A Narrative of the Death of Captain James Cook

Résumé du livre

David Samwell (15 October 1751 - 23 November 1798) was a Welsh naval surgeon and poet. He was an important supporter of Welsh cultural organisations and was known by the pseudonym Dafydd Ddu Feddyg. Samwell became a surgeon in the Royal Navy and between 1776 and 1779 he sailed around the world with Captain James Cook onboard HMS Resolution. As a ship's surgeon it was Samwell's job to ensure the crew's health did not deteriorate over the long journeys to the Pacific Ocean. Aboard the ship Samwell wrote of his travels, including some poetry. The journal of his experiences aboard Captain James Cook's ship provide a detailed account of the third and last voyages of Cook to the Pacific Ocean. Part of the journal describes the death of Captain Cook at the hands of natives on the Sandwich Islands in 1779. He also wrote an unpublished journal, Some Account of a Voyage to the South Seas 1776-1777-1778 which is an innovative work of social anthropology.