Captain Cook and Mister Green
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Because the orbits of Venus and Earth are tilted to one another, transits
of Venus, which occur when Venus passes directly between Sun and Earth, are
rare. A transit of Venus occurred in 1639, before Halley's birth, with
the next transits scheduled for June 1761 and June 1769. In 1761, several expeditions
were launched to observe the transit and test Halley's proposal.
Unfortunately, only a limited amount of data was obtained, thanks to the vicissitudes
of weather and warfare.
The 1769 transit gave astronomers a welcome second chance. Many nations planned
expeditions. Britain's Royal Society formed the Committee on the Transit
of Venus to plan expeditions. The northern tip of Norway, Hudson's Bay
in Canada, and the South Pacific were selected as observing sites. The voyage
to the largely uncharted South Pacific would be the most difficult and expensive
of the three, though if done successfully, would return more than astronomical
measurements.
The committee cajoled the Navy into providing a fully manned ship. (The Admiralty
proved with the Barbados expedition that it was not averse to working with
astronomers.) Next, the committee flattered King George III into putting up £4,000 in
cash. George was an avid amateur astronomer and enjoyed his role as a patron
of science.
While the exact destination of the South Pacific expedition was being debated,
Captain Samuel Wallis of HMS Dolphin announced his discovery of an island he
called King George III Island (we now know it as Tahiti). The island would
be perfect for transit observations.
In addition to a destination, the committee also had to choose a commander
for the expedition. Its selection of James Cook, a lowly non-commissioned officer,
was a surprise. Many officers of much higher rank were angling for commands
after the end of the Seven Years' War left them on the beach.
Cook's selection was a tribute to his unparalleled skills as a navigator
and a cartographer, but the clinching reason for choosing him was his reputation
among astronomers, earned by his eclipse observations in Newfoundland.
Cook's astronomical skills were so highly regarded he was named one
of the expedition's two official astronomers. The other astronomer was
Green, bored with life on land. An additional incentive for Green was the promise
of £200 for his labors and an additional £100 a year if the voyage
lasted longer than two years.
The expedition's ship, Endeavour, was specially purchased by the Navy
for the trip after starting her career as an unadventurous commercial vessel
carrying coal from Newcastle to London. She has been ungallantly, but accurately,
described as a “chunky little tub,” only 106 feet long and 29 feet,
3 inches in the beam.
Into Endeavour were crammed 94 men. Among the dozen members of the scientific
staff, in addition to Green, was the young, wealthy naturalist Joseph Banks,
later to attain prominence as president of the Royal Society.
The expedition was not a solely astronomical one; it also went in search of
botanical, zoological, and anthropological information.
Endeavour, loaded with sailors and scientists, set out from Plymouth in August
1768. During the long voyage around Cape Horn and into the Pacific the patience
of all on board was greatly tried. Despite their many similarities, the relationship
between Cook and Green was always one of great mutual respect, but not of great
warmth.
Among his shipmates, Green developed a reputation as a heavy drinker. At the
time, alcohol was ubiquitous in the Royal Navy; every sailor received a daily
ration of a half-pint of rum and extra rations for special occasions.
On Christmas 1768, for instance, Cook noted in his journal that “the
People were none of the soberest.” Banks, with greater bluntness, wrote “all
hands got abominably drunk.” Whatever Green was drinking, it did not
interfere with his duties. He assisted Cook with his navigational observations
and taught the younger officers the fine points of celestial navigation.
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