transferred to the executive line of the Royal Navy were very
rare, and many an admiral used his influence in favour of some deserving
officer in vain.

This was not without good reason, as the whole training of the Master of
those days was unfavourable to success in command of ships or men. The
exception was, however, in this case amply justified.

Cook was allowed to choose his vessel, and bearing in mind the dangers of
grounding in unknown seas, he pitched upon his old friends, the
stoutly-built, full-bottomed colliers of the North Sea trade.

His ship, the Endeavour, was a Whitby built vessel of three hundred and
seventy tons, and was known as H.M. Bark Endeavour, there being another
vessel, a cutter, of the same name in the Royal Navy. She was brought to
the dockyard at Deptford to fit out. Her appearance was, of course,
wholly different from that of a vessel built as a man-of-war, and we
shall see that this caused trouble at Rio Janeiro, where the combination
of merchant build and officers in uniform in an armed ship, aroused
suspicions in the mind of the Portuguese Viceroy.

It is nowhere directly stated whether the Endeavour was sheathed with
copper or not; but as Cook in the account of his second voyage expresses
himself as adverse to this method of protecting ships' bottoms, and the
operation is recorded of heeling and boot topping, which was cleaning and
greasing the part of the ship just below waterline, it may be concluded
that her sheathing was wood.

She proved a most suitable vessel. The log states she was a little crank,
but an admirable sea-boat. Her rate of sailing was of course, with her
build, slow, but her strength and flat bottom stood her in good stead
when she made acquaintance with a coral reef.

She mounted ten small carriage guns and twelve swivels.

Mr. Banks, a scientific botanist, afterwards well known as Sir Joseph
Banks, and for a long time President of the Royal Society, a gentleman of
private means, volunteered to accompany Cook, and took with him a staff
of his own, of artists and others.

He also induced Dr. Solander, a Swedish naturalist, afterwards attached
to the British Museum, to accompany him.

Mr. Charles Green, one of the assistants at the Royal Observatory at
Greenwich, was sent as astronomer.

This scientific staff added much to the success of the expedition.

Banks and Solander, both men of observation, were able to collect
specimens of natural history, and st