Date: Fri 17-Jul-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Quick Words:

Endeavour-Cook-Blake-Norwalk

Full Text:

The Visiting "Endeavour" Makes A Splash In Norwalk

(with cuts)

( NOTE: additional notes concerning Banks, Cook & Endeavour that were not used

in the story are included at end of this file )

BY SHANNON HICKS

NORWALK -- The lunch crowd at SoNo Seafood Seaport, which rests right on the

banks of the Norwalk River, had quite a lunchtime show to go with their meal

last Friday afternoon.

With cannons shooting and horns from surrounding boats announcing her arrival,

the replica of Captain James Cook's most famous vessel arrived in Norwalk

Harbor last weekend, sliding up to the Norwalk Visitors Dock. The dock rests

opposite the outdoors dining patio of the South Norwalk restaurant, and once

the ship was secured, her tall masts were seen across the harbor from all

directions. Even without her sails, the replica Endeavour was an impressive

vessel to look at.

Endeavour is on her North American leg of a tour around the world. She

departed Fremantle, Australia, in 1994, on a voyage to circumnavigate the

world. A nine-day stop in Norwalk represented the only docking in Connecticut.

Endeavour will visit 16 ports on the East Coast of North America, reaching

Halifax, Nova Scotia, on October 9. She will make her way down the West Coast

next spring.

Captain Christopher Blake is leading a crew of 44. The 53-year old captain and

his crew brought Endeavour into Connecticut waters on July 9. Endeavour

entered the Long Island Sound early Thursday morning, and followed the state's

coastline from Old Saybrooks to Westport, where she spent the night anchored

just off shore at Sherwood Island State Park.

On Friday morning, Endeavour made the short trip from Sherwood Island to the

entrance of Norwalk River, where she was escorted into the harbor by a

flotilla of everything from tugboats, rowboats and canoes, and even the Belle

Island Ferry . Nearly two dozen boats of all shapes and sizes welcomes the

ship and her crew. A Norwalk police/fireboat led Endeavour to the slip where

she was to be anchored for her visit in Connecticut, with water spraying and

sirens announcing her arrival.

From the shore, the Mt Kisco Scottish Pipes & Drums group piped the ship into

port. The arrival of the ship coincided with the city's annual Splash!

Festival, and the city was starting the celebration a day early this year with

the arrival of the beautiful ship.

"I like this place already," Captain Blake said during a press conference.

After arriving on dry land, the captain was presented a key to the city by

Norwalk Mayor Frank Esposito.

"This was the second time [since arriving in North American waters] we've had

to tell the boats that came out to meet us to get out of the way so we could

see where we were going," the captain said with a laugh. The 53-year old

captain charmed the group who had greeted Endeavour and her crew from land,

sharing his stories of being greeted by the queen when the ship arrived in

England.

Endeavour opened for public tours on July 11. She remains in Norwalk through

Sunday, July 19. Built as an exact replica of James Cook's exploratory ship,

the ship is now a floating museum. Captain Cook, accompanied by Joseph Banks,

took the original Endeavour on what turned out to be a definitive exploratory

trip from 1768 to 1771. Capt Cook is credited with defining the coast of

Australia; Banks, who was knighted upon his return to England, discovered over

1,400 new plants.

"Everything below deck has been replicated down to the tiniest detail," said

Antonia Macarthur, the ship's historian. "Below decks, we want you to get the

idea that Cook and his crew has just left the boat, and this is what they have

left behind."

"We've gone to a lot of effort to make sure everyting is done right, right

down to the last detail," added Capt Blake.

Admission fees charged for public exploration of Endeavour are being used to

pay for the costs of running the ship and its upkeep.

The Norwalk Museum and The Maritime Aquarium are showing a concurrent special

exhibit, "Joseph Banks: The Greening of the Empire." Large-scale panels with

images of many of the animals and plants Sir Joseph discovered are on view,

along with replicated drawings by Banks and Johann Georg Adam Forster, who

acted as naturalist on the original Endeavour voyage.

The Splash! Festival has ended for this summer, but Endeavour 's visit in

Norwalk continues through Sunday, July 19, creating her own splash of

excitement. Public tours are available 10 am-6:30 pm. Fees are $25 for

families, $10 for adults, $8 for seniors, and $5 for children/students 18 and

under. Endeavour is docked at Veterans Memorial Park.

Sir Joseph Banks' manuscript journal from his voyage aboard HMS Endeavour was

first sold at auction by Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge on June 17, 1886. It was

offered for sale by Edward Knatchbull-Hugessen, Lord Brabourne, an ancillary

descendent of Banks.

The journal was purchased by Quaritch of London, who later sold it to the

Australian collector Alfred Lee. In 1906 the journal was purchased from Mr Lee

by David Scott Mitchell, who bequeathed it to the Mitchell Library the

following year.

When it discovered Australia, Endeavour was equipped with the latest

equipment. On board were quadrants, sextants and octants, to determine

latitude; a Harrison chronometer, the determine longitude; theodolites, plan

tables and graphometers, for mapmaking and surveying; a dip circle, to measure

the vertical component of the Earth's magnetic field; and a portable

observatory tent, to make magnetic, tidal and meteorological surveys and

verify the accuracy of the ship's chronometers.

One of Captain Cook's instructions upon departing on Endeavour was to

establish an observatory at Tahiti to view the Transit of Venus. Data obtained

from this, and several observation stations around the world, eventually

helped determine the distance between the sun and the earth, important

navigational information.

The idea was that the distance would be determined by observing the transit

from several locations simultaneously. The Endeavour took along a special

transit instrument, but haze spoiled the experiment on its initial test June

3, 1769.

However, during the voyage, Captain Cook became the first captain to calculate

his longitudinal position with accuracy, using a complex mathematical formula

developed during the 1760s.

The Endeavour replica is 110 feet in length overall, 29 feet at its widest.

She has 25 sails, and the height of the mainmast above water is 121 feet.

The wood used in her construction is Jarrah below the waterline, Oregon above.

She displaces 550 tons of water.

For those who sail the replica -- and even for those touring -- onboard

conditions are as close as possible to those of the 18th Century. However,

hidden from the public are modern engines, navigational and safety

equipment... for use in emergencies.

After working its way up the East Coast, Endeavour will sail back down the

East Coast and through the Panama Canal. She will tour the West Coast and

Hawaii in 1999. She will then return to Australia to become the centerpiece of

the country's National Maritime Museum in Sydney.

When Cook circumnavigated and completely charted the north and south islands

of New Zealand, it was his documentation that proved the country was comprised

of two islands, not one, as had been believed.

Also on board were Dr David Solander, who was the amateur Banks' teacher; the

artists Sydney Parkinson and Alexander Buchan; and the astronomer Charles

Green. Parkinson produced more than 1,000 drawings of the plants discovered on

the voyage, and also sketched what is believed to be the earliest visual

record of a meeting between Australian Aboriginals and Europeans.

Parkinson's drawings, and those of others, of the elaborate body art displayed

by South Seas natives inspired the tattoo craze among British sailors.

Endeavour set sail from Plymouth on August 25, 1768. At sea and land, Banks

was engaged in his natural history pursuits... when not incapacitated by

seasickness.

Joseph Banks introduced to the world 50 species of Pelargonium, more commonly

known as geraniums; 50 species of the popular garden plant Oxalis; and 86

species of Erica or Heath, a bush flower collected from South Africa.

He became a de factor director of The Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew. Under his

direction, the number of plants in the collection grew from 3,400 to 11,000.

One of the plants in the collection was Rosa banksia , a previously unknown

rose from China, which Banks named after his wife.

Banks was inspired by the palm trees of the South Pacific, so much so that he

proposed building giant greenhouses at Kew Gardens to house them.

Unfortunately, Banks died in 1820, before the Palm House at Kew was built.

On May 8, 1992, the space shuttle Endeavour blasted off successfully from Cape

Canaveral in Florida. The orbiter Endeavour was named after the original H.M.

Bark Endeavour . One part of the shuttle's payload was a trunnel, or treenail.

The same thin West Australian hardwood that was used on the shuttle later

became part of the replica Endeavour .

When asked by a fellow grad of Oxford in 1768 what part of Europe Joseph Banks

planned to cover for his customary grand tour, Banks' reply was: "Every

blockhead does that. My grand tour shall be one round the whole globe..."

The trip was financed by the Admiralty, Banks' inherited fortune, King George

III, and the Royal Society.

(journal entry of Banks) "Walkd out shooting today Killd nothing but found a

Plant," Joseph Banks, Newfoundland, 16 June 1766

Panels in the National Geographic Society's exhibition, "Joseph Banks: The

Greening of the Empire," present some of Banks' drawings, even a few that have

what has become considered a pseudonym, Artist of the Chief Mourner, who did 8

watercolors now in the collection of British Library. There is strong evidence

the artist is Banks. Works include "An English Naval Officer bartering with a

Maori" and "Black Stains on the Skin called Tattoo."

There are also drawings by Johann Georg Adam Forster, son of the naturalist

John Reinhold Foster. Johann acted as his father's assistant and the artist on

the expedition. His watercolors and pencil drawings from the voyage fill four

volumes.

Photos are modern depictions of some of Banks' discoveries, including the bugs

and plants like termite, flying fox (bat), weaver ant and mud skipper, and

photos of the replica Endeavour. Photos are by Cary Wolinsky and David

Doubilet, both National Geographic photographers.

There is also a reproduction of a portrait of Sir Joseph Banks at age 66, when

he was president of the Royal Society. "...The red ribbon [a sash on his coat

denoting presidency of Royal Society] has made no alteration to Sir Joseph in

any respect than that there is a red ribbon on his waistcoat. He sprawls upon

the Grass kisses Toads and is just as good-humoured... a nondescript of an

Otheitan as ever!" (attrib to Maria Josepha Holroyd, 1790s)