BLACK DOG STUDIOS

'Triumph of the Navigators' by Robin Brooks

This print is available fully framed, mounted and ready to hang, an example of the framing can be seen to the right of the above image.

The Triumph of the Navigators'
Endeavour 13th July 1771
Ref. BD1

Endeavour, a humble Whitby collier, was selected by the Admiralty for an important voyage, she sailed from Plymouth under the command of Lieutenant James Cook on Friday 26th August 1768. Her mission was to sail to Tahiti in time to observe the transit of Venus. Before she returned home Cook had charted New Zealand, and the east coast of Australia. This was the first voyage that determined longitude accurately at sea and the first to make a long distance voyage without losing a single man to scurvy. Endeavour returned to England's shores on July 13th 1771.

" The little Endeavour and the achievements of Cook have always fascinated me and I was searching for an incident from Cook's first voyage which would somehow capture the triumph of his achievement. I read and reread the journals, there were so many incidents just crying out to be put on canvas yet in the end it was the title that suggested the painting 'The Triumph of the Navigators' "The painting depicts the Endeavour at approximately 12.30 in the final few hours of her circumnavigation of the world. She runs briskly through the Dover Strait under a south-westerly gale. She has reefed topsails topgallant yards have been sent down. By three o'clock she had anchored in the downs, and soon after that Cook had landed and had taken a coach to London."Working from the Ship's log I considered all the possibilities, from sighting the Lizard till they made their landfall. I wanted to portray Endeavour, this worn and tired little ship with patched sails and breaking rigging, as it were at a moment of ecstasy. Sailors that have been away for a very long time have told me that the sight of the white cliffs of Dover are truly the sight of having come home. So I decided this was the moment to try and capture. Having taken that decision I enlisted the help of the Dover Pilots and a Mr Frank Baker who lives near Dungeness. Working through all reference material we were able to plot Endeavour's course with, we believe, a high degree of accuracy to get into a position that would suit the composition."

It is interesting to note - The dating of the Journal is according to 'Ship time' , by which the twenty-four hour day begins twelve hours before the day of civil time, and runs from noon to noon. Cook's p.m. precedes his a.m. Thus his Friday, May 27th corresponds with civil Thursday, May 26th p.m. and civil Friday 27th am his Saturday begins on civil Friday afternoon, and so on . At Tahiti, as he explains, he abandons this convention for civil time, reverting there after to Ship time for the rest of the voyage.
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