Amongst the many travel books held within the Cathedral Library
there is a published account by Captain Edward Cooke (fl. 1710), in which he describes in
detail, his travels and adventures around the world. This voyage was undertaken
between August 1st 1708, from the port of Bristol and arrived back
in England on October 2nd 1711. The book is written in a diary style
and describes all the events, amazing sightings and discoveries encountered on their
epic voyage.
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| Image copyright the Chapter of Worcester Cathedral (U.K), 2014 |
The first part of Cooke’s voyage was to the Cape Verde
islands and then on to the coast of Brazil, where on Sunday 14th of
November, land was sighted off the Island Grande. Two crew members bargained
for a canoe to take them ashore, but they got lost and, on seeing a number of
wild beasts, they thought better of it and returned to the ship “begging for
God’s sake to be brought aboard, or they should be devoured”. They were taken
on board and confined in irons. The following morning they were whipped then
set free.
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| Image copyright the Chapter of Worcester Cathedral (U.K.) 2014. |
One of the first maps to appear in the book is of “The
Island Grande”, off the coast of Brazil. It shows the anchorage points, and a
few lines of text accompany the map explaining that the island was mainly used
by the French in this period, bound for the South Seas. The French generally
landed there to gather wood and water before continuing on their journey. The
island is also described as having a very rich gold mine. Captain Cooke was
particularly taken by the large variety of fish he encountered in the seas
surrounding the island. He included another plate and observations on seeing
sharks that “seize men as they are swimming taking off a Limb at a Bite”. No. 5
is described as a “sucking-fish”, or what we today call a cat fish.
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| Image copyright the Chapter of Worcester Cathedral (U.K.) 2014 |
Further on in the book, Cooke describes the city of Santiago,
Chile. His account of the city explains its founding and layout. This section
is also accompanied by a map of the city, which Cooke describes as being laid
out in “the form of a chess-board” (it’s easy to see why!).Churches and the
city’s cathedral are the main items plotted.
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| Image copyright the Chapter of Worcester Cathedral (U.K), 2014 |
Chapter X of Cooke’s voyage describes the island of San Juan
Fernandez, which is famous for being the setting of Daniel Defoe’s classic
novel, Robinson Crusoe. In A Cruising Voyage Around the World (1712) Woodes
Rogers, who was on board Cooke’s ship, had described saving a Scottish sailor,
Alexander Selikirk, who had been marooned on this island for four years. Yet,
interestingly, according to Cook’s account, the stranded man was a Mosquito Indian
called William, not a Scott.
Cooke also gives an account of the city of Cusco, capital of
Peru and the historic capital of the Incas. Cooke’s description of this
magnificent city is accompanied by this panoramic view. Cooke says “Nothing inferior were their
[the Incas'] stupendious structures, among which the whole city of Cusco deserves to be described
but it would take up more room than we can afford”. Central to the woodcut, you
can see a picture of the Cathedral of San Domingo, which is today an UNESCO
world heritage site. The Cathedral was built atop the Inca palace, which was built
for the ruler Viracocha around a century before the Spanish conquistadors arrived.
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| Image copyright the Chapter of Worcester (U.K) 2014 |
In next week’s blog I follow Cooke as he journeys to the
Northern Part of South America, and visits Mexico and Acapulco!
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