Beschreibung:

COOK, James (1728-1779). Document signed ("Jas Cook") as Master of the H.M.S. Pembroke, [Quebec] 15 June 1759. One page, 298 x 250mm (mounting remnants on verso, contemporary ink cancellation marks affecting signatures). One of the earliest examples of James Cook's rare signature in private hands—signed as he was preparing soundings of the St. Lawrence River in advance of the British capture of Quebec. Cook’s signature appears beside Captain John Wheelock’s and above Boatswain William Thompson’s signatures discharging “Geo: Champiness” described as an “Able Seaman” who was discharged “by reason of Death.” The document lists the remaining belongings left by the seamen as well as other salient details pertaining to his accounts and pay. Cook began his career at sea in the late 1740s, working on merchant ships in the coasting trade and later on the Baltic Sea. In 1755, he volunteered for Royal Navy service and rose quickly in the ranks, becoming a master in 1757 aboard the HMS Solebay. The next year, he would find himself on the HMS Pembroke taking part in the amphibious assault on the Fortress of Louisbourg. The present document was drafted as Cook was preparing to take soundings of the hazardous passages on the St. Lawrence River through which the British fleet would need to pass through in order to threaten the City of Quebec—the strategic heart of French Canada. After Wolfe's failed attempt on the city at the end of July 1759, Cook volunteered to search for an appropriate landing spot upstream where Wolfe's forces could land in order to scale the cliffs that led to the Plains of Abraham just to the west of the fortifications guarding Quebec. Under the cover of darkness, Cook took soundings of the river near the cliffs and selected the best landing spot. The next morning, Wolfe led 5,000 men up the cliffs where he defeated the French defenders under Montcalm. While the victory, which spelled the end of France's domination of the interior of North America, immortalized Wolfe, who died on the field of battle, it also made Cook's career. Within the Royal Navy, Cook was being referred to as "master surveyor and master of the fleet" (Dugard, Farther Than Any Man: The Rise and Fall of James Cook 36).