fession, in
which officers in the Navy were in those days greatly deficient.

It was necessary to take the soundings in the channel of the Saint
Lawrence, between the Isle of Orleans and the north shore, directly in
front of the French fortified camp of Montmorency and Beauport, in order
to enable the admiral to place his ships so as to oppose the enemy's
batteries, and to cover the projected landing of the British army under
Wolfe, and a general attack on their camp. Captain Palliser, who now
commanded the Shrewsbury, a seventy-four gun ship, recommended Cook for
this difficult and dangerous service. He was engaged on it for many
consecutive nights, it being a work which could not be performed in the
daytime. At length his proceedings were discovered by the French, who
laid a plan to catch him. They concealed in a wood near the water a
number of Indians with their canoes. As the Mercury's barge, in which
Cook was making the survey, passed, the canoes darted out on him and
gave chase. His only chance of escape was to run for it. He pushed for
the Isle of Orleans with a whole host of yelling savages paddling at
full speed after him. On they came, every moment gaining on his boat.
The English hospital, where there was a guard, was before him; towards
this he steered, the bows of the Indian canoes almost touching the
barge's stern; a few strokes more, and the Indians would have grappled
him. He sprang from his seat over the bow of his boat, followed by his
crew, just as the enemy leaped in overwhelming numbers over the
quarters. They carried off the barge in triumph, but Cook and his
comrades escaped; and he succeeded, in spite of all difficulties, in
furnishing the admiral with a correct and complete draft of the channel
and soundings. This was the more extraordinary, as Sir Hugh Palliser
afterwards expressed his belief that before this time Cook had scarcely
ever used a pencil, and knew nothing of drawing; and it is one of many
proofs that the ardent seaman not only threw his soul into the duties of
his profession, but that this determination enabled him quickly to
master every subject to which he applied his mind.

While his ship remained in the Saint Lawrence, Cook, at the desire of
the admiral, made an accurate survey of the more difficult parts of that
river below Quebec. So complete and perfect was the chart which he
executed, and which, with his sailing directions, was afterwards
published, that until