t of the voyage, the commander was directed to proceed in making
discoveries through the wide extent of the Great Southern Ocean.

Lieutenant Cook received his commission as commander of the Endeavour
(which was then in the basin in Deptford Yard) on May 25, 1768. On the
27th he went on board, and immediately began fitting her for sea. The
work in dockyards was not executed so rapidly in those days as it is
now, and it was upwards of two months before the vessel was ready. On
July 30 she dropped down the river; but it was not till August 15 that
she reached Plymouth. On Friday, August 26, the wind becoming fair, the
Endeavour finally put to sea, and commenced the first of one of the most
memorable series of voyages which have ever been performed by a single
vessel. Next to Commander Cook in authority in the Endeavour were her
two lieutenants--Zachary Hicks and John Gore; her senior mate was
Charles Clerke, who accompanied Cook in each of his subsequent voyages,
and succeeded to the command of the third expedition on the death of his
beloved captain. He had previously served as midshipman under Lord
Byron in his first voyage round the world.

A long sea voyage is almost always felt to be extremely tedious and dull
to landsmen; but every change in the atmosphere, the varied appearance
presented by the sea, the numberless creatures found in it, the birds
which hovered about the ship or pitched on the rigging, all afforded
matter of interest to the enlightened persons on board the Endeavour.

At Madeira the naturalists of the expedition set to work collecting
specimens. The social condition of the people has probably altered
little since those days, though the monasteries, which then existed,
have long since been abolished. The nuns of the convent of Santa Clara
especially amused Mr Banks and his companions by the simplicity of the
questions they put on hearing that they were philosophers. Among
others, they requested them to ascertain by their art whether a spring
of pure water existed within the walls of their convent, and also when
the next thunderstorm would occur.

On leaving Madeira the course was shaped for Rio de Janeiro, which was
reached on November 13. The voyagers were not treated by the viceroy
with the courtesy which might have been expected. The object of the
voyage was utterly beyond the comprehension of that functionary, who
could form no other conception of the matter than that it had somethin