find, she has undertaken extensive studies, tracing Captain Cook’s life, achievements and death through the popular culture of the time. Heather teaches an RSCDS class in Brisbane, Queensland.
James Cook is considered one of history’s greatest navigators, a man who rose from the humblest of beginnings to become an exceptional scientist, cartographer, and leader. One aspect which has rarely been examined is the music, theatre, and dances that were interwoven through his life and served to venerate him after death. He used music and dance to keep his crew healthy and to establish peaceful communication with people he encountered on his voyages. His own life was celebrated with theatrical productions, and in popular social country dances.
In the 18th century dancing was so integral to society that it is possible to follow Cook’s life through the titles of dances. Every year numerous collections of country dances were published reflecting the fame of prominent people, commemorating contemporary events, and recalling noteworthy locations. Many dances from these collections are incorporated in the repertoire of the RSCDS. A biography of Cook encompasses Black Joke, a dance popular in rural Yorkshire where he spent his childhood, Boscawen’s Frolick for his association with Admiral Boscawen’s Fleet in the Atlantic, Nova Scotia for his years in Halifax, and the Mile End Assembly for the dance venue situated next door to his family home in London. As his voyages across the Pacific became famous, dances celebrating his achievements were devised: Transit of Venus, South Seas, Island of Love, Trip to Tahiti and Captain Cook.
As was common practice amongst enlightened captains of the time, Cook recognised the health-giving qualities of dancing and utilised them to good effect on his long voyages. According to the historian Carlo Blasis, writing in 1830, Cook, wishing to counteract disease on board his vessels as much as possible, took particular care, in calm weather, to make his sailors and marines dance to the sound of a violin, and it was to this practice that he mainly ascribed the sound health which his crew enjoyed during voyages of several years continuance.2 This corresponds to modern scientific research that endorses dancing as one of the best forms of exercise, helping to maintain good physical, mental and emotional health, including as it does creative expression, co-ordination, musicality and social interaction.
For sailors, dancing on board ship was an established tradition and a favourite form of entertainment, serving to relieve the boredom of long voyages. It was more than the drunken frolic that we in the
The dance ‘Captain Cook’ was published in Corri & Dussek’s ‘Twenty four New Country Dances for the Year 1797’ in London and Edinburgh
21st century might imagine; it was a skilful art requiring balance, co-ordination, strength, and endurance. The best sailors were the topmen who climbed high into the rigging and were regarded as the elite in the seamen’s hierarchy - they were also renowned as the most accomplished dancers.
Accounts of Cook’s voyages list hornpipes, country dances, and cotillions being danced by his sailors, not simply for their own entertainment but also in cultural exchanges. The ability of sailors to dance added a positive and cheerful tone to encounters with indigenous people. It was a way to reciprocate the islanders’ rituals of greeting and hospitality, and an important aspect when verbal communication was limited. Both sides joined with the others’ dances: the islanders imitating the sailor’s hornpipe with great hilarity, and ultimately excelling their teachers in ‘nimbleness of foot’, while the sailors attempted the facial distortions of some Tahitian dances. On Cook’s third voyage, Lieutenant Rickman recorded: During the dinner, the music, particularly the bag-pipes, with which the Indians seemed most delighted, continued to play, and the young ladies who were within hearing, though out of sight, could hardly refrain from dancing the whole time … After the tables were cleared, the ladies joined the company, and then hornpipes and country dances after the English manner commenced, in which the young ladies joined with great good humour.
Music and dancing were important activities on board ship. ‘Sailors in Port’ after William Stothard (1798)
© The Trustees of the British Museum
Music was provided by the ship’s musicians, usually marines, and with each voyage more musicians were enlisted. By the third voyage a band including drums, trumpets, bagpipes, hautboys (oboes), French horns, fifes, flutes, and violins was on hand. Utilising music on Cook’s voyages was initially suggested by the Scottish nobleman, James Douglas, the 14th Earl of Morton. Douglas was a founding member and President of the Society for Improving Arts and Sciences in Edinburgh and was elected President of the Royal Society in London in 1763. He was influential in obtaining a grant of £4,000 to finance Cook’s first voyage and, significantly, he issued ‘a list of hints’ to Cook and the gentlemen on the Endeavour with advice on how to approach the indigenous people they would encounter – not with the report of Guns, Drums, or even a trumpet....but if there are other Instruments of Music on board they should be first entertained near the Shore with a soft Air. 4 Music was considered to have the power to entertain, amuse, and pacify; and was thus a powerful factor in early encounters.
The Admiralty considered the ‘primitive’ music of the bagpipes would have special appeal to the supposedly uncultivated tastes of Polynesians and ensured two marines with bagpipes were recruited – evidence suggests these men were Archibald McVicar and Thomas McDonald. In many places the indigenous people were enchanted with the pipes. In Tahiti it was observed that: All the people of the island were highly delighted with the bagpipe and required it to be played constantly. 5
Cook’s father was a Scotsman, so perhaps the captain was keen to share the music of the pipes, unlike the German scientist Georg Foster, who expressed his own opinion: A highlander, who was one of our marines, was ordered to play the bagpipe, and its uncouth music, though almost insufferable to our ears, delighted the king and his subjects to a degree which we could hardly have imagined possible. 5
News of Cook’s expeditions caused intense interest in Britain and throughout Europe. Before the era of film and television, the theatre played a vital role in presenting the stories of his travels. The first English production to portray the South Seas was the pantomime Omai,or A Trip Around The World.The title referred to the Tahitian man, Omai, who had travelled to England with Cook in 1774 and achieved celebrity status before returning home two years later. The pantomime, staged at the Covent Garden Theatre, London in 1785, was an immediate success – a block-buster of the 18th century. The characters and scenery were drawn from the places Cook had visited, featuring authentic costumes, impressive stage designs and extraordinary special effects. It included a variety of scenes of cheerful and lively dancing for the islanders, the sailors, and the two groups together.
A Dancer in the pantomime of Omai. Philippe Loutherbourg and John Webber (1785).
Courtesy of National Library of Australia.
Music and dances from the theatre frequently entered popular culture and it was common for plays, pantomimes, and ballets to feature dances which could be adapted for a social setting. The dance, Omai is an example of this – it came directly from the pantomime and was published in Campbell’s 2nd Book of New and Favourite Country Dances c.1786.
Following the great success of the pantomime Omai, a new theatrical extravaganza was created, first in Paris, then in London, The Grand serious pantomimic ballet, The Death of Captain Cook 6 . The story bore little resemblance to any actual event; it did however, give an elaborate depiction of the people and places which Cook had visited. The scene is set on ‘The Island of O-Why-e in the South Sea’ where the King of Hawaii is at war. Cook assists in defeating and capturing his enemies. Although the ruler wishes to put the prisoners to death, Cook is able to save them. Despite this he is attacked and murdered by them on their release, as they regard him as responsible for their defeat. The first performance evoked tears and hysterics when the audience saw the Captain stabbed to death. It was this dramatic representation which became an important factor in the ballet’s ongoing success. This spectacular entertainment subsequently became popular throughout the British Isles, Europe and America.
Curiously, the story of Cook’s death was adapted as an equestrian drama for the circus, initially by the flamboyant Philip Astley in Dublin and later by John Ricketts in America. The Edinburgh Equestrian Circus’ own production of The Death of Captain Cook in 1790 was applauded as the climax of the season and a selection of music from drama was published in The Celebrated circus tunes perform’d at Edinburgh this season (1790).
Heather has developed a free online resource where you can read about these and other fascinating stories, which covers the life of Cook from his Yorkshire childhood, through to his elevation as a legendary hero on the stage, presenting music and dance associated with each account. https://www.colonialdance.com. au/dancing-with-cook The book and CD of Captain Cook’s Country Dances is available in the UK from Folksales.com (visit colonialdance.com.au for USA and Australia.) A teaching unit comprising dance, history and literature for primary schools is also available. The music and the dance provide a unique way to tell the tales of a great navigator - a living link to our heritage as we enjoy a taste of the culture from that world.
1. Bride, Favourite Collection Of Two Hundred Country Dances. 1775, London.
2. Blasis, C., The code of Terpsichore. 1830, London: E. Bull.
3. Rickman, J., Journal of Captain Cook’s last voyage to the Pacific Ocean, on Discovery performed in the years 1776, 1777, 1778, 1779. London: Printed for E. Newbery.
4. Douglas, J., Hints offered to the consideration of Captain Cooke, Mr Bankes, Dr Solander and the other gentlemen who go upon the expedition on board the Endeavour.
5. Forster, G., A voyage round the world. Vol. 1. 1777, London: White.
6. The death of Captain Cook a grand serious-pantomimicballet, in three parts. 1789, London: Printed for T. Cadell, in the Strand.
