1.
HMS Resolution
–
Several ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Resolution. HMS Resolution, a 70-gun third-rate ship of the line launched 1667, rebuilt 1698, HMS Resolution, a 70-gun third rate launched 1705, run ashore to avoid capture 1707. HMS Resolution, a 70-gun third rate launched 1708, wrecked 1711, HMS Resolution, a 74-gun third rate launched 1758, run aground and lost 1759 at the Battle of Quiberon Bay. HMS Resolution, a 74-gun third rate launched 1770, broken up 1813, HMS Resolution, the vessel of Captain James Cook in his explorations. HMS Resolution, a cutter purchased 1779, went missing in the North Sea June 1797, HMS Resolution, a Royal Sovereign-class battleship in service from 1893 to 1914. HMS Resolution, a Revenge-class battleship in service from 1915 to 1944, HMS Resolution, lead ship of the Resolution-class ballistic missile submarines in service from 1966 to 1994. Also Resolution was a gunboat that the garrison at Gibraltar launched in June 1782 during the Great Siege of Gibraltar, each was armed with an 18-pounder gun, and received a crew of 21 men drawn from Royal Navy vessels stationed at Gibraltar. HMS Resolution, a cutter in the West Indies, date of acquisition unknown, on 10 November 1800 Captain Peter Halkett of HMS Apollo captured the Spanish sloop of war Resolution in the West Indies. She was armed with 18 guns and had a crew of 149 men, Halkett reported that she was the former British navy cutter Resolution. Resolution was in such a state that after a few days Halkett destroyed her. Resolution, a victualing hoy, of 75 tons, offered for sale on 22 September 1828, HMNZS Resolution, a survey ship of the Royal New Zealand Navy in service between 1997 and 2012. Named after the 1771-launched Resolution commanded by James Cook
HMS Resolution
–
Resolution in a gale by
Willem van de Velde, the younger depicts the second Resolution c. 1678
2.
Matavai Bay
–
Matavai Bay is a bay on the north coast of Tahiti, the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia. It is in the commune of Mahina, approximately 8 km east of the capital Papeete, the bay was visited by European voyages of discovery in the second half of 18th century for wood, water and supplies. The first contacts with the native Tahitians were difficult, since on the 24, in retaliation, the English sailors opened fire on the canoes and on the crowds on the hills. In reaction to this powerful counter-attack, the inhabitants of the bay laid down offerings for the English, following this episode, Samuel Wallis was able to establish cordial relations with the female chieftain Oberea and remained on the island until 27 July 1767. Wallis named the bay Port Royal Harbour, on 2 April 1768 Louis-Antoine de Bougainville, completing the first French circumnavigation in La Boudeuse and Étoile, landed in Matavai Bay. He stayed about ten days on the island, which he called “Nouvelle-Cythère“, or New Cythera, because of the welcome he had received. A primary objective of James Cooks first voyage, in Endeavour, was to observe the 1769 Transit of Venus from the South Pacific, Tahiti was chosen for the observations based on Walliss recent discoveries. Endeavours third lieutenant was John Gore, who had served as mate on Dolphin. Cook anchored in the bay on 13 April 1769, a sandy spit on the northeast end of Matavai Bay - named Point Venus by Cook - was chosen for the observatory. The location of the observatory would be known as Fort Venus, Cook departed on 13 July 1769. Cook also visited Matavai Bay on 26 August-1 September 1773 and 22 April-14 May 1774 during his second voyage, Lady Penrhyn was a convict transport in the First Fleet. She departed Sydney Cove on 5 May 1788 and sailed north with the intention of purchasing furs in Kamchatka for resale in China. The poor condition of the ship and sickness among her crew compelled Lady Penrhyn to stop in Matavai Bay in July 1788, where the crew recovered, John Watts, who was acting as supercargo, had visited previously as a midshipman in Resolution on James Cooks third voyage. Bligh had served as sailing master of Resolution during Cooks third voyage, Bounty reached Tahiti on 26 October 1788, after ten months at sea. Bligh and his crew spent five months in Tahiti and they established a nursery at Point Venus, collecting and preparing 1015 breadfruit plants to be transported. Bligh allowed the crew to live ashore and care for the breadfruit plants. Bounty departed with her cargo on 4 April 1789. Part of the crew mutinied on 28 April 1789, Pandora, under Captain Edward Edwards, was sent from England to search for the Bounty and the mutineers
Matavai Bay
–
Resolution and
Adventure in Matavai Bay by
William Hodges
3.
William Hodges
–
William Hodges RA was an English painter. Hodges was born on 28 October 1744 in London and he studied under William Shipley, and afterwards in the studio of Richard Wilson, where he met Thomas Jones. During his early career, he made a living by painting theatrical scenery, between 1772 and 1775 Hodges accompanied James Cook to the Pacific as the expeditions artist. Many of his sketches and wash paintings were adapted as engravings in the published edition of Cooks journals from the voyage. These paintings depicted a stronger light and shadow than had been usual in European landscape tradition, contemporary art critics complained that his use of light and colour contrasts gave his paintings a rough and unfinished appearance. Hodges also produced many valuable portrait sketches of Pacific islanders and scenes from the voyage involving members of the expedition, in 1778, under the patronage of Warren Hastings, Hodges travelled to India, one of the first British professional landscape painters to visit that country. He remained there for six years, staying in Lucknow with Claude Martin in 1783 and his painting of Futtypoor Sicri is in Sir John Soanes Museum. Later Hodges travelled across Europe, including a visit to St. Petersburg in Russia in 1790, in 1793 Hodges published an illustrated book about his travels in India. In late 1794 Hodges opened an exhibition of his own works in London that included two paintings called The Effects of Peace and The Effects of War. The Duke took offence at the nature of Hodges paintings and ordered the exhibition closed. Hodges retired to Devon and became involved with a bank, which failed during the crisis of March,1797. On 6 March of that year, he died from what was recorded as gout in the stomach. Hodges Knoll in Antarctica is named after William Hodges, European Vision and the South Pacific. Smith, William Hodges and English Plein-Air Painting, in Art History,6,2 I. C, stuebe, The Life and Works of William Hodges Beaglehole, J. C. The Life of Captain James Cook
William Hodges
–
Hodges' painting of
HMS Resolution and
HMS Adventure in
Matavai Bay,
Tahiti
William Hodges
–
A View of Cape Stephens in
Cook's Straits New Zealand with Waterspout, 1776
4.
Tahiti
–
Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, this overseas collectivity of the French Republic is sometimes referred to as a French overseas country. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous with surrounding coral reefs, the population is 183,645 inhabitants, making it the most populous island of French Polynesia and accounting for 68.5 percent of its total population. Tahiti is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia, the capital, Papeete, is located on the northwest coast with the only international airport in the region, Faaā International Airport, situated 5 km from the town centre. Tahiti was originally settled by Polynesians between 300 and 800 CE and they represent about 70 percent of the islands population with the rest made up of Europeans, Chinese and those of mixed heritage. The island was part of the Kingdom of Tahiti until its annexation by France in 1880, when it was proclaimed a colony of France, French is the only official language although the Tahitian language is widely spoken. Tahiti is the highest and largest island in French Polynesia lying close to Moorea island and it is located 4,400 kilometres south of Hawaii,7,900 km from Chile and 5,700 km from Australia. The island is 45 km across at its widest point and covers an area of 1,045 km2, the highest peak is Mont Orohena. Mount Roonui, or Mount Ronui in the southeast rises to 1,332 m, the island consists of two roughly round portions centred on volcanic mountains and connected by a short isthmus named after the small town of Taravao, situated there. The northwestern portion is known as Tahiti Nui, while the much smaller portion is known as Tahiti Iti or Taiarapū. Tahiti Nui is heavily populated along the coast, especially around the capital, the interior of Tahiti Nui is almost entirely uninhabited. Tahiti Iti has remained isolated, as its half is accessible only to those travelling by boat or on foot. The rest of the island is encircled by a road which cuts between the mountains and the sea. A scenic and winding road climbs past dairy farms and citrus groves with panoramic views. Tahitis landscape features lush rainforests and many rivers and waterfalls, including the Papenoo River on the side. November to April is the wet season, the wettest month of which is January with 13.2 in of rain in Papeetē, August is the driest with 1.9 inches. The average temperature ranges between 21 and 31 °C with little seasonal variation, the lowest and highest temperatures recorded in Papeete are 16 and 34 °C, respectively. The first Tahitians arrived from Southeast Asia in about 200 BCE and this hypothesis of an emigration from Southeast Asia is supported by a number of linguistic, biological and archaeological proofs. For example, the languages of Fiji and Polynesia all belong to the same Oceanic sub-group, Fijian-Polynesian, in 1769, for instance, James Cook mentions a great traditional ship in Tahiti that was 33 m long, and could be propelled by sail or paddles
Tahiti
–
Tahiti is famous for
black sand beaches.
Tahiti
–
Tahiti from space
Tahiti
–
Brooklyn Museum – Diadem Mountain at Sunset, Tahiti – John La Farge – overall
Tahiti
–
View of Ra'iātea Mountain. The
mummies of Tahitian rulers were formerly deposited on this mountain, traditionally considered sacred (
tapu).
5.
Kingdom of Great Britain
–
The Kingdom of Great Britain, officially Great Britain, was a sovereign state in western Europe from 1 May 1707 to 31 December 1800. It did not include Ireland, which remained a separate realm, the unitary state was governed by a single parliament and government that was based in Westminster. Also after the accession of George I to the throne of Great Britain in 1714, the early years of the unified kingdom were marked by Jacobite risings which ended in defeat for the Stuart cause at Culloden in 1746. On 1 January 1801, the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland were merged to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922, five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the United Kingdom, the name Britain descends from the Latin name for the island of Great Britain, Britannia or Brittānia, the land of the Britons via the Old French Bretaigne and Middle English Bretayne, Breteyne. The term Great Britain was first used officially in 1474, in the instrument drawing up the proposal for a marriage between Edward IV of Englands daughter Cecily and James III of Scotlands son James. The Treaty of Union and the subsequent Acts of Union state that England and Scotland were to be United into one Kingdom by the Name of Great Britain. However, both the Acts and the Treaty also refer numerous times to the United Kingdom and the longer form, other publications refer to the country as the United Kingdom after 1707 as well. The websites of the UK parliament, the Scottish Parliament, the BBC, additionally, the term United Kingdom was found in informal use during the 18th century to describe the state. The new state created in 1707 included the island of Great Britain, the kingdoms of England and Scotland, both in existence from the 9th century, were separate states until 1707. However, they had come into a union in 1603. Each of the three kingdoms maintained its own parliament and laws and this disposition changed dramatically when the Acts of Union 1707 came into force, with a single unified Crown of Great Britain and a single unified parliament. Ireland remained formally separate, with its own parliament, until the Acts of Union 1800, legislative power was vested in the Parliament of Great Britain, which replaced both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. In practice it was a continuation of the English parliament, sitting at the location in Westminster. Newly created peers in the Peerage of Great Britain were given the right to sit in the Lords. Despite the end of a parliament for Scotland, it retained its own laws. As a result of Poynings Law of 1495, the Parliament of Ireland was subordinate to the Parliament of England, the Act was repealed by the Repeal of Act for Securing Dependence of Ireland Act 1782. The same year, the Irish constitution of 1782 produced a period of legislative freedom, the 18th century saw England, and after 1707 Great Britain, rise to become the worlds dominant colonial power, with France its main rival on the imperial stage
Kingdom of Great Britain
–
Lord Clive meeting
Mir Jafar after the
Battle of Plassey, by
Francis Hayman (c. 1762)
Kingdom of Great Britain
–
Flag
Kingdom of Great Britain
–
Pitt addressing the
Commons in 1793
6.
Whitby
–
Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Borough of Scarborough and English county of North Yorkshire. It is located within the boundaries of the North Riding of Yorkshire. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby has a maritime, mineral. Its East Cliff is home to the ruins of Whitby Abbey, where Cædmon, the fishing port developed during the Middle Ages, supporting important herring and whaling fleets, and was where Captain Cook learned seamanship. Tourism started in Whitby during the Georgian period and developed further on the arrival of the railway in 1839, Jet and alum were mined locally. Whitby Jet, which was mined by the Romans and Victorians, the earliest record of a permanent settlement is in 656, when as Streanœhealh it was the place where Oswy, the Christian king of Northumbria, founded the first abbey, under the abbess Hilda. The Synod of Whitby was held there in 664, in 867, the monastery was destroyed by Viking raiders. Another monastery was founded in 1078 and it was in this period that the town gained its current name, Whitby. The abbey ruin at the top of the East Cliff is the towns oldest and most prominent landmark, other significant features include the swing bridge, which crosses the River Esk and the harbour, which is sheltered by the grade II listed East and West piers. The towns maritime heritage is commemorated by statues of Captain Cook and William Scoresby, the town also has a strong literary tradition and has featured in literary works, television and cinema, most famously in Bram Stokers novel Dracula. As a result, tourism and some forms of fishing remain the mainstay of its economy and it is the closest port to a proposed wind farm development in the North Sea,47 miles from York and 22 miles from Middlesbrough. According to the 2011 UK census, the town had a population of 13,213, Whitby was called Streanæshalc, Streneshalc, Streoneshalch, Streoneshalh, and Streunes-Alae in Lindissi in records of the 7th and 8th centuries. Prestebi, meaning the habitation of priests in Old Norse, is an 11th century name and its name was recorded as Hwitebi and Witebi, meaning the white settlement in Old Norse, in the 12th century, Whitebi in the 13th century and Qwiteby in the 14th century. A monastery was founded at Streanœhealh in AD657 by King Oswiu or Oswy of Northumbria, as an act of thanksgiving, after defeating Penda, at its foundation, the abbey was an Anglo-Saxon double monastery for men and women. Its first abbess, the royal princess Hild, was venerated as a saint. The abbey became a centre of learning and here Cædmon the cowherd was miraculously transformed into a poet whose poetry is an example of Anglo-Saxon literature. The abbey became the royal nunnery of the kingdom of Deira. The Synod of Whitby, in 664, established the Roman date of Easter in Northumbria at the expense of the Celtic one, the monastery was destroyed between 867 and 870 in a series of raids by Vikings from Denmark under their leaders Ingwar and Ubba
Whitby
–
Whitby and
River Esk
Whitby
–
The picturesque ruins of
Whitby Abbey are reflected in the abbey pond
Whitby
–
Captain Cook's statue in front of the Royal Hotel, built by
George Hudson.
Whitby
–
Whitby jet mourning jewellery became popular in late Victorian England.
7.
Collier (ship)
–
A collier is a bulk cargo ship designed to carry coal, especially for naval use by coal-fired warships. Coaling at sea was critical to navies and speed of transfer was an important metric of naval efficiency. In 1883, forty tons an hour was considered fast and it would take twelve hours to restock half the bunkers of a typical ship. Sir Charles Palmer pioneered the construction of iron-hulled steam colliers at his Jarrow shipyard, the iron colliers had ballast tanks which meant water could simply be pumped in, greatly reducing the turnaround time as the sand no longer needed to be loaded and unloaded. Coal was also exported to Europe, and wooden colliers returned with such as roofing tiles in their holds. The first Palmer-built iron hulled steam collier was SS John Bowes of 1852, there had been an earlier iron hull screw propelled collier, the short-lived SS Bedlington of 1841 built in South Shields. A notable incident involving a collier occurred not long after the opening of the Victoria Tunnel in Newcastle, the hemp rope which controlled the speed of wagons descending the tunnel to the river from Spital Tongues Colliery snapped, and the wagons landed in the Tyne. The wagons were recovered at low tide, the rope was repaired, six months later, the rope snapped again, and the wagons landed in the hold of a waiting collier and sank it. After this, it was decided a wire rope would be a better option and this is probably the only recorded incident of a train having sunk a ship. Some had spouts used for unscreened or small coal, others known as drops had steep inclines at the end, down which a wagon would be lowered directly into the hold, some had both drops and spouts. The drops and spouts could be raised and lowered with the tide, later, elevators began to be introduced, such as those at Bates Staithes in Blyth, Northumberland and Harton Low Staithes in South Shields. The largely intact Dunston Staithes on the Tyne are an example of this type. In Scotland, a system was common where wagons would be placed on a cradle and lifted into the hold of the ship, the men who worked at the staithes were known as teemers and trimmers. The trimmers worked in the hold, spreading and levelling the coal with shovels and this was a dangerous job, as the holds could fill with firedamp given off by the coal, resulting in an explosion. More modern systems are designed to be able to distribute the coal without the need for men working in the holds of the ships. The wharf at Battersea Power Station is still extant, and the used for unloading the coal can be seen on the riverfront. These are fitted with buckets and in operation loaded a hopper. The modern equivalent can be seen at the Tyne Coal Terminal, USS Langley, the first aircraft carrier in the United States Navy, was a converted collier
Collier (ship)
–
The collier
USS Merrimac (1894)
8.
Sloop-of-war
–
In the 18th century and most of the 19th, a sloop-of-war in the Royal Navy was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. The rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above, thus, in the first half of the 18th century, most naval sloops were two-masted vessels, usually carrying a ketch or a snow rig. A ketch had main and mizzen masts but no foremast, while a snow had a foremast, the first three-masted sloops appeared during the 1740s, and from the mid-1750s most new sloops were built with a three-masted rig. The third sail afforded the sloop greater mobility and the ability to back sail, in the 1770s, the two-masted sloop re-appeared in a new guise as the brig sloop, the successor to the former snow sloops. Brig sloops had two masts, while ship sloops continued to have three, in the Napoleonic period, Britain built huge numbers of brig sloops of the Cruizer class and the Cherokee class. The brig rig was economical of manpower and, when armed with carronades, the carronades also used much less manpower than the long guns normally used to arm frigates. Consequently, the Cruizer class were used as cheaper and more economical substitutes for frigates. A carronade-armed brig, however, would be at the mercy of an armed with long guns. The other limitation of brig sloops as opposed to post ships and frigates was their relatively restricted stowage for water and provisions, however, their shallower draught made them excellent raiders against coastal shipping and shore installations. Bermuda sloops were found with gaff rig, mixtures of gaff and square rig and they were built with up to three masts. The single masted ships, with their sails, and the tremendous wind energy they harnessed, were demanding to sail. The longer decks of the vessels also had the advantage of allowing more guns to be carried. Originally a sloop-of-war was smaller than a frigate and was outside the rating system. A ship sloop was generally the equivalent of the corvette of the French Navy. The name corvette was also applied to British vessels. American usage, while similar to British terminology into the beginning of the 19th century, the Americans also occasionally used the French term corvette. In the Royal Navy, the sloop evolved into a vessel with a single gun deck. During the War of 1812 sloops of war in the service of the United States Navy performed well against their Royal Navy equivalents, the American ships had the advantage of being ship-rigged rather that brig-rigged, a distinction that increased their maneuverability
Sloop-of-war
–
The 1854
USS Constellation, a later United States Navy sloop-of-war named after the original frigate
Sloop-of-war
–
1831 painting of a three-masted Bermuda sloop of the
Royal Navy, entering a
West Indies port.
Sloop-of-war
–
USS Portsmouth in 1896.
Sloop-of-war
–
The
Grimsby class HMS Wellington (U65). Launched in 1934, the vessel is now berthed on
the Thames
9.
Royal Navy
–
The Royal Navy is the United Kingdoms naval warfare force. Although warships were used by the English kings from the medieval period. The modern Royal Navy traces its origins to the early 16th century, from the middle decades of the 17th century and through the 18th century, the Royal Navy vied with the Dutch Navy and later with the French Navy for maritime supremacy. From the mid 18th century it was the worlds most powerful navy until surpassed by the United States Navy during the Second World War. The Royal Navy played a key part in establishing the British Empire as the world power during the 19th. Due to this historical prominence, it is common, even among non-Britons, following World War I, the Royal Navy was significantly reduced in size, although at the onset of the Second World War it was still the worlds largest. By the end of the war, however, the United States Navy had emerged as the worlds largest, during the Cold War, the Royal Navy transformed into a primarily anti-submarine force, hunting for Soviet submarines, mostly active in the GIUK gap. The Royal Navy is part of Her Majestys Naval Service, which includes the Royal Marines. The professional head of the Naval Service is the First Sea Lord, the Defence Council delegates management of the Naval Service to the Admiralty Board, chaired by the Secretary of State for Defence. The strength of the fleet of the Kingdom of England was an important element in the power in the 10th century. English naval power declined as a result of the Norman conquest. Medieval fleets, in England as elsewhere, were almost entirely composed of merchant ships enlisted into service in time of war. Englands naval organisation was haphazard and the mobilisation of fleets when war broke out was slow, early in the war French plans for an invasion of England failed when Edward III of England destroyed the French fleet in the Battle of Sluys in 1340. Major fighting was confined to French soil and Englands naval capabilities sufficed to transport armies and supplies safely to their continental destinations. Such raids halted finally only with the occupation of northern France by Henry V. Henry VII deserves a large share of credit in the establishment of a standing navy and he embarked on a program of building ships larger than heretofore. He also invested in dockyards, and commissioned the oldest surviving dry dock in 1495 at Portsmouth, a standing Navy Royal, with its own secretariat, dockyards and a permanent core of purpose-built warships, emerged during the reign of Henry VIII. Under Elizabeth I England became involved in a war with Spain, the new regimes introduction of Navigation Acts, providing that all merchant shipping to and from England or her colonies should be carried out by English ships, led to war with the Dutch Republic. In the early stages of this First Anglo-Dutch War, the superiority of the large, heavily armed English ships was offset by superior Dutch tactical organisation and the fighting was inconclusive
Royal Navy
–
Royal Navy
Royal Navy
–
The
Battle of Sluys as depicted in
Froissart's Chronicles; late 14th century
Royal Navy
–
A late 16th century painting of the
Spanish Armada in battle with English warships
Royal Navy
–
The Dutch
Raid on the Medway in 1667 during the Second Anglo–Dutch War
10.
James Cook
–
Captain James Cook FRS RN was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the Royal Navy. Cook joined the British merchant navy as a teenager and joined the Royal Navy in 1755 and he saw action in the Seven Years War, and subsequently surveyed and mapped much of the entrance to the Saint Lawrence River during the siege of Quebec. This helped bring Cook to the attention of the Admiralty and Royal Society, in three voyages Cook sailed thousands of miles across largely uncharted areas of the globe. He mapped lands from New Zealand to Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean in greater detail, as he progressed on his voyages of discovery he surveyed and named features, and recorded islands and coastlines on European maps for the first time. He displayed a combination of seamanship, superior surveying and cartographic skills, physical courage, Cook was attacked and killed while attempting to kidnap the native chief of Hawaii during his third exploratory voyage in the Pacific in 1779. He left a legacy of scientific and geographical knowledge which was to influence his successors well into the 20th century, and numerous memorials worldwide have been dedicated to him. James Cook was born on 7 November 1728 in the village of Marton in Yorkshire and baptised on 14 November in the church of St Cuthbert. He was the second of eight children of James Cook, a Scottish farm labourer from Ednam in Roxburghshire, in 1736, his family moved to Airey Holme farm at Great Ayton, where his fathers employer, Thomas Skottowe, paid for him to attend the local school. In 1741, after five years schooling, he work for his father. For leisure, he would climb a hill, Roseberry Topping, enjoying the opportunity for solitude. Cooks Cottage, his parents last home, which he is likely to have visited, is now in Melbourne, having moved from England and reassembled, brick by brick. In 1745, when he was 16, Cook moved 20 miles to the village of Staithes. Historians have speculated that this is where Cook first felt the lure of the sea while gazing out of the shop window. After 18 months, not proving suitable for work, Cook travelled to the nearby port town of Whitby to be introduced to friends of Sandersons, John. The Walkers, who were Quakers, were prominent local ship-owners in the coal trade and their house is now the Captain Cook Memorial Museum. Cook was taken on as a merchant navy apprentice in their fleet of vessels. His first assignment was aboard the collier Freelove, and he spent several years on this and various other coasters, sailing between the Tyne and London. As part of his apprenticeship, Cook applied himself to the study of algebra, geometry, trigonometry, navigation and his three-year apprenticeship completed, Cook began working on trading ships in the Baltic Sea
James Cook
–
James Cook, portrait by
Nathaniel Dance-Holland, c. 1775,
National Maritime Museum,
Greenwich
James Cook
–
Portrait of Mrs. Elizabeth Cook by William Henderson, dated 1830.
James Cook
–
James Cook's 1775 chart of
Newfoundland
James Cook
–
Endeavour replica in
Cooktown, Queensland harbour — anchored where the original Endeavour was beached for seven weeks in 1770.
11.
Second voyage of James Cook
–
Alexander Dalrymple and others of the Royal Society still believed that this massive southern continent should exist. After a delay brought about by the botanist Joseph Banks unreasonable demands, on 17 January 1773, Resolution was the first ship to cross the Antarctic Circle which she crossed twice more on the voyage. The third crossing, on 3 February 1774, was to be the most southerly penetration, Cook undertook a series of vast sweeps across the Pacific, finally proving there was no Terra Australis by sailing over most of its predicted locations. Cook proved the Terra Australis Incognita to be a myth and predicted that an Antarctic land would be found beyond the ice barrier, on this voyage the Larcum Kendall K1 chronometer was successfully employed by William Wales to calculate longitude. This discovery led Dalrymple to publish An Historical Collection of the Several Voyages and Discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean, in 1770–1771 which aroused widespread interest in his claim of the existence of an unknown continent. Cook commanded HMS Resolution on this voyage, while Tobias Furneaux commanded its companion ship and she was 111 feet long and 35 feet abeam. She was originally registered as HMS Drake, but fearing this would upset the Spanish, twelve light 6-pounder guns and twelve swivel guns were carried. At his own expense Cook had brass door-hinges installed in the great cabin, HMS Adventure began her career as the 340 ton North Sea collier Marquis of Rockingham, launched at Whitby in 1771. She was purchased by the Navy that year for £2,103 and named Rayleigh and she was 97 feet long,28 feet abeam and her draft was 13 feet and carried ten guns. Both were built at the Fishburn yard at Whitby and purchased from Captain William Hammond of Hull, Cook was asked to test the Larcum Kendall K1 chronometer on this voyage. The Board of Longitude had asked Kendall to copy and develop John Harrisons fourth model of a clock useful for navigation at sea, the first model finished by Kendall in 1769 was an accurate copy of H4, cost £450, and is known today as K1. Although constructed like a watch, the chronometer had a diameter of 13 cm, three other clocks, constructed by John Arnold were carried but did not withstand the rigors of the journey. As anti-scorbutics they took nearly 20,000 pounds of Sour Krout and 30 imperial gallons of Mermalade of Carrots, both ships carried livestock, including bullocks, sheep, goats, hogs and poultry. The crews had fishing gear and a water system was carried for distilling sea-water or purifying foul fresh-water. Various pieces of hardware and trinkets to be used for barter or as gifts for the natives were taken aboard. Furneaux, commander of Adventure, was an explorer, having served on Samuel Walliss circumnavigation in Dolphin in 1766–1768. He headed a crew of 81 which included Joseph Shank as first lieutenant, there were also twelve marines headed by Lieutenant James Scott, Furneauxs personal servant, James Tobias Swilley, and, as masters mate John Rowe who was a relation of Furneaux. The ships astronomer was William Bayly and this refit cost £10,080 12s 9d
Second voyage of James Cook
–
Map of the supposed position of the hypothetical continent of
Terra Australis Incognita (1657)
Second voyage of James Cook
–
Tobias Furneaux
Second voyage of James Cook
–
Cook in Antarctica drawn by
William Hodges
Second voyage of James Cook
–
Resolution and Adventure in
Matavai Bay, by Hodges
12.
Third voyage of James Cook
–
HMS Resolution, to be commanded by Cook, and HMS Discovery, commanded by Charles Clerke, were prepared for the voyage which started from Plymouth in 1776. The ships travelled to Cape Town by way of Tenerife then on to New Zealand, Omai was returned to his homeland and the ships sailed onwards, discovering the Hawaiian Archipelago, before reaching the Pacific coast of North America. The two charted the west coast of the continent and passed through the Bering Strait when they were stopped by ice from sailing either east or west, the vessels returned to the Pacific and called briefly at the Aleutians before retiring towards Hawaii for the winter. After a time during which Cook, and his crew were feted and he soon suffered damage to his ship and had to turn back. On his return, conflict arose which resulted in Cooks death, Cooks remains were taken away by the Hawaiians but some were returned to be buried at sea by his crew. The command of the expedition was assumed by Charles Clerke who tried in vain to find the passage before his own death, under the command of John Gore the crews returned to a subdued London in October 1780. Principally, the purpose of the voyage was an attempt to discover the famed Northwest Passage between the Atlantic and the Pacific around the top of North America. Cooks orders from the Admiralty were driven by a 1745 Act which, initially the Admiralty had wanted Charles Clerke to lead the expedition, with Cook, who was in retirement following his exploits in the Pacific, acting as a consultant. However, Cook had researched Berings expeditions, and the Admiralty ultimately placed their faith in the veteran explorer to lead with Clerke accompanying him. The arrangement was to make a two pronged attack, Cook moving from the Bering Strait in the north Pacific with Richard Pickersgill in the frigate Lyon taking the Atlantic approach and they planned to rendezvous in the summer of 1778. He arrived in London in October 1774 and was introduced into society by the naturalist Sir Joseph Banks, ostensibly, the third voyage was planned to return Omai to Tahiti, this is what the general public believed. On his last voyage, Cook once again commanded HMS Resolution. Resolution began her career as the 462 ton North Sea collier Marquis of Granby, launched at Whitby in 1770 and she was 111 feet long and 35 feet abeam. She was originally registered as HMS Drake, after she returned to Britain in 1775 she had been paid off but was then recommissioned in February 1776 for Cooks third voyage. The vessel had on board a quantity of livestock sent by George III as gifts for the South Sea Islanders and these included sheep, cattle, goats and pigs as well as the more usual poultry. She was 27 feet abeam with a depth of 11 feet. Originally a brig, Cook had her changed to a full rigged ship, as his first lieutenant, Cook had John Gore, who had been round the world with him in the Endeavour and with Samuel Wallis in HMS Dolphin. James King was his officer and John Williamson third
Third voyage of James Cook
–
Resolution and Discovery
Third voyage of James Cook
–
Map of the
Hawaiian Islands made by one of Cook's officers.
Third voyage of James Cook
–
A hand-coloured lithograph depicting a village visited by Captain James Cook near Waimea, Kauai, on his third voyage. Based on a 1778 etching by John Webber which was published by William Hodges, it is one of the few views of Hawaii made during Cook's third voyage (1776–1779).
Third voyage of James Cook
–
Kealakekua Bay
heiau illustration by William Ellis.
13.
North Sea
–
The North Sea is a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean located between Great Britain, Scandinavia, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the ocean through the English Channel in the south and it is more than 970 kilometres long and 580 kilometres wide, with an area of around 570,000 square kilometres. The North Sea has long been the site of important European shipping lanes as well as a major fishery, the North Sea was the centre of the Vikings rise. Subsequently, the Hanseatic League, the Netherlands, and the British each sought to dominate the North Sea and thus the access to the markets, as Germanys only outlet to the ocean, the North Sea continued to be strategically important through both World Wars. The coast of the North Sea presents a diversity of geological and geographical features, in the north, deep fjords and sheer cliffs mark the Norwegian and Scottish coastlines, whereas in the south it consists primarily of sandy beaches and wide mudflats. Due to the population, heavy industrialization, and intense use of the sea and area surrounding it. In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean, in the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively. In the north it is bordered by the Shetland Islands, and connects with the Norwegian Sea, the North Sea is more than 970 kilometres long and 580 kilometres wide, with an area of 570,000 square kilometres and a volume of 54,000 cubic kilometres. Around the edges of the North Sea are sizeable islands and archipelagos, including Shetland, Orkney, the North Sea receives freshwater from a number of European continental watersheds, as well as the British Isles. A large part of the European drainage basin empties into the North Sea including water from the Baltic Sea, the largest and most important rivers flowing into the North Sea are the Elbe and the Rhine – Meuse watershed. Around 185 million people live in the catchment area of the rivers discharging into the North Sea encompassing some highly industrialized areas, for the most part, the sea lies on the European continental shelf with a mean depth of 90 metres. The only exception is the Norwegian trench, which extends parallel to the Norwegian shoreline from Oslo to a north of Bergen. It is between 20 and 30 kilometres wide and has a depth of 725 metres. The Dogger Bank, a vast moraine, or accumulation of unconsolidated glacial debris and this feature has produced the finest fishing location of the North Sea. The Long Forties and the Broad Fourteens are large areas with uniform depth in fathoms. These great banks and others make the North Sea particularly hazardous to navigate, the Devils Hole lies 200 miles east of Dundee, Scotland. The feature is a series of trenches between 20 and 30 kilometres long,1 and 2 kilometres wide and up to 230 metres deep. Other areas which are less deep are Cleaver Bank, Fisher Bank, the International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the North Sea as follows, On the Southwest
North Sea
–
North Sea
North Sea
–
The German North Sea coast
North Sea
–
The
Afsluitdijk (Closure-dike) is a major dam in the Netherlands
North Sea
–
Zuid-Beveland,
North Sea flood of 1953
14.
Collier (ship type)
–
A collier is a bulk cargo ship designed to carry coal, especially for naval use by coal-fired warships. Coaling at sea was critical to navies and speed of transfer was an important metric of naval efficiency. In 1883, forty tons an hour was considered fast and it would take twelve hours to restock half the bunkers of a typical ship. Sir Charles Palmer pioneered the construction of iron-hulled steam colliers at his Jarrow shipyard, the iron colliers had ballast tanks which meant water could simply be pumped in, greatly reducing the turnaround time as the sand no longer needed to be loaded and unloaded. Coal was also exported to Europe, and wooden colliers returned with such as roofing tiles in their holds. The first Palmer-built iron hulled steam collier was SS John Bowes of 1852, there had been an earlier iron hull screw propelled collier, the short-lived SS Bedlington of 1841 built in South Shields. A notable incident involving a collier occurred not long after the opening of the Victoria Tunnel in Newcastle, the hemp rope which controlled the speed of wagons descending the tunnel to the river from Spital Tongues Colliery snapped, and the wagons landed in the Tyne. The wagons were recovered at low tide, the rope was repaired, six months later, the rope snapped again, and the wagons landed in the hold of a waiting collier and sank it. After this, it was decided a wire rope would be a better option and this is probably the only recorded incident of a train having sunk a ship. Some had spouts used for unscreened or small coal, others known as drops had steep inclines at the end, down which a wagon would be lowered directly into the hold, some had both drops and spouts. The drops and spouts could be raised and lowered with the tide, later, elevators began to be introduced, such as those at Bates Staithes in Blyth, Northumberland and Harton Low Staithes in South Shields. The largely intact Dunston Staithes on the Tyne are an example of this type. In Scotland, a system was common where wagons would be placed on a cradle and lifted into the hold of the ship, the men who worked at the staithes were known as teemers and trimmers. The trimmers worked in the hold, spreading and levelling the coal with shovels and this was a dangerous job, as the holds could fill with firedamp given off by the coal, resulting in an explosion. More modern systems are designed to be able to distribute the coal without the need for men working in the holds of the ships. The wharf at Battersea Power Station is still extant, and the used for unloading the coal can be seen on the riverfront. These are fitted with buckets and in operation loaded a hopper. The modern equivalent can be seen at the Tyne Coal Terminal, USS Langley, the first aircraft carrier in the United States Navy, was a converted collier
Collier (ship type)
–
The collier
USS Merrimac (1894)
15.
Deptford
–
Deptford is an area of South-East London, England, located in the London Borough of Lewisham. From the mid-16th to the late 19th century, Deptford was home to Deptford Dockyard, the area declined as the Royal Navy moved out and commercial docks shut, the last dock, Convoys Wharf, closed in 2000. Historically a part of Kent, Deptford became a Metropolitan Borough in 1900 and this became part of Inner London in 1965, within the newly created county of Greater London. Deptford began life as a ford of the Ravensbourne along the route of the Celtic trackway which was paved by the Romans. The modern name is a corruption of deep ford, Deptford was part of the pilgrimage route from London to Canterbury used by the pilgrims in Chaucers Canterbury Tales, and is mentioned in the Prologue to the Reeves Tale. Trinity House, the organisation concerned with the safety of navigation around the British Isles, was formed in Deptford in 1514, with its first Master being Thomas Spert and it moved to Stepney in 1618. The name Trinity House derives from the church of Holy Trinity and St Clement, originally separated by market gardens and fields, the two areas merged over the years, with the docks becoming an important part of the Elizabethan exploration. Queen Elizabeth I visited the royal dockyard on 4 April 1581 to knight the adventurer Francis Drake, diarist John Evelyn lived in Deptford at Sayes Court from 1652. Evelyn inherited the house when he married the daughter of Sir Richard Browne in 1652, on his return to England at the Restoration, Evelyn laid out meticulously planned gardens in the French style, of hedges and parterres. In its grounds was a cottage at one time rented by master woodcarver Grinling Gibbons, after Evelyn had moved to Surrey in 1694, Russian Tsar Peter the Great studied shipbuilding for three months in 1698. He and some of his fellow Russians stayed at Sayes Court, Evelyn was angered at the antics of the Tsar, who got drunk with his friends and, using a wheelbarrow with Peter in it, rammed their way through a fine holly hedge. Sayes Court was demolished in 1728-9 and a built on its site. This massive facility included warehouses, a bakery, a cattleyard/abattoir and sugar stores, all that remains is the name of Sayes Court Park, accessed from Sayes Court Street off Evelyn Street, not far from Deptford High Street. The Pepys Estate, opened on 13 July 1966, is on the grounds of the Victualing Yard. At its peak, around 1907, over 234,000 animals were imported annually through the market, the yard was taken over by the War Office in 1914, and was an Army Supply Reserve Depot in the First and Second World Wars. The site lay unused until being purchased by Convoys in 1984, in the mid-1990s, although significant investment was made on the site, it became uneconomic to continue using it as a freight wharf. In 2008 Hutchison Whampoa bought the 16ha site from News International with plans for a £700m 3, the Grade II listed Olympia Warehouse will be refurbished as part of the redevelopment of the site. High unemployment caused some of the population to move away as the industries closed down in the late 1960s
Deptford
–
An anchor in Deptford High Street links Deptford to
its dockyard history
Deptford
–
A 1623 map of Deptford Strond with annotations by
John Evelyn showing Sayes Court in the bottom left corner and Deptford Green as "The Common Greene" just above centre-left (click for larger version)
Deptford
–
A cobbled street in a Deptford slum, around 1900
Deptford
–
Former Deptford Town Hall, now part of Goldsmiths College
16.
Azimuth compass
–
Azimuth compasses were important in the period before development of the reliable chronometers needed to determine a vessels exact position from astronomical observations. The magnetic azimuth is the arc between the point on the horizon below the body and the direction of magnetic north. When the latitude and date are known, the bearing of the sun at sunrise or sunset relative to true north can be readily determined, if the sun is observed at some time between sunrise and sunset, its altitude must also be recorded to calculate the true azimuth. The true azimuth may be compared to the azimuth to find the magnetic declination. An azimuth compass is a magnetic compass where the circumference of the card is divided into 360 degrees and it has two sights, diametrically opposite each other, through which the sun, planet or star is viewed. The sun is observed when the suns center is about one solar diameter above the horizon. Typically the compass will have a stop in the side of the box and this fixes the compass card, from which the magnetic azimuth or amplitude can be read. The sights may consist of two vanes, one with a slit and the other with a wider slit bisected by a thread. The observer looks towards the sun, seen through a glass, lining up the thread. Another arrangement has a bar on one vane and a slit bisected by a thread on the other. The instrument is aligned with the sun when the shadow of the falls on the vertical bar. Yet another design has a glass on one vane that focuses the rays of the sun on the opposite vane. Meridional azimuth compasses included a universal equatorial sundial, by setting the date and latitude, the true north and the magnetic variation could be read from the instrument without the need for calculation. With the iron vessels introduced in the 19th century the azimuth compass would be mounted on a pedestal at a point where the readings would not be affected by magnetism of the vessel. However, calculating longitude was impossible until chronometers that could keep time accurately throughout a long voyage were developed, in 1688 King Philip III of Spain offered a large reward to anyone who could find a practical solution to determining longitude. A novel approach, apparently originating with the Jesuit missionary Christoforo Borri, was to create charts that mapped points of equal magnetic declination, with an accurate reading of the latitude and the magnetic declination the navigator could determine their longitude using the chart. A drawback to this approach is that magnetic variations change over time, in 1795 a British First Rate ship would have up to eight compasses, of which one was an improved steering compass. This azimuth compass may have been specialized for the purpose of measuring magnetic variation through taking readings from stars, an azimuthal compass was described in 1736, but the inventor was not named
Azimuth compass
–
18th century azimuthal compass held in the
National Archaeological Museum of Spain
Azimuth compass
–
A map showing lines of equal magnetic declination in January 2010
17.
Evaporator (marine)
–
An evaporator, distiller or distilling apparatus is a piece of ships equipment used to produce fresh drinking water from sea water by distillation. As fresh water is bulky, may spoil in storage, and is a supply for any long voyage. Although distillers are often associated with ships, their use pre-dates this. Cooks Pacific exploration ship HMS Resolution of 1771 carried a distiller, Distilling apparatus was only fitted to larger warships and some exploratory ships at this time, a warships large crew needed more water and they could ill afford the space to carry enough. Cargo ships, and their crews, merely carried their supplies with them. With the development of the steam engine, their boilers also required a continual supply of feedwater. Early boilers used seawater directly, but this gave problems with the build-up of brine, for efficiency, as well as conserving feedwater, marine engines have usually been condensing engines. Despite this, a warship could still require up to 100 tons of fresh water makeup to the feedwater system. Attention was also paid to de-aereating feedwater, to further reduce boiler corrosion, the distillation system for boiler feedwater at this time was usually termed an evaporator, partly to distinguish it from a separate system or distiller used for drinking water. In time, the two functions became combined and the two terms were applied to the components of the system. The first water supply by distillation of boiler steam appeared on early paddle steamers and used an iron box in the paddle boxes. A steam supply direct from the boiler, avoiding the engine, with the development of steam heating jackets around the cylinders of engines such as the trunk engine, the exhaust from this source, again unlubricated, could be condensed. The first distilling plants that boiled a separate water supply from that of the main boiler and these were not directly heated by a flame, but had a primary steam circuit using main boiler steam through coils within a steam drum or evaporator. The distillate from this vessel then passed to an adjacent vessel, as these evaporators used a clean seawater supply directly, rather than contaminated water from the boiler circuit, they could be used to supply both feedwater and drinking water. These double distillers appeared around 1884, for security against failure, ships except the smallest were fitted with two sets. Evaporators consume a great deal of steam, and thus fuel and their efficiency is improved by working them at a partial vacuum, supplied by the main engine condensers. On modern diesel-powered ships, this vacuum can instead be produced by an ejector, working under vacuum also reduces the temperature required to boil seawater and thus permits evaporators to be used with lower-temperature waste heat from the diesel cooling system. One of the greatest operational problems with an evaporator is the build-up of scale and its design is tailored to reduce this, and to make its cleaning as effective as possible
Evaporator (marine)
–
This steam evaporator aboard
HMS Belfast distilled up to six tons of fresh water per hour for the boiler and for drinking.
Evaporator (marine)
–
One of two vapour-compression distillers in the engine room of WW2 submarine
USS Pampanito (SS-383)
18.
Swivel gun
–
The term swivel gun usually refers to a small cannon, mounted on a swiveling stand or fork which allows a very wide arc of movement. Swivel guns should not be confused with pivot guns, which were far larger weapons mounted on a pivot, or screw guns. An older term for the type is peterero, the name was taken from the Spanish name for the gun, pedrero, a combination of the word piedra and the suffic -ero, because stone was the first type of ammunition fired. Swivel guns are among the smallest types of cannon, typically measuring less than 1 m in length and with a diameter of up to 3.5 cm. They can fire a variety of ammunition but were used to fire grapeshot. They were aimed through the use of a handle, somewhat similar in shape to a baseball bat. Most swivel guns were muzzleloaders, but there were some breech-loading swivel guns as early as the 16th century, making them among the first such examples of this type of weapon. Breech-loading swivel guns had a breech shaped like a beer mug, the gunpowder and projectiles were loaded into the breech before it was inserted into the gun. If a number of breeches were prepared beforehand, the gunner could maintain a rate of fire for a brief period simply by swapping out the used breech. Swivel guns were used aboard sailing ships, serving as short-range anti-personnel ordnance. They were not ship-sinking weapons, due to their caliber and short range. They were especially useful against deck-to-deck boarders, against approaching longboats bearing boarding parties, due to their relatively small size, swivel guns were highly portable and could be moved around the deck of a ship quite easily. Swivel guns also had peaceful uses, Swivel guns were extensively used by the kingdoms and empires of Asia, particularly China and Korea. The first Chinese swivel guns were cast as early as 1520 after being introduced from Europe, during the Japanese invasions of Korea, Korean naval forces used swivel guns and larger cannon to great effect in interdicting the invading Japanese forces. Swivel Guns and Swivel Gun Harpoons Lewis and Clarks swivel cannon Swivel Guns or Paterero
Swivel gun
–
A swivel gun at
Carisbrooke Castle,
Isle of Wight
Swivel gun
–
A swivel gun mounted on the American topsail schooner
Lynx.
19.
Natural history
–
Natural history is the research and study of organisms including animals, fungi and plants in their environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. It encompasses scientific research but is not limited to it, with articles nowadays more often published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the sciences, natural history is the systematic study of any category of natural objects or organisms. That is a broad designation in a world filled with many narrowly focused disciplines. For example, geobiology has a strong multi-disciplinary nature combining scientists, a person who studies natural history is known as a naturalist or natural historian. The English term natural history is a translation of the Latin historia naturalis and its meaning has narrowed progressively with time, while the meaning of the related term nature has widened. In antiquity, it covered essentially anything connected with nature or which used materials drawn from nature. For example, Pliny the Elders encyclopedia of this title, published circa 77 to 79 AD, covers astronomy, geography, man and his technology, medicine and superstition as well as animals and plants. Medieval European academics considered knowledge to have two divisions, the humanities and divinity, with science studied largely through texts rather than observation or experiment. In modern terms, natural philosophy roughly corresponded to modern physics and chemistry, natural history had been encouraged by practical motives, such as Linnaeus aspiration to improve the economic condition of Sweden. Similarly, the Industrial Revolution prompted the development of geology to help find useful mineral deposits, the astronomer, William Herschel was also a natural historian. Instead of working with plants or minerals he worked with the stars and he spent his time building telescopes to see the stars and the rest of the time watching the stars. In the beginning, he believed there to be a known as a nebulae. Herschel can be considered a natural historian because he observed the natural world, in the process he made charts of all the stars and kept records of all that he saw. S. Wilcove and T. Eisner, The close observation of organisms—their origins, their evolution, their behavior and it encompasses changes in internal states insofar as they pertain to what organisms do. Some definitions go further, focusing on observation of organisms in their environment. Bartholomew, A student of history, or a naturalist, studies the world by observing plants. A common thread in many definitions of natural history is the inclusion of a component, as seen in a recent definition by H. W. Greene
Natural history
–
Tables of natural history, from
Ephraim Chambers 's 1728
Cyclopaedia.
Natural history
–
A natural history collection in a French public secondary school
Natural history
–
Blackberry from the 6th century
Vienna Dioscurides manuscript
Natural history
–
Georges Buffon is best remembered for his Histoire naturelle, a 44 volume encyclopedia describing everything known about the natural world.
20.
Joseph Banks
–
Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, GCB, PRS was a British naturalist, botanist and patron of the natural sciences. Banks made his name on the 1766 natural history expedition to Newfoundland and he took part in Captain James Cooks first great voyage, visiting Brazil, Tahiti, and, after 6 months in New Zealand, Australia, returning to immediate fame. He held the position of President of the Royal Society for over 41 years and he advised King George III on the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and by sending botanists around the world to collect plants, he made Kew the worlds leading botanical gardens. He is credited with introducing the eucalyptus, acacia, and the named after him, Banksia. Approximately 80 species of plants bear his name and he was the leading founder of the African Association and a member of the Society of Dilettanti which helped to establish the Royal Academy. Banks was born on Argyle Street in London to William Banks, a wealthy Lincolnshire country squire and member of the House of Commons and he had a younger sister, Sarah Sophia Banks, born in 1744. Banks was educated at Harrow School from the age of 9 and at Eton College from 1756, as a boy, Banks enjoyed exploring the Lincolnshire countryside and developed a keen interest in nature, history and botany. When he was 17, he was inoculated with smallpox, but he became ill, in late 1760, he was enrolled as a gentleman-commoner at the University of Oxford. At Oxford, he matriculated at Christ Church, where his studies were focused on natural history rather than the classical curriculum. Determined to receive instruction, he paid the Cambridge botanist Israel Lyons to deliver a series of lectures at Oxford in 1764. Banks left Oxford for Chelsea in December 1763 and he continued to attend the university until 1764, but left that year without taking a degree. He began to make friends among the men of his day and to correspond with Carl Linnaeus. As Bankss influence increased, he became an adviser to King George III and urged the monarch to support voyages of discovery to new lands and he became a Freemason sometime before 1769. He made his name by publishing the first Linnean descriptions of the plants and animals of Newfoundland and his diary, describing his expedition to Newfoundland, was rediscovered recently in the Royal Geographical Society of South Australia. Banks also documented 34 species of birds, including the great auk, on 7 May, he noted a large number of penguins swimming around the ship on the Grand Banks, and a specimen he collected in Chateau Bay, Labrador, was later identified as the great auk. Banks was appointed to a joint Royal Navy/Royal Society scientific expedition to the south Pacific Ocean on HMS Endeavour and this was the first of James Cooks voyages of discovery in that region. Banks funded seven others to him, the Swedish naturalist Daniel Solander. The voyage went to Brazil, where Banks made the first scientific description of a now common garden plant, bougainvillea, and to other parts of South America
Joseph Banks
–
Sir Joseph Banks, as painted by
Sir Joshua Reynolds in 1773
Joseph Banks
Joseph Banks
–
Signature
Joseph Banks
–
A 1757 portrait of Banks with a botanical illustration. Unknown artist, but attributed to
Lemuel Francis Abbott or
Johann Zoffany
21.
Johann Reinhold Forster
–
Johann Reinhold Forster was a Reformed pastor and naturalist of partially Scottish descent who made contributions to the early ornithology of Europe and North America. He is best known as the naturalist on James Cooks second Pacific voyage and they also laid the framework for general concern about the impact that alteration of the physical environment for European economic expansion would have on exotic societies. Forster himself was born in the city of Tczew in Poland and he studied languages and natural history at the Joachimsthal Gymnasium in Berlin, theology at the University of Halle, afterwards serving as a Protestant pastor in Mokry Dwór Pomeranian Voivodship. He married his cousin Elisabeth Nikolai and they had several children including a son, Georg Forster. In 1765 he accepted an offer made to him by the Russian government to inspect and report upon the new colonies founded on the banks of the Volga and he spent three years teaching at the Dissenting Warrington Academy, succeeding Joseph Priestley. Compelled by his violent temper to resign this appointment, Forster then moved with his son to London, in 1771, he published A Catalogue of the Animals of North America, which listed the regions mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, insects, arachnids, and crustaceans. When Joseph Banks withdrew at the last moment as naturalist on Cooks second voyage, Forster, in July 1772 they set sail on the Resolution, returning to England in July 1775. During a stop in Cape Town, Forster engaged Anders Sparrman to act as his assistant, both the Forsters kept detailed diaries of everything they saw on the voyage, and made extensive collections of both natural history specimens and artifacts. On his return Forster published Observations Made during a Voyage round the World, however the income from the book was insufficient to clear his debts, and the bulk of Georgs drawings from the voyage had to be sold to Joseph Banks. During the next few years Forster undertook a variety of writing work and his Descriptiones animalium, completed within a month of returning to England with Cook, was eventually edited by Hinrich Lichtenstein and published in 1844. Forsters Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society on zoology, ornithology, and ichthyology established him as one of the earliest authorities on North American zoology. Gaedike, R. Groll, E. K. & Taeger, A.2012, Bibliography of the literature from the beginning until 1863
Johann Reinhold Forster
–
Johann Reinhold Forster
Johann Reinhold Forster
–
Johann Reinhold Forster and
Georg Forster in
Tahiti, by
John Francis Rigaud (1742–1810), 1780.
22.
Georg Forster
–
Johann Georg Adam Forster was a naturalist, ethnologist, travel writer, journalist, and revolutionary. At an early age, he accompanied his father, Johann Reinhold Forster, on scientific expeditions. His report of that journey, A Voyage Round the World, contributed significantly to the ethnology of the people of Polynesia and remains a respected work. As a result of the report, Forster was admitted to the Royal Society at the age of twenty-two. After returning to continental Europe, Forster turned toward academia and he traveled to Paris to seek out a discussion with the American revolutionary Benjamin Franklin in 1777. He taught natural history at the Collegium Carolinum in the Ottoneum, Kassel, in 1788, he became head librarian at the University of Mainz. Forster was a figure of the Enlightenment in Germany, and corresponded with most of its adherents. His ideas and personality influenced Alexander von Humboldt, one of the scientists of the 19th century. During July 1793 and while he was in Paris as a delegate of the young Mainz Republic, Prussian and Austrian coalition forces regained control of the city, unable to return to Germany and separated from his friends and family, he died in Paris of illness in early 1794. Georg Forster was born in the village of Nassenhuben near Danzig, in the province of Royal Prussia. He was the oldest of seven surviving children of Johann Reinhold Forster and his father was a naturalist, scientist and Reformed pastor. In 1765, the Russian empress Catherine II commissioned the pastor to travel through Russia on a research journey, Georg, then ten years old, joined him. On the journey, which reached the Kalmyk steppe on the lower Volga, they discovered several new species, and he also became fluent in Russian. The report of the journey, which included criticism of the governor of Saratov, was not well received at court. The Forsters claimed they had not received payment for their work and had to move house. They chose to settle in England in 1766, the father took up teaching at the Dissenters Academy in Warrington and also translation work. At the age of thirteen, the young Forster published his first book, an English translation of Lomonosovs history of Russia. In 1772, Forsters father became a member of the Royal Society and this and the withdrawal of Joseph Banks resulted in his invitation by the British admiralty to join James Cooks second expedition to the Pacific
Georg Forster
–
Georg Forster at age 26, by
J. H. W. Tischbein, 1781 (also ascribed to
Anton Graff)
Georg Forster
–
James Cook, portrait by Nathaniel Dance, c. 1775,
National Maritime Museum, Greenwich
Georg Forster
–
Resolution and
Adventure in
Matavai Bay by
William Hodges
Georg Forster
–
One of Forster's many illustrations of birds now extinct, the
Tanna ground dove, also known as Forster's dove of Tanna
23.
Sheerness
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Sheerness /ʃɪərˈnɛs/ is a town located beside the mouth of the River Medway on the north-west corner of the Isle of Sheppey in north Kent, England. With a population of 12,000 it is the largest town on the island, Sheerness began as a fort built in the 16th century to protect the River Medway from naval invasion. In 1665, plans were first laid by the Navy Board for Sheerness Dockyard, the site was favoured by Samuel Pepys, then Clerk of the Acts of the navy, for shipbuilding over Chatham. Beginning with the construction of a pier and a promenade in the 19th century, industry retains its important place in the town and the Port of Sheerness is one of the United Kingdoms leading car and fresh produce importers. The town is the site of one of the UKs first co-operative societies, the first structure in what is now Sheerness was a fort built by order of Henry VIII to prevent enemy ships from entering the River Medway and attacking the naval dockyard at Chatham. In 1666 work began to replace it with a stronger fort, however, before its completion, this second fort was destroyed during the 1667 Dutch raid on the Medway. The Secretary of the Admiralty, Samuel Pepys, subsequently ordered the construction of Sheerness Dockyard as an extension to that at Chatham, by 1801 the population of the Minster-in-Sheppey parish, which included both Sheerness and the neighbouring town of Minster, reached 5,561. In 1816, one of the UKs first co-operative societies was started in Sheerness, chiefly to serve the dockyard workers, the Sheerness Economical Society began as a co-operative bakery but expanded to produce and sell a range of goods. By the middle of the 20th century, the society had spread across the Isle of Sheppey and had renamed the Sheerness. In 1863, mains water was installed in the town, towards the end of the 19th century, Sheerness achieved official town status and formed its own civil parish, separate from Minster-in-Sheppey. The 1901 Census recorded the Sheerness parish as having 18,179 residents and 2,999 houses, the towns low rainfall and ample sunshine made it popular as a seaside resort, with tourists arriving by steamboat and train. The Sheppey Light Railway opened in 1901, connecting the new Sheerness East station with the rest of the island, however, by 1950, lack of demand led to the railways closure. The Sheerness and District Tramways, which opened in 1903, only lasted until 1917, in 1944 the United States cargo ship SS Richard Montgomery ran aground and sank 1 mile off the coast of Sheerness, with large quantities of explosives on board. Due to the inherent danger and projected expense, the ship and its cargo have never been salvaged, if the wreck were to explode, a 2004 report published in New Scientist warned that an explosion could occur if sea water penetrated the bombs. In March 1960 the Royal Navy ceased operating the Sheerness dockyard, the dockyard closure led to thousands of job losses, and most of the nearby houses and shops in the Bluetown area were eventually abandoned and demolished. By the 1961 census, the population of Sheerness had fallen to 13,691, the dockyard closure also led to the decline of the Sheerness and District Cooperative Society, as many of its members were dockyard workers. At the time, the society was the main retailer. In 2003, the Beachfields Park project was organised to publicise Beachfields heritage, students of Cheyne Middle School and Minster College, with assistance from local organisations, researched the funfair, bandstands, Prisoner of the War hut, boating lake and bowling green
Sheerness
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Sheerness clock tower
Sheerness
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Sheerness Dockyard: Naval Terrace and Church.
Sheerness
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Sheerness beach with the chimney of the
Grain Power Station in the distance
Sheerness
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Terraced houses near the seafront
24.
HM Bark Endeavour
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The navy renamed and commissioned her as His Majestys Bark the Endeavour. She departed Plymouth in August 1768, rounded Cape Horn, and she then set sail into the largely uncharted ocean to the south, stopping at the Pacific islands of Huahine, Bora Bora, and Raiatea to allow Cook to claim them for Great Britain. In September 1769, she anchored off New Zealand, the first European vessel to reach the islands since Abel Tasmans Heemskerck 127 years earlier. In April 1770, Endeavour became the first ship to reach the east coast of Australia, Endeavour then sailed north along the Australian coast. She narrowly avoided disaster after running aground on the Great Barrier Reef and he then beached her on the mainland for seven weeks to permit rudimentary repairs to her hull. On 10 October 1770, she limped into port in Batavia in the Dutch East Indies for more substantial repairs, her crew sworn to secrecy about the lands they had visited. She resumed her journey on 26 December, rounded the Cape of Good Hope on 13 March 1771. Largely forgotten after her voyage, Endeavour spent the next three years sailing to and from the Falkland Islands. As of 2016 her wreck had not been located but was thought to be one of a cluster of five in Newport Harbor. Relics, including six of her cannon and an anchor, are displayed at maritime museums worldwide, a replica of Endeavour was launched in 1994 and is berthed alongside the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney Harbour. The US space shuttle Endeavour is named after the ship and she is depicted on the New Zealand fifty-cent coin and she was ship-rigged and sturdily built with a broad, flat bow, a square stern, and a long box-like body with a deep hold. A flat-bottomed design made her well-suited to sailing in waters and allowed her to be beached for loading and unloading of cargo. Her hull, internal floors, and futtocks were built from white oak, her keel and stern post from elm. Plans of the ship also show a double keelson to lock the keel, floors, some doubt exists about the height of her standing masts, as surviving diagrams of Endeavour depict the body of the vessel only, and not the mast plan. If correct, this would produce an oddly truncated mast a full 9 feet shorter than the standards of the day,1794 at the top of this page. The replica standing mizzen is built to this shorter measurement and stepped in the hold on the keelson, on 16 February 1768, the Royal Society petitioned King George III to finance a scientific expedition to the Pacific to study and observe the 1769 transit of Venus across the sun. The Royal Society suggested command be given to Scottish geographer Alexander Dalrymple, whose acceptance was conditional on a brevet commission as a captain in the Royal Navy. However, First Lord of the Admiralty Edward Hawke refused, going so far as to say he would cut off his right hand than give command of a navy vessel to someone not educated as a seaman
HM Bark Endeavour
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HMS Endeavour off the coast of New Holland, by Samuel Atkins c. 1794
HM Bark Endeavour
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Earl of Pembroke, later HMS Endeavour, leaving Whitby Harbour in 1768. By
Thomas Luny, dated 1790.
HM Bark Endeavour
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An 1893 chart showing Endeavour' s track
HM Bark Endeavour
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Endeavour beached at
Endeavour River for repairs after her grounding on the Great Barrier Reef in 1770. By Johann Fritzsch, published 1786.
25.
HMS Adventure (1771)
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HMS Adventure was a barque that the Royal Navy purchased in 1771. She had been the merchant vessel Marquis of Rockingham, launched in 1770 at Whitby, in naval service she sailed with Resolution on James Cooks second expedition to the Pacific in 1772–1775. She was the first ship to circumnavigate the globe from west to east, after her return she served as a store ship until 1779. The navy sold her in 1783 and she resumed a civilian career and she was lost in May 1811. She began her career as the North Sea collier Marquis of Rockingham and he arranged for the Navy to purchase two ships, the second and smaller of which was Marquis of Rockingham. The Navy purchased her in 1771 and first named her Raleigh or Rayleigh, the Navy commissioned her under Joseph Shank. Cook was given the command of Resolution, with Commander Tobias Furneaux accompanying him in Adventure, Furneaux was an experienced explorer, having served on Samuel Walliss circumnavigation in Dolphin in 1766–1768. Resolution and Adventure left Plymouth on 13 July 1772 and on 17 January 1773 were the first European ships to cross the Antarctic Circle. On 8 February 1773 the two became separated in a fog and Furneaux directed Adventure towards the prearranged meeting point of Queen Charlotte Sound. On the way to the rendezvous, Adventure surveyed the southern and eastern coasts of Tasmania, Furneaux made the earliest British chart of this shore, but as he did not enter Bass Strait he assumed Tasmania to be part of Australia. Most of his names here survive, Cook, visiting this shore-line on his voyage, confirmed Furneauxs account and delineation of it. Adventure arrived at Queen Charlotte Sound on 7 May 1773 and Resolution followed on 17 May, from June to October the two ships explored the southern Pacific, reaching Tahiti on 15 August, where Omai of Raiatea embarked on Adventure. After calling at Tonga in the Friendly Islands the ships returned to New Zealand but were separated by a storm on 22 October and this time the rendezvous at Queen Charlotte Sound was missed — Resolution departed on 26 November, four days before Adventure arrived. Cook had left a message buried in the setting out his plan to explore the South Pacific. Furneaux decided to home and buried a reply to that effect. Before he could leave, a fight out between Adventures crew and the local Māori people, in which ten crewmen and two Māoris were killed. This was reportedly prompted by a breach of tapu by a sailor. Lieutenant John Hallum recommissioned Adventure in March 1775 and he sailed for North America on 26 June 1775
HMS Adventure (1771)
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Resolution and Adventure with fishing craft in
Matavai Bay by
William Hodges, painted 1776, shows the two ships at anchor in
Tahiti.
26.
Plymouth
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Plymouths early history extends to the Bronze Age, when a first settlement emerged at Mount Batten. This settlement continued as a trading post for the Roman Empire, until it was surpassed by the prosperous village of Sutton founded in the ninth century. In 1620, the Pilgrim Fathers departed Plymouth for the New World, during the English Civil War the town was held by the Parliamentarians and was besieged between 1642 and 1646. The combined town took the name of Plymouth which, in 1928, the citys naval importance later led to its targeting and partial destruction during World War II, an act known as the Plymouth Blitz. After the war the city centre was rebuilt and subsequent expansion led to the incorporation of Plympton. The city is home to 262,700 people, making it the 30th most populous area in the United Kingdom. It is governed locally by Plymouth City Council and is represented nationally by three MPs, Plymouths economy remains strongly influenced by shipbuilding and seafaring including ferry links to Brittany and Spain, but has tended toward a service-based economy since the 1990s. It has the largest operational base in Western Europe – HMNB Devonport and is home to Plymouth University. An unidentified settlement named TAMARI OSTIA is listed in Ptolemys Geographia and is presumed to be located in the area of the modern city, at the time this village was called Sutton, meaning south town in Old English. The name Plym Mouth, meaning mouth of the River Plym was first mentioned in a Pipe Roll of 1211, the name Plymouth first officially replaced Sutton in a charter of King Henry VI in 1440. See Plympton for the derivation of the name Plym, during the Hundred Years War a French attack burned a manor house and took some prisoners, but failed to get into the town. In 1403 the town was burned by Breton raiders, on 12 November,1439, the English Parliament made Plymouth the first town incorporated. The castle served to protect Sutton Pool, which is where the fleet was based in Plymouth prior to the establishment of Plymouth Dockyard. In 1512 an Act of Parliament was passed for further fortifying Plymouth, defences on St Nicholas Island also date from this time, and a string of six artillery blockhouses were built, including one on Fishers Nose at the south-eastern corner of the Hoe. This location was further strengthened by the building of a fort in 1596, during the 16th century locally produced wool was the major export commodity. According to legend, Drake insisted on completing his game of bowls on the Hoe before engaging the Spanish Armada in 1588. In 1620 the Pilgrim Fathers set sail for the New World from Plymouth, during the English Civil War Plymouth sided with the Parliamentarians and was besieged for almost four years by the Royalists. The last major attack by the Royalist was by Sir Richard Grenville leading thousands of soldiers towards Plymouth, the civil war ended as a Parliamentary win, but monarchy was restored by King Charles II in 1660, who imprisoned many of the Parliamentary heroes on Drakes Island
Plymouth
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Plymouth Hoe viewed from
Mount Batten
Plymouth
Plymouth
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Prysten House, Finewell Street, 1498, is the oldest surviving house in Plymouth, and built from local Plymouth Limestone and
Dartmoor granite
Plymouth
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John Foulston 's Town Hall, Column and Library in
Devonport
27.
Funchal
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Funchal is the largest city, the municipal seat and the capital of Portugals Autonomous Region of Madeira. The city has a population of 111,892, making it the 6th largest city in Portugal, because of its high cultural and historical value, Funchal is one of Portugals main tourist attractions. It is also popular as a destination for New Years Eve, the name is from the Portuguese word funcho and the suffix -al, to denote a plantation of fennel. The name Funchal, was applied by the first settlers landed on its shores due to the abundance of wild fennel where, as tradition goes. Owing to its location, the site became an important maritime port. Its coastal position, the most productive on the island, quickly permitted Funchal to develop a core and surpass the populations of other settlements. In the early 15th century, Álvaro Fernandes was the commander of Funchal, as part of its administrative role, the settlement received its primary lighthouse between 1452 and 1454, when it was elevated to the status of vila and municipal seat. Funchal became an important transfer point for European commercial interests, many sailors, by the end of the century, fronting the Order of Christ, D. In 1508, it was elevated to the status of city by King Manuel I of Portugal, the island, and Funchal specifically, were vulnerable to privateer and pirate attacks. When the news was relayed to the settlements on Madeira and the villas of Machico, in Funchal, the governor, Francisco de Sales Gonçalves Zarco da Câmara, did not take any action that could be construed as hostile. At the bridge the privateers encountered a force from the fort, with a few small-caliber pieces. At the road near Carreira, the attackers were confronted by a group of Franciscan monks. Funchals fortifications were assaulted by land, where its defense was thin. The city suffered a violent sack that lasted fifteen days, after which little remained, the following year, the military architect Mateus Fernandes III was sent to Funchal in order to completely modify the defensive system of the city. Evidence of the produced by this architect was published in the Mapa de Mateus Fernandes. The document identifies the major defenses of the city, which included a fortification in the area around the dyke in Pena. During the 16th century, Funchal was an important stop-over for caravels travelling between the Indies and the New World, the wine culture appeared during early settlement, through the incentives from Henry the Navigator. Later, in Shakespeares Henry IV he has Poins censure Falstaff for having sold his soul to the devil for a cup of Madeira wine, in the 17th century, commercial treaties with England brought increased investments to a business that was still insular
Funchal
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A panoramic view of Funchal
Funchal
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Cathedral of Funchal (Sé Cathedral), constructed under the orders of D. Manuel, Duke of Beja, dating back to the 15th century
Funchal
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Funchal, 1907
Funchal
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Overlook of Quinta Vigia, now the Regional Government's Presidential Palace, towards the then port of Funchal
28.
Madeira Islands
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Madeira is a Portuguese archipelago situated in the north Atlantic Ocean, southwest of Portugal. Its total population was estimated in 2011 at 267,785, the capital of Madeira is Funchal, located on the main islands south coast. The archipelago is just under 400 kilometres north of Tenerife, Canary Islands, since 1976, the archipelago has been one of the two Autonomous regions of Portugal. It includes the islands of Madeira, Porto Santo, and the Desertas, the region has political and administrative autonomy through the Administrative Political Statue of the Autonomous Region of Madeira provided for in the Portuguese Constitution. Madeira was claimed by Portuguese sailors in the service of Prince Henry the Navigator in 1419, the archipelago is considered to be the first territorial discovery of the exploratory period of the Portuguese Age of Discovery, which extended from 1415 to 1542. Today, it is a popular resort, being visited every year by about one million tourists. The region is noted for its Madeira wine, gastronomy, historical and cultural value, its flora and fauna, landscapes which are classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and embroidery artisans. Its annual New Year celebrations feature the largest fireworks show in the world, Madeira is the second richest region of Portugal by GDP per capita, only surpassed by Lisbon. They are called the Isles of the Blessed, archeological evidence suggests that the islands may have been visited by the Vikings sometime between 900-1030. During the reign of King Edward III of England, lovers Robert Machim and they were driven off their course by a violent storm and their ship went aground along the coast of an island, that may have been Madeira. Later this legend was the basis of the naming of the city of Machico, knowledge of some Atlantic islands, such as Madeira, existed before their formal discovery and settlement, as the islands were shown on maps as early as 1339. The following year, an expedition, under the captaincy of Zarco, Vaz Teixeira. Subsequently, the new settlers observed a black cloud suspended to the southwest. Their investigation revealed it to be the island they called Madeira. The first Portuguese settlers began colonizing the islands around 1420 or 1425, grain production began to fall and the ensuing crisis forced Henry the Navigator to order other commercial crops to be planted so that the islands could be profitable. The planting of sugarcane, and later Sicilian sugar beet, allowed the introduction of the salt into Europe. These specialised plants, and their associated industrial technology, created one of the major revolutions on the islands, the expansion of sugar plantations in Madeira began in 1455, using advisers from Sicily and financed by Genoese capital. The accessibility of Madeira attracted Genoese and Flemish traders, who were keen to bypass Venetian monopolies, by 1480 Antwerp had some seventy ships engaged in the Madeira sugar trade, with the refining and distribution concentrated in Antwerp
Madeira Islands
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A view of
Funchal, the capital city of the autonomous region.
Madeira Islands
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The Santa Maria de Colombo, a replica of the types of ship typical during the Portuguese discovery, built by craftsmen from
Câmara de Lobos, Madeira
Madeira Islands
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Statue of
João Gonçalves Zarco
Madeira Islands
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Cathedral of Funchal with its
tower of 15th-century
Gothic style in the background
29.
Cape Verde Islands
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Located 570 kilometres off the coast of West Africa, the islands cover a combined area of slightly over 4,000 square kilometres. The Cape Verde archipelago was uninhabited until the 15th century, when Portuguese explorers discovered and colonized the islands, ideally located for the Atlantic slave trade, the islands grew prosperous throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, attracting merchants, privateers, and pirates. The end of slavery in the 19th century led to economic decline, Cape Verde gradually recovered as an important commercial center and stopover for shipping routes. Incorporated as a department of Portugal in 1951, the islands continued to agitate for independence. Since the early 1990s, Cape Verde has been a representative democracy. Lacking natural resources, its economy is mostly service-oriented, with a growing focus on tourism. Its population of around 512,000 is mostly of mixed European and sub-Saharan African heritage, a sizeable diaspora community exists across the world, slightly outnumbering inhabitants on the islands. Historically, the name Cape Verde has been used in English for the archipelago and, since independence in 1975, for the country. In 2013, the Cape Verdean government determined that the Portuguese designation Cabo Verde would henceforth be used for official purposes, such as at the United Nations, Cape Verde is a member of the African Union. The name of the stems from the nearby Cap-Vert, on the Senegalese coast. In 1444 Portuguese explorers had named that landmark as Cabo Verde, on 24 October 2013, the countrys delegation announced at the United Nations that the official name should no longer be translated into other languages. Instead of Cape Verde, the designation Republic of Cabo Verde is to be used, before the arrival of Europeans, the Cape Verde Islands were uninhabited. The islands of the Cape Verde archipelago were discovered by Genoese and Portuguese navigators around 1456, according to Portuguese official records, the first discoveries were made by Genoa-born António de Noli, who was afterwards appointed governor of Cape Verde by Portuguese King Afonso V. Other navigators mentioned as contributing to discoveries in the Cape Verde archipelago are Diogo Gomes, Diogo Dias, Diogo Afonso, in 1462, Portuguese settlers arrived at Santiago and founded a settlement they called Ribeira Grande. Ribeira Grande was the first permanent European settlement in the tropics, in the 16th century, the archipelago prospered from the Atlantic slave trade. Pirates occasionally attacked the Portuguese settlements, sir Francis Drake, an English corsair privateering under a letter of marque granted by the English crown, twice sacked the capital Ribeira Grande in 1585 when it was a part of the Iberian Union. After a French attack in 1712, the town declined in relative to nearby Praia. Decline in the trade in the 19th century resulted in an economic crisis
Cape Verde Islands
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Insulae Capitis Viridis (1598), showing Cape Verde.
Cape Verde Islands
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Flag
Cape Verde Islands
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A view of
Monte Cara from
Mindelo.
Cape Verde Islands
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Cape Verdean Prime Minister
José Maria Neves meets with the US Secretary of Defense
Chuck Hagel, in 2013.
Great Britain
