User:Genealogy Jo/Richard Pickersgill

Richard Pickersgill (c. 1749 - 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer who had circumavigated the world three times before reaching the age of 19, but is generally forgotten despite sailing with Samuel Wallis in 1766 and with James Cook on his first and second circumnavigation voyages. He was involved in the observations of the Transit of Venus in 1769. He captained the disastrous voyage to Baffin's Bay searching for the North West passage from the Atlantic and was meant to meet Cook's third voyage if Cook had successfully navigated through it from the Pacific. He is generally accepted as the author of an early history of the search for the passage. Pickersgill was an accomplished surveyor, mapmaker and hydrographer who also kept logs and journals on his voyages which record anecdotes about native peoples, flaura and fauna. He proved conclusively that the Maori's were cannibals.

Early Life and Naval Career
Although little is known about Pickersgill's early life, he was baptised on at St Nicholas's Church in West Tanfield on 18 April 1749, the son of Richard Pickersgilland Ann Pickersgill, he married Ann Lee on 09 June 1748 at Wath Juxta Ripon. It was probably through Ann's brother John that Pickersgill joined the Navy. John Lee was the personal servant of George Jackson, who was employed by the admiralty. Jackson entered the Navy Board about 1743 and rose to become second secretary to the Admiralty, a post that he held between 1766 and 1782. .

He served as Captain's servant and Able Seaman aboard the Tartar before joining the Dolphin as Master's Mate under Samuel Wallis and producing surveys of Magellan Straits. Along with several other crew members, he subsequently served under James Cook as Master's mate on HMS Endeavour but during the voyage was promoted to Master. It is Picksersgill's map which shows Botany Bay under the original name Stingaray Harbour. Cook subsequently recommended him for further promotion to third Lieutenant and he served as such on HMS Resolution for Cook's Second Voyage. Upon promotion he was appointed Captain of HMS Lyon and surveyed Baffin Bay in 1776 and 1777. Disputes during the voyage with Micheal Lyons later led to Pickersgill's being courtmartialled on 6 February 1778 and blacklisted from the Navy. He subsequently took command of a privateer prior to his untimely death.

Assessed by John Elliott as a good officer and astronomer but liking ye grog, this ironically foretold of Pickersgill's untimely demise, as Johann Reinhold Forster states Pickersgill drowned in the River Thames after falling from the gang plank whilst drunk. The whereabouts of his grave is unknown.

Legacy
Places named after Pickersgill
 * Pickersgill Islands
 * Pickersgill Cove
 * Pickersgill Harbour in Dusky Bay, New Zealand as painted by William Hodges
 * Pickergill Reef, part fo the Great Barrier Reef

Works
Pickersgill, R. A Precise Account of Voyages for the Discovery of a North West Passage, 1782

Holmes, C. (Ed.) Captain Cook's Second Voyage: the Journals of Lieutenants Elliot and Pickersgill'', Caliban Books, 1984, ISBN-10: 0904573397, ISBN-13: 978-0904573398