Endeavour.

Tuesday. My day off. This was first spent taking an old huge mattress to the tip. This was good, as it cleared a huge space.....but a bit boring for a day off where I like to go off somewhere to take some photos and poke around some junk shops. All was not lost however.

On the way back from the tip we called into the  charity shop in Yeadon. Believe it or not I wanted another mattress for the loft bedroom....they had plenty. But not at a price I was willing to pay. So I checked around and found this John Freeman print.

Whitby it is.

 John Freeman is an artist who lives and works in Whitby. He came from Doncaster in 1969 and opened his studio in the market place on the east side of Whitby. It has been there as long as I can remember. So when I saw the Print in the junk shop yesterday I knew exactly what and who I was looking at. I asked how much for The John Freeman and another Meadow Sutcliffe photo in a frame?.

£10.00 for the Freeman and £3.00 for the Sutcliffe. was the reply. UMMM ! I said. I will just take the Sutcliffe then I think. .....So the lady in charge let me have them both for a tenner. Too much? yes possibly, and more than I like to pay. Lee paid by electronic zapping of the computerised do dah and the pain was not so bad.
So now I have a John Freeman print of the Endeavour replica coming into Whitby harbour. Not bad ......
His main and most prolific inspiration is Whitby and North Yorkshire, but mostly Whitby. He works in watercolour. and this is the medium of the print I found .

Other pictures of this great ship at Whitby.

This replica in these pictures by John Freeman was built in Australia from original plans of Captain Cook's ship.

 Maritime museum Australia

HM Bark Endeavour replica which was commanded by Lieutenant James Cook when he charted New Zealand and discovered the eastern coast of Australia. the idea to recreate this vessel was for the marine museum in Australia. in the 1980s. originally funded by the Bond Corporation and to be gifted to the nation. They ran into financial trouble and so did the next Yoshiya Cororation who stepped in. volunteers maintained the incomplete vessel until The HM Endevour foundation was founded as a charitable trust in 1991. This ship was launched in 1993 and completed in 1994.after sea trials the replica sailed from Fremantle to Sydney arriving in 1994 then in 1995 recreated Captain Cook's voyage  along the coast of Australia and New Zealand before circumnavigating the world.

 Here are some photos I took of the statue of Captain Cook on my last visit to Whitby with ladies who are related to the families who owned Bagdale hall and the old Chomley Mansion on the cliff by the Abbey ruins......Their ancestors  Quakers and emigrated to the new world..

 james cook (1728-1779)  was born in Marton near Middlesborough and later apprenticed to a small draper in Staithes. here he fell in love with the sea and the rest is history as they say.  This times are remembered in Captain Cook and Staithes heritage centre. Later he moved to Whitby and became a trainee with a local shipping firm.The house he lodged in with his master is still in Grape Lane and is now a museum to him as well. He joined the Royal navy and was rapidly promoted to command.
Both his famous ships were built in Whitby. The Resolution and the Endeavour.

James Cook was introduced to the Walker family. John Walker and his brother Henry were Quaker ship owners engaged in the coal trade. The Quakers were strong in this part of the world and known for their simple life style, business acumen, public spirit and hospitality. James Cook lodged with the walker family when not at sea.The walker family ships were workaday "cats" trading to London and across the North sea. Cook began life as a sailor in 1747 carring a cargo of coal to London.The ship was called the Freelove. and he also took part in rigging and fitting out a new ship  called  the Three brothers. He signed on  during this time and became part of a voyage to the Baltic and St Petersburg in the Mary. In 1752  he became mate and joined another of the walkers ships called the Friendship, sailing in her for three years. By 1755 he was offered the command of the ship.
In 1755 James Cook left Whitby and joined the Royal Navy. He served on HMS Eagle for two years.
He remained friends with the Walker family and they continued to support him in his career.

James Cook also married a Quaker called Elizabeth Batts of Shadwell in 1762. This lady had close links to the walker brothers business links in London. I do not know if James Cook became a Quaker also. I think it very likely.

So this find of a John Freeman print of the endevour replica at Whitby is to go on the wall in the bedroom. very lovely it looks too.