y on the sick
list, and the remainder were granted as much leave as the refitting of
the ship would permit. The rigging, of course, had suffered severely, and
had to be replaced at an exorbitant cost from the Government Stores; but
Cook calls attention to the state of the masts, which he considered,
after sailing some 20,000 leagues, bore testimony to the care and ability
of his officers and men, and also to the high qualities of his ship.

M. de Crozet put in on his way to Pondicherry, and was impressed with
Cook's courtesy and qualifications as an explorer. He was able to give
the first information of M. de Surville's voyage, and that he had cleared
away a mistake Cook had made in assuming that the New Caledonia reefs
extended to the Great Barrier Reef on the east of Australia. Forster says
that Cook pointedly avoided having any intercourse with any of the
Spaniards who were there, but gives no reason for it. He also bought a
quantity of wild animals and birds, many of which died before reaching
England, and he roundly but unjustly accused the crew of having killed
them.

Touching at St. Helena, where Kendal's watch was found to differ by about
two miles from the observations of Mason and Dixon at the Cape and those
of Maskelyne at St. Helena, he proceeded to Ascension, where he obtained
a good supply of fresh turtle, and then to Fernando de Noronho, fixing
the position as 3 degrees 50 minutes South, 32 degrees 34 minutes West,
and crossed the line on 11th June. Calling in at the Azores, land was
sighted near Plymouth on the 29th, and next day they anchored at
Spithead; and Cook, Wales, Hodges, and the two Forsters immediately
started for London, having been away from England three years and
eighteen days. During this time they had lost four men, three from
accident and one from disease--a record unprecedented in the annals of
British Naval history.

The war with the American colonies was naturally occupying the attention
of the public, but the newspapers found space to publish more or less
authentic information as to their arrival and proceedings on the voyage.
One paper gravely said that:

"Captain Cooke will be appointed Admiral of the Blue, and command a fleet
which is preparing to go out in the spring, as a reward for the
discoveries he has made in his last voyage in the South Seas."

On 9th August Cook was summoned to St. James's Palace and had a long
audience with the King, presenting several charts and ma