n with Cook's. Left, by the separation, his own
master, he might have continued exploration, as did Cook. His ship was
staunch, his provisions in much the same condition as the Resolution's;
but he went straight home. His crew had suffered from scurvy, whereas
Cook's had not; but he says not one word of this, nor does he give any
reason why he gave up any further thought of the objects of the voyage,
except a search for Bouvet's Islands, which he also looked for on his
way.

It was the indomitable perseverance that led Cook to act so differently
that raised his reputation so far above all other leaders.

Thus ended this very remarkable voyage. Never was a ship's crew exposed
to more continual hardships, with so little to keep up interest and
excitement, as the people of the Resolution; and yet Cook is able to
record, with allowable pride, that only four lives had been lost, and
only one by a sickness contracted before leaving England.

Once more the scurvy was defeated; and, without a doubt, owing to the
intelligent action and untiring supervision of the captain. He gives a
full description of the measures adopted, and while giving full
acknowledgment to the anti-scorbutics with which he was supplied, he is
of opinion that the general sanitary precautions formed the best
prevention. Cleanliness of persons, bedding, clothes, and ship, were
continually enforced. All these were foreign to the sailors of the time,
and extraordinary it is that it was a man born in the lower rank of life,
and brought up in a collier, who had the sense to perceive that in these
lay the surest preventatives against this paralysing scourge.

Cook was promoted to captain--a proud position for the collier boy--and
elected a Fellow of the Royal Society; perhaps even a greater distinction
for a man of his bringing up. He contributed papers on his methods of
preventing scurvy, and on the tides of the Pacific.

He also employed himself in publishing the account of his recent voyage,
the only one which he himself edited.

He was not, however, long at rest. The Admiralty wished to send an
expedition to explore the north-western coasts of North America, and to
examine the Polar Sea from the Bering Straits side, with a view of the
discovery of a north-west passage. Cook seems to have volunteered for the
command without being actually asked, and, needless to say, was at once
accepted.

In February he once more received his commission to command the