File:Correspondence from Captain James Cook to Captain Charles Clerke, 1776 (22408426421).jpg

English explorer Captain James Cook was born in Yorkshire on 27 October 1728. He led three voyages of discovery in the late eighteenth century and was the first European to define the outline of New Zealand.

The 1776 letter pictured above is the oldest record in Archive New Zealand’s holdings. In 1988, the Poverty Bay Club illegally exported the letter for sale in London. The Club was later prosecuted under the Antiquities Act. The City of London bought the letter in 1990 and presented it to New Zealand as a gift to mark the sesquicentennial – 150 years since the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi.

The letter (transcribed below) outlines Cook’s instructions to Captain Charles Clerke regarding their third and final voyage. The main aim of the voyage was to find the Northwest Passage through the Arctic Circle. Cook sailed on the Resolution and was accompanied by Clerke on the Discovery.

In the letter, Cook tells Clerke to follow him to the Cape of Good Hope “without a moment’s loss of time.” Captain Clerke was in prison when the letter was written, as he had agreed to be a guarantor for his brother's gambling debts. Following his release, Clerke set sail from Plymouth on 1 August 1776, arriving at the Cape of Good Hope on 10 November, three weeks after Cook. Clerke took command of the mission after Cook was killed in Hawaii on 14 February 1779. Later that same year, Clerke died from tuberculosis, which he had contracted while in prison.

Transcription:

Plaque:

Sailing instruction issued by Captain James Cook to his second-in command for Cook's last voyage to New Zealand. Presented by the Corporation of London to the People of New Zealand - April 1990.

Letter:

Title:

10 July 1776 Captn Cooks Order to proceed after him to the Cape of Good Hope On His Majesty's Service

To Captain Clerke Commander of His Majesty's Sloop The Discovery

To be delivered on his arrival onboard, or at Plymouth

First page:

By Captain James Cook Commander of His Majesty's Sloop the Resolution

Whereas my Lords commissioners of the Admiralty have directed me to proceed with the Sloop under my Command to the Cape of Good Hope without delay, and to leave directions for you to follow with the Discovery Sloop under your command in persuance thereof, You are hereby required and directed to put to Sea with the said Sloop and to follow me to the Cape of Good Hope without a moments loss of time, and if you should happen to arrive there before them, You are to refresh your company and to cause missing line(s) Second page: Happened to me, and are to prosecute the voyage alone and carry their Lordships secret Instructions which will be delivered to you sealed up, before You sail from Plymouth Sound into execution.

Given under my hand Aboard His Majesty's Sloop the Resolution in Plymouth

the 10th day of July 1776

To Captain Charles Clerke Commander of His Majesty's Sloop the Discovery

Archives Reference:

AAAC 7928 W5186/1 (R18690972) archway.archives.govt.nz/ViewFullItem.do?code=18690972

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