Cook's mementos
Captain James Cook's widow, Elizabeth, cherished mementos of her husband's life, until her own death in 1835. Like so many army or navy widows, Elizabeth also carefully preserved items from her husband's uniform, including his dress sword and shoe buckles. Long after the official period of mourning for her husband's death, Elizabeth Cook continued to wear a cameo-style memorial ring. So long in fact, that she was still wearing it in a portrait painted of her aged in her eighties.
Possibly the memento which evokes the greatest response almost two-and-a half centuries later is the waistcoat made from Tahitian tapa cloth. Cook brought the cloth back from his second voyage and it was embroidered by his wife during the fateful third voyage. When Cook did not reurn from the voyage, the waistcoat remained unfinished.
An intriguing object is a small, coffin-shaped, carved wooden ditty box with a lid which swivels to reveal a tiny naive painting of Cook's death and a lock of his hair. This little relic was carved by sailors on Cook's last ship, HMS Resolution, as a keepsake for his wife.
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