Cook in Resolution Cove.
1778

Watercolor 21" x 29"


Dishonest workmanship to RESOLUTION in the Naval Dockyard at Deptford before she left plagued Cook for the whole of the final voyage. Finding reasonably secure anchorage in Nootka Sound he set about making much needed repairs. The RESOLUTION and DISCOVERY were anchored in Ships Cove, later to be named Resolution Cove, on Bligh Island. Most of the month of April was spent replacing the fore and mizzen masts and all of the rigging on the main. A tent was set up ashore for astronomical observation and the sound was charted from the ship’s boats. The natives were around them every day, and Cook made a visit to Chief Maquinna’s village in Friendly Cove. Sea otter furs obtained from the natives were later traded in Canton for huge profits by some of the men, and the news when it reached Europe set off the fur trade rush to the Northwest Coast in the 1780’s.