User:Harkey Lodger/Sandbox

Lt. Richard Pickersgill, a Yorkshire man, sailed with Capt. Cook.Richard Pickersgill born in 1712 in a small village called Kirklington. North Yorks.Resolution was initially anchored off Anchor Point at the eastern tip of Anchor Island, but like much of the Sound this is somewhat exposed, especially to the prevailing south-westerly winds and swells rolling in, and it proved to be an unsatisfactory anchorage. Lieutenant Richard Pickersgill--"a good officer but liking ye grog" according to Cook--was despatched to seek out a better anchorage. He duly located a "snug little harbour" a few miles to the south and Resolution was accordingly worked over to what Cook named 'Pickersgill Harbour'.He didn't accompany Cook on his Third Voyage round the world, but was promoted to be the captain of a ship that would, hopefully, meet Captain Cook as Cook appeared round the top of Canada. Pickersgill was sent to Baffin Bay on the east coast of Canada, whilst Cook was sent to the west coast to find a sea passage back to Britain. Nobody had found the passage from the Atlantic so it was hoped they would find it from the Pacific. Unfortunately, Pickersgill's ship, the Lyon, was sent late in the season and Pickersgill leadership was wanting. He returned in disgrace and was court-martialled, tough some of the blame lay with the Admiralty. It is not clear what happened to him after that, but Johann Forster, the German scientist on Cook's Second Voyage, later wrote that he had become a privateer. He died in 1779, the same year as Cook, from falling over while boarding a ship and drowning in The Thames. He was 30 years old. Like Cook he was a Yorkshireman, having been born in West Tansfield, not far from Ripon, in 1749. He was described by one of Cook's crew as "a good officer and astronomer, but liking ye Grog".