Christmas with a difference.....

Fancy Christmas with a difference this year?  How about a trip to Christmas Sound, Tierra del Fuego and follow in the footsteps of the legendary Captain James Cook [Image 1].

Image I - Christmas Sound, Tierra del Fuego

December 1774 saw Captain Cook and his crew on the waters off Tierra del Fuego.  This archipelago at the southernmost tip of South America was given the name Tierra del Fuego [land of fire] by passing Spanish explorers who observed bonfires lit by local native inhabitants.

Captain Cook’s expedition surveyed this area from 20 to 28 December 1774, and made a detailed record of their observations.  The Local Studies collection at the Hull History Centre is fortunate enough to have all THREE voyages of Captain James Cook. This includes three volumes relating to Cook’s circumnavigation of the globe [published in 1773], two volumes relating to Cook’s voyage towards the South Pole [published 1777] and three volumes relating to Cook’s voyages in the Pacific Ocean published in 1785.

The account of the observations from Tierra del Fuego can be found in Captain Cook’s Second Voyage, Volume Two.  They anchored off-shore on the 21 December and set out to explore and survey the surrounding area.  There were two shooting parties who were successful in hunting geese and shags for the crew to eat.  Captain Cook noted that:

“For that I was able to make distribution to the whole crew, which was more acceptable on account of the approaching Festival.  For, had not providence thus singularly provided for us, our Christmas cheer must have been salt beef and pork” [Image 2]

Image 2 - salt beef and pork

Christmas day found the crew partaking of their Christmas cheer – they had not experienced such fare for some time.  James Cook wrote that:

“Roast and boiled geese, goose-pie & c. was a treat little known to us; and we had yet some Madeira wine left, which was the only article in our provision that was mended by keeping.  So that our friends in England did not, perhaps, celebrate Christmas more cheerfully than we did” [Image 3]

Image 3 - Christmas Day fare

On the 27^th December, out of gratitude for the abundance of Christmas fare that his crew had enjoyed, James Cook decided to name the place where the Christmas festival was celebrated “Christmas Sound”.

“When I returned on board, I found everything got off the Shore: so that we now only wanted for a wind to put to sea.  The festival, which we celebrated at this place, occasioned my giving it the name of Christmas Sound.” [Image 4]

Image 4 - Naming of 'Christmas Sound' by Captain Cook

No matter where you in the world you are celebrating, have a happy and joyful Christmas.

Caoimhe West, Reader Assistant, Unlocking the Treasures Project