NMHS Sails with Endeavour he building and sa iling of the Australian rep I ica of Captain Cook 's Endeavour has struck a chord in many an NMHS mem ber. This year and next, as she sail s America 's coasts, NMHS members will have a chance to walk her decks. As we go to press, Endeavour and her Australian crew, along with American sail trainees, have made their way up the East Coast as far as New York. They ' ll continue north to Nova Scotia before returning south fo r the winter. Next year the ship will head for the West Coast. The Australian Alan Villiers, a pioneer of today's sai l training movement, dreamed of such a replica as he took young people to sea in the]oseph Conrad (ex-Georg Stage), which is restored at Mystic Seaport. He referred to Cook as "the greatest explorer-seaman the world has known ," and once said: "The names of his brave ships may stand as hi s best epitaph-Endeavour, Resolution, Discovery , Adventure." Villiers's American contemporary Irving Johnson, and his wife and partner Exy, helped build a Cook following among sa il training people, as they took young crew into deepwater aboard their Yankees. In 1996, the Johnsons' son Arthur, who departed this life last winter, sailed aboard Endeavour, which he learned about through our article on the vessel in
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Sea History 74 (S ummer 1995). From her decks he wrote to hi s mother: Endeavour is a wonde1ful ship with a fin e captain, Chris Blake, who sometimes gets away from the dock under sail-Father would have appreciated that. He sets sail readily, even the two spritsails. Alas, there was little wind on this first leg of the voyage and we used the engine (in addition to the sails), but there was sun and blue skies. There are almost 57 of us aboard; it is hard to imagine Cook with 94 persons, Banks' s 2 dogs, the ship' s cat and the goat that had already been around the world in the Dolphin , plus provisions for nearly three years. The maze of lines is daunting; some braces lead forward from a yard while others lead aft. In some cases the port brace leads to the starboard side and vice versa. Steering is really cumbersome with the ship very slow to respond and the steering so heavy it takes two to turn the wheel. Top speed under sail is all of six knots. I have the Captain's Clerk's cabin on the lower deck (below the great cabin with Cook' s, Banks' s andSolander' s, etc. more spacious quarters). The clearance on this deck is 3' 1O" so one is hunched over all the time. I sleep on a suspended cot that is about two f eet wide. The most wonderful moment of the cruise was coming to the 4 to BAM watch
HMS Endeavour arrives at Southport, North Carolina on a blustery day as the crew furiously furls sail. (Photo: Norm Carathanasis)
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with most of the sails set beneath a moonless sky and the blaze of the heavens such as I have not seen for years; the Southern Cross was almost overhead. Father's name gets instant recognition .f;¡om many aboard. Severa l have thePekingvideo, "AroundCape Horn," and some have viewed it dozens of times. One man gave me running quotes from it. On arrival I was repeatedly pointed out as Irving Johnson' s son . Arthur concluded: I am so glad you saw that article on Endeavour in Sea History and, once again, thanks for encouraging the trip. An Englishman, a Coast Watcher and an Editor One of our Engli sh members, V. J. G. lbbett, took a two-week passage aboard Endeavour from Plymouth, Eng land, to Santa Cruz, Tenerife, in the Canaries, and writes: I was talking to Captain Chris Blake, who has been in command since Endeavour left Australia. As a member of NMHS, I was swprised to find that he had not heard of Sea History. I had a copy, which was passed around and found ready approval. Mr. Ibbett and other members may be happy to learn that we will be putting several boxes of Sea History 83, which contains the story of Cook's voyages in Peter Stanford's "Cape Hom Road" series, aboard the vessel for di stribution in New York. And our coast watcher in North Carolina, Norman Carathanasis, and hi s wife Audrey, took this photo (at left) of the vessel as it arrived in Wi lmington , North Carolina, on a blustery day in April. He writes that it was "an awesome sight to see her sail past Cape Fear into the harbor at Southport NC. She fired a salute and proceeded to anchorage off Battery Island, but due to weather conditions went back out to sea. The next day she proceeded up the Cape Fear River to Wilmington , North Carolina." Furiously furlin g sail as the ship came to anchoroffSouthpo1t wasSeaHistory's contributing editor, and expatriate New Zea lander Kevi n Haydon , w ho had boarded earlier in the week in Charleston, South Carolina. He reported : This is an impressive ship, with a .firstclass crew of Aussies, Kiwis and Brits who love to sail. We were under canvas all the way, providing ample opportunity to learn the ropes and rigors of square-rig SEA HISTORY 85, SUMMER 1998