Captain Cook relics

A DRAWING of Captain Cook's ship Resolution in a stream of pack ice while he was attempting to confirm the existence of a Great Southern Continent – now known as Antarctica – has been discovered in the United States. The previously unknown picture by William Hodges, the official artist on Cook's second voyage, has been bought at auction for the Captain Cook Memorial Museum in Whitby for £80,275.

The sketch was made in 1772-73 as Cook headed towards the South Pole, accompanied by Adventurer. It depicts the Resolution under reduced sail in a choppy sea under overcast skies with streams of pack ice floating past.

A COPPER medallion struck in 1772 to mark Captain James Cook's voyage of discovery to Australia in the Endeavour is on its way back Down Under after being bought for £4,600.

Titled Resolution and Adventure - Cook's voyage, the medallion that had been fancied by a number of Welsh collectors went under the hammer at Halls in Shrewsbury yesterday, where a telephone bidder from Australia held off strong competition from dealers in New York and London to secure it.

Christina Trevanion, an auctioneer with Halls, was delighted with what she believes is a record price for the bronze medallion. She said, "From information that we have gathered from dealers and collectors it appears that Captain Cook took the bronze medallions with him on the voyage and gave them to natives when they went ashore. The silver medallions were struck at a later date and reputedly presented to the crew.

Posted by David on March 2, 2007 9:43 AM