HMB Endeavour

In May this year I had the opportunity to take a tour on Her Majesty's Bark Endeavour, a full scale, Australian-built replica of Captain Cook's ship used in his epic 1768-71 world voyage. It was well worth the two hour wait to get aboard and significant for me as my plan has been to follow Cook's route up the east coast of Australia (see 'The Plan').

History:

"On 27 May 1768, Cook took command of the Lord Pembroke, valued in March at £2,307. 5s. 6d. but ultimately purchased for £2,840. 10s. 11d. and assigned for use in the Society's expedition. She was refitted at Deptford on the River Thames, the hull sheathed and caulked to protect against shipworm, and a third internal deck installed to provide cabins, a powder magazine and storerooms. The new cabins provided around 2 square metres (22 sq ft) of floorspace apiece and were allocated to Cook and the Royal Society representatives: naturalist Joseph Banks, Banks' assistants Daniel Solander and Herman Spöring, astronomer Charles Green, and artists Sydney Parkinson and Alexander Buchan. These cabins encircled the officer′s mess. The Great Cabin at the rear of the deck was designed as a workroom for Cook and the Royal Society. On the rear lower deck, cabins facing on to the mate's mess were assigned to Lieutenants Zachary Hicks and John Gore, ship's surgeon William Monkhouse, the gunner Stephen Forwood, ship's master Robert Molyneux, and the captain's clerk Richard Orton.  The adjoining open mess deck provided sleeping and living quarters for the marines and crew, and additional storage space"

Below are some images from my time on board, for more see the 'Photos' page.

Endeavour on the Brisbane River

Head - 1770s style, one each side of the bowsprit

Crew's mess

Crew quarters - a hammock each, a shared locker (box) and not a lot of headroom

Cat-o-nine tails and its bag, hence the expression 'Don't let the cat out of the bag'

Great Cabin - Officers mess and workroom

Cook's Cabin

Ship's log - Throw the triangular plate over the side, ship's speed was the number of 'knots' that played out in one turn of the glass (60 seconds)

Depth guage - The lead weight was swung over the side and the number of knots in the line were counted until it hit bottom. Each knot was one fathom (6 feet)