t, to lay a spar deck upon her from
the quarter-deck to the forecastle (she having at this time a low waist),
and to build a round house or coach for my accommodation, so that the
great cabin might be appropriated to the use of Mr. Banks alone."

The Comptroller of the Navy, Captain Pallisser, was strongly opposed to
these alterations as likely to be detrimental to the ship's sailing
qualities, and though his opinions were overborne, they in the end proved
to be correct.

When he had seen the alterations fairly on the way, Cook applied for
three weeks' leave of absence, on the plea that he had "some business to
transact in Yorkshire, as well as to see an aged father," and his
application was at once granted. He therefore went to Ayton, where for
the first time for seventeen years he was again amongst his own people.
From Ayton he went on to Whitby, and was met some miles out from that
town by many of the leading men of the place. From the Walkers he
received the heartiest of welcomes, and it is related that the old
housekeeper, Mary Prowd, had been carefully instructed that a Commander
in His Majesty's Navy was a very different person from one of her
master's apprentices, and must be received with all the marks of respect
due to his rank. She promised obedience, but, alas, when the time came
her memory fled, and opening wide her arms, she exclaimed: "O honey
James! How glad I is to see thee!" A welcome, probably, more dear to Cook
than any other could have been, and a proof of the affectionate regard he
could inspire.

In February he was back in London, and Dr. Burney says in his Memoirs:

"I had the honour of receiving the illustrious Captain Cook to dine with
me in Queen's Square [Bloomsbury] previously to his second voyage round
the world. Observing upon a table, Bougainville's Voyage Autour du Monde,
he turned it over, and made some curious remarks on the illiberal conduct
of that circumnavigator towards himself when they met and crossed each
other; which made me desirous to know, in examining the chart of M. de
Bougainville, the several tracks of the two navigators, and exactly where
they had crossed or approached each other.

"Captain Cook instantly took a pencil from his pocket book and said he
would trace the route; which he did in so clear and scientific a manner
that I would not take fifty pounds for my book. The pencil marks, having
been fixed by skim milk, will always be visible."

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