PEOPLE’S PUBS

RMT helpline 0800 3763706 :: may 2010 :: RMTnews 32 The great explorer James Cook (1728-1779) drastically reduced the number of deaths of ships' crews by introducing a new diet. The son of an agricultural worker he had first been a shop worker in Staithes at the age of 12 before becoming a ship apprentice in nearby Whitby at the age of 18. After rising to become a captain he was appalled when 30 of his crew of 85 died on one voyage from scurvy and fever. Determined to prevent this happening again he consulted medical experts and then introduced a new diet. This included spruce beer (made from the juice of wort), and celery boiled with peas and wheat. After this only one crew member died over three years, during which they sailed to the Arctic Circle and discovered New Caledonia and Southern Georgia. His paper on this method of preserving seamen's lives earned him a medal from the Royal Society in 1776. He was born in a small farmworker's cottage, which had previously been an alehouse called the Bear, at Marton in Cleveland. His first connection with the sea came when he sold fishermen's equipment and ale in a shop on the seafront at Staithes next to the Cod and Lobster pub. Smuggling was rife in the area and he soon learned to bring small boats inshore in the dark (a skill which later proved useful when fighting the French in North America many years later). After a disagreement with his boss he quit the shop job and became an apprentice at a shipping company in Whitby (living in an attic) and was soon sailing on colliers. This took him to the Thames in London where he volunteered to join the navy in 1755 at the start of the war against France, which was also fought in North America. After the war he sailed around and charted accurately New Zealand and the east coast of Australia (New South Wales was so named because he thought it resembled the Welsh shores of the Bristol Channel). His death came in the Hawaiian Islands where he discovered that the local sugar cane made a very palatable beer (he also liked a glass of punch). The trouble flared up when his ship was anchored in Karakakoa Bay, and he had one of the natives flogged for stealing on board. Another of the natives stole one of the ship's boats and when Cook went to retrieve it he was surrounded, then clubbed and stabbed to death, and his body dismembered and partly burned. His death is depicted in a painting in the Captain Cook Heritage Centre, High Street, Staithes, which has many other interesting exhibits. The shop in the village where he worked has now eroded into the sea. Dear editor, I read with interest the article in March 20 10 edition of RMT News called “Close Ferry Owners ‘Shameful’ Low-Pay Loophole. Unfortunately the article was accompanied a photo of a Wightlink vessel, the St Clare, which may mislead some of your readers to assume that Wightlink is one of the ferry owners referred to in the article. Wightlink has collective bargaining arrangements in place with RMT and Nautilus. I can assure you that Wightlink does not pay any of its employees less than the minimum wage. Yours sincerely John Burrows Wightlink operations director WIGHTLINK PAYS ITS WAY PEOPLE’S PUBS - Words by Mike Pentelow, Pictures by Peter Arkell CAPTAIN COOK INN CAPTAIN COOK INN, 60 STAITHES LANE, STAITHES, NORTH YORKSHIRE