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| An Illustration of a 'Man of the Island of Mallicolo' |
When perusing the texts
in the Grimes collection, I was surprised to discover a rare text about New
Zealand history, considering that Bishop Grimes’ origins were British. Although
I can understand why Grimes collected the texts relating to the Pacific Islands
and Māori, based on the need to understand a minority of his congregation, it
is a little harder to understand why he became the owner of a book written by
Captain James Cook about his 1772-1775 voyage to the South Pole. On one hand,
Grimes would have wanted to learn about the British colony that he would be a
Bishop of, but on the other hand, a text about New Zealand specifically, not a
Captain’s voyage, may have been more useful. Despite this, the book itself is a
valuable text to have and seems to be one of the only exploration texts he
acquired. Before we look further into the book, it is important to first
examine the Captain who wrote it.
Captain James Cook is one
of the most prominent historical figures in the discovery of New Zealand. Born
in 1728, he rose through the ranks of the Navy to the rank of Captain. He
completed three voyages to New Zealand during the last decade of his life
before his death in 1779.
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| Captain's Log Cape Hope to New Zealand |
Captain Cook played a
vital role in surveying and mapping the New Zealand coastline. Although New
Zealand had already been discovered by Abel Tasman, his role in New Zealand
history still remains important. The second author of this text, Captain Tobias
Furneaux (1735-1781), another British naval officer, was the first to
circumnavigate the world in both directions.
Cook’s Second Voyage
(1772-75) was taken on two ships, the Resolution
and the Adventure (in the charge
of Captain Furneaux). It was in this same voyage that the two captains became
the first people in history to cross the Antarctic Circle, an action that they
would repeat a number of times during their voyages.
I mention the second
voyage specifically because of the text that Grimes has in his collection. The
official title of the text is:
A voyage towards the South Pole, and round the world.
Performed in His Majesty's ships in the Resolution and Adventure, in the years
1772, 1773, 1774, and 1775. Written by James Cook, Commander of the Resolution.
In which is included, Captain Furneaux's narrative of his proceedings in the
Adventure... illustrated with maps and charts by Mr Hodges.
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| Sir John Pringle's Discourse |
It was published in 1777
as a second edition, complete with maps and illustrations. Our set has two
volumes, both of which contain the ink stamp of Bishop Grimes, with no other
signs of provenance. It is one of seven copies in the Southern Hemisphere. In
addition, it contains a discourse written by Sir John Pringles on the
improvements of preserving the health of mariners.
In his Reference Journal, Grimes has this text
sorted into ‘General’ which was situated in the Fathers’ Study, with other
books categorised into ‘Reviews’ and ‘Biographies’. Grimes’ copy of Captain
Cook’s Voyages is only one of many texts about Captain Cook that are housed at
the University of Canterbury. The
Macmillan Brown library also holds a second set of this same edition, which had
belonged to John Bell Condliffe.
References
Resources of Pacific Discovery in the age of the Resolution from our Collection. University of Canterbury. 2015.
Captain Cook Society. Last updated October 2105.
Tobias Furneaux. Encyclopaedia Britannica. 2015.
A Voyage towards the South Pole, and round the World... 1777. University of Canterbury Rare Books Collection - 125519 - Voyage -Illustration47
A Voyage towards the South Pole, and round the World... 1777. University of Canterbury Rare Books Collection - 125519 - Voyage -CaptainsLog
A Voyage towards the South Pole, and round the World... 1777. University of Canterbury Rare Books Collection - 125519 - Voyage - EndDiscourse
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