By Dan & Hiromi Yoshimoto
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On August 25,1768, when the H.M. Bark Endeavour sailed out of Plymouth, England, with James Cook as her captain, she had, as her mission, the tracking of the Transit of Venus across the sun. Aboard the ship were two major scientists, Sir Joseph Banks and Dr. Daniel Carl Solander, along with two scientific artists, Sydney Parkinson and Alexander Buchan.
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The ship, before
being refitted for scientific "Voyages of Discovery”, had already
spent three years as the collier (coal carrier) The Earl of Pembrook,
carrying coal up & down the Thames River. For the next three years
she was to be the first of three ships, captained by James Cook as he
charted and described an “unknown” world. |
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On
June 25th, 1999, (Photo page) The H.M. Bark Endeavour sailed into Humboldt
Bay, California and as she entered the bay, with brilliant Australian
flags and tumultuous cannon fire, she was greeted by a anxious community
awaiting her arrival. When she left, 11 days later, over 5500 people
had been given the experience they had been promised... a "time
travel tour" back to the 18th century and a period of exploration. |
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the 26th of June, as the first tours were given aboard the ship, I, along
with about 20 other "tourists", entered into this "time
machine" and room by room was guided by costumed docents, from the
community, through her rooms. (Photo) When
we reached The Great Cabin, where Banks
and Solander had spent their time describing and naming new species; I
noticed a problem that to my eyes, as a shell collector, caused some questions.
I thought that the original Endeavour had collected many specimens of
new shells (for the period). Dr. Daniel Solander had been a student of
Carl Linnaeus, the famous Swedish botanist, who had, just 10 years earlier,
published his 10th edition of Systema Naturae and a listing, for the
first time of the names of new species of mollusks. Where were the shells
on this New Endeavour? (Library photo) |
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The following day I made an appointment with the First Mate, Geoff
Kerr, and we discussed the possibility of a "New Banks' Shell
Collection for the ship. He agreed that it would be appropriate. Leaving
the ship, I returned home and by e-mail, contacted Conch-L about the idea
and there came many positive suggestions for the project, one of which
was to contact The London Natural History Museum to see if they had information
on the species collected originally. The next day I was sent a fax copy
from a book by Guy Wilkins, of the list of shells from the Endeavour.
Once again appealed to Conch-L for interested persons who would like to
donate specimens matching the original list. I received 3 wonderful responses
from Paul Monfils, Dr. Harry G. Lee and Tom Eichhorst, each of which provided
wonderful specimens. Along with my wife's donations, there were now more
than 40 specimens collected. |
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On September 15, 1999, my wife and I packed up
the collection and headed north to Victoria, Vancouver Island, Canada
to meet with Dee Nolan & Geoff Kerr,
who were awaiting the final touches in dry dock of the work on The Endeavour.
When we reached Victoria, we were met by Dee, who took us to the naval
dry docks in Esquimalt to see the ship.
Among the other ships, and in a hole, about 80 feet deep and several football
fields long, The Endeavour looked like a toy boat in some child's toy
box... small! |
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| In November the Endeavour went to Honolulu, Hawaii, and was carrying a new display, a group of representative shells donated by collectors in the U.S. Yes, there still are many species missing from the collection, but I'm sure that, now that a collection has been started, new specimens will be donated by other collectors wanting to participate in the new adventure. | |