James Cook in Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz de Tenerife · Category: Literature · Subcategory: Literary fragments · Year: 1776 · Authors: James Cook

James Cook (Marton, England, 1728-Hawai'i, 1779) was one of the greatest navigators, explorers and cartographers of all time. Captain of the British Royal Navy, he undertook three magnificent voyages to the Pacific. On his journeys, Cook established the first recorded contact of Europeans with the eastern coast of Australia, made the first circumnavigation of New Zealand (1770), was one of the first to cross the Antarctic polar circle (1773), and was also the first European to visit the Hawaiian Islands (1778), which he called the “Sandwich Islands”, after the fourth Earl of Sandwich, John Montagu, then in charge of the Royal Navy.

For his third and final voyage, which began in Plymouth on 12 July 1776, Cook had his ship the HMS Resolution and another vessel, the HMS Discovery , commanded by Charles Clerke. The main objective of the two ships was to discover a navigable passage between the Atlantic and the Pacific via the northernmost part of America. 

On 1 August 1776 the two ships with one hundred and ninety-two men on board, including sailors and scientists, anchored in the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife to stock up on a variety of fresh products. Possibly James Cook had already visited the Canaries on previous voyages, although it was on this last expedition that he left a written record of his impressions of what he saw in Santa Cruz at that time: 

“… at eight o'clock we anchored on the southeast side of the Santa Cruz roadstead, at twenty-three fathoms over a muddy sandy bottom. Punta de Nago , the eastern point of the roadstead, lies north 64 degrees east of us. To the west-south-west, we had the church of San Francisco, whose bell tower stood out prominently…”

Later, after expressing admiration for the great kindness with which he had been received by the local authorities, the English sailor comments on the impression the city made on him:

“The city of Santa Cruz, which is not very large, is quite well built; the churches have nothing magnificent on the outside, but the interior is decent and somewhat adorned. They are not as beautiful as some in Madeira. This difference stems from the character of its inhabitants rather than their poverty. The Spaniards of Santa Cruz live and dress better than the Portuguese of Madeira, who seem willing to strip themselves of everything in order to adorn their churches.”

Finally, after highlighting certain customs and landscapes, Cook said farewell to Santa Cruz, after four days' stay, with the following words:

“After filling our barrels and embarking all the things we needed, on 4 August we set sail from Tenerife and continued our route with a good north-east wind.”

The expedition set off on a long journey to Cape Town, New Zealand, Tonga, Tahiti, the Hawaiian Islands (discovered by him), the west coast of North America, the Bering Strait (searching unsuccessfully for a passage), and returned to Hawai'i to spend the winter. There, on those islands that he himself had put on the map, James Cook would die at the hands of the natives in February 1779. Two and a half years had passed since he set sail from the port of Santa Cruz heading south.

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