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[TSL] bradford and captain cook
"elizabeth abbott" <abbottliz@tallships.ca> on 05/06/1999

help! for 20 years i've been on this one: my ancestor reverend richard
bradford born 1752 in rotherhithe surrey london england was said to have
sailed as a middy with captain cook. this story has cropped up in enough
places to make me believe it is reliable, for instance the london archives
of the society for the propagation of the gospel for which he was later a
missionary. also his bishop in new york, bishop hobart mentions it in one
line from his memoirs that bradford sailed to the south seas with cook. it
appears that he was converted during a violent storm and on getting back to
england around 1776 he entered the ministry. then there were family
anecdotes, from types like engineers and doctors; it seems impossible that
these folks were all wrong. yet beaglehole's lists which are now used by the
admiralty - show nothing - and he is not mentioned in cook's memoirs,
however not all crew were mentioned in any of the journals just a few names.
i have wondered if bradford could have been a young man from a wealthy
family who used a name belonging to a property, or a family name. anyhow, it
is clear that perusing the standard lists will not shed light on this
subject, as he just does not show up. there must be some other explanation.
is it possible that he was on some sort of companion ship; or could it be
that he was with cook on some other expedition other than the really famous
ones? i did read somewhere that there were claims made in england on the
admiralty pensions by persons claiming that they were along on the voyage
but had been left out of receiving pensions. so it seems that record keeping
was a little lax. any help at all most gratefully received. p.s. another
family surname was wrottesley.


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[TSL] bradford and captain cook 05/06/1999: [Posted by "elizabeth abbott" <abbottliz@tallships.ca>]

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