Sleepy Expedition

In the summers of 1772 to 1774, Captain Cook's Resolution sailed farther south than any ship before her, among islands of ice, with a watch locked in a box with three locks and the blue petrels for company.

Chapters

00:00 The glowing sea

07:12 The watch in the box

15:36 Ice for water

24:12 The line

32:05 A second summer

40:14 As far as it was possible

Every fact in this episode comes from the sources below, above all Cook's own account of the voyage, printed in 1777.

Sources

1. James Cook, A Voyage Towards the South Pole, and Round the World, Volume 1 (London, 1777), Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/15777/pg15777-images.html

2. British Library, Antarctic Anniversaries: Captains James Cook and Robert Scott: https://www.bl.uk/stories/blogs/posts/antarctic-anniversaries

3. Cambridge University Library, Observations of the going rates of the two timekeepers, 1772 to 1775 (RGO 14/59/3): https://archivesearch.lib.cam.ac.uk/repositories/2/archival_objects/110502

4. Oxfordshire Blue Plaques, Larcum Kendall: https://www.oxonblueplaques.org.uk/plaques/kendall.html

5. Antiquarian Horological Society, John Harrison and the Board of Longitude go digital: https://www.ahsoc.org/blog/john-harrison-and-the-board-of-longitude-go-digital/

6. V&A National Art Library, Intrepid Artists: William Hodges and a voyage towards the South Pole: https://www.vam.ac.uk/blog/museum-life/intrepid-artists-william-hodges-and-a-voyage-towards-the-south-pole

7. Wellcome Collection, The Resolution in the Antarctic circle, engraving by B. T. Pouncy after W. Hodges, 1777: https://content.wellcomecollection.org/works/z5t98dy5

8. State Library of New South Wales, The Resolution and Adventure, 4 Jan 1773, William Hodges: https://www2.sl.nsw.gov.au/events/exhibitions/2010/onehundred/100-objects/Exhibit-011.htm

9. Art Fund, The Resolution in a Stream of Pack-Ice, William Hodges: https://www.artfund.org/our-purpose/art-funded-by-you/the-resolution-in-a-stream-of-pack-ice

10. EBSCO Research Starters, First Ship to Cross the Antarctic Circle: https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/first-ship-cross-antarctic-circle

11. Royal Museums Greenwich, What is longitude?: https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/time/what-longitude

12. Wikipedia, HMS Resolution (1771): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Resolution_(1771)

Pictures: public domain works by William Hodges, Nathaniel Dance, Thomas Luny and others, with natural history plates of the birds Cook describes. Four scenes with no surviving picture (the penguins on the ice, the southern lights, Christmas among the ice, the edge of the ice field) are stylized illustrations made for this episode, drawn from Cook's own descriptions.

Narrated with a synthetic voice.

History told in the quiet hours.

sleepyexpedition.com

Slow, true stories from quiet places, told for sleep. In this first expedition, Captain Cook reaches the edge of the Antarctic ice and writes that he has gone "as far as it was possible for man to go."

The full story sets sail soon. Narrated with a synthetic voice.