Q2 Post14

Along the way to the Cape of Good Hope, most of the sick men from Batavia start to get better, but do not recover 100 percent. Most of the crew has time off when not attending to the sick or doing other little necessary chores aboard the ship. Nich and his companion (Francis) that helped him slip aboard Endeavour spend a few times teaching Francis how to read and write. He has been coming along slowly, but keeps learning and gets ever more excited the more he is able to read. Later on into the Indian Ocean though, Endeavour comes upon a monsoon storm which has the healthy portion of the crew working hard to keep all the sails from tearing and to keep Endeavour afloat and the sick even more sick from all the swaying. Other than a few days of a setback through the storm, Nich and Tarheto (since Tupia died in Batavia) spend a bit of time together. Only one problem, Tarheto is starting to become a little homesick of Taihiti and longs to see breadfruit trees and palm trees.

Q2 Post13

Upon their departure from Batavia, the Endeavour and her crew have so far lost more than 20 men from her original crew, most of them from sickness, a few others from accidents or clashes with natives. Nich is one of the luck few who has always been able to stay healthy and pull his (and some others, especially while teaching one of the crewmembers who helped him sneak aboard Endeavour how to read) weight aboard. Batavia had been a real problem for the crew since the dry docks had to overhaul a huge section of Endeavour's hull entirely and that took months with other ships in the yard as well. Although Captain had the sick and most of the crew move out of the city to see if the clearer air would help improve their health, it only slightly improved it. Sailing across the Indian Ocean now is coincidently timed right since the monsoon winds were going towards South Africa and the Cape of Good Hope, the vertex to their final leg of the their journey.

Q2 Post12

Another few days at the shoals and then Endeavour was able to get back out into deep ocean and sail for the East Indies. After a week or two, they sight land that is recognizable on their charts as parts of the eastern parts of the Indies. Landing on a island, the captain and some of the marines are attacked by some strange natives that are very brazen compared to the other natives they have been encountering so far in their journey. Eventually, they arrive at the city of Batavia, one of the most eastern cities in the East Indies. Endeavour and her crew must rest here for a while so they may restock and tend to their sick, although more people seem to be getting sick than recovering. This is very disheartening for the rest of the crew. A great problem is that some of the crew members are actually dying from the sickness, making the Captain more uneasy about the city and its sanitation procedures. Nich's health stays well, but Tarheto's older companion does not have such luck and ends up dying before they leave Batavia.

Q2 Post12

Endeavour and her crew are having a great run of bad luck. The weather is not cooperating with them and still won't allow them to set sail north for the East Indies. On the days that do allow them to sail, they must be guided by the Pinnace, a smaller boat that they use for river or shallow water exploration. This also means they cannot make much headway since they must be so careful not to run upon a shoal or more coral. One of the crew is able to shoot a kangaroo and it is served up to the men with little taste. Most of the men do not like it because it is bland and flavorless. Over the next few weeks, the crew works frantically to save Endeavour from the shoals since the wind has left them and the tide does not always favor them either. Twice, they have to take another passage between the shoals to a calmer, somewhat shallow spot so they could drop anchor. The captain figures that with the rations they have now, they will be able to last for about three more months, which is also when the winds will completely change direction and Endeavour will never be able to reach the Indies to restock for their journey home to England.

Q2 Post11

By the time the crew gets to work on Endeavour they find that ther was a huge peice of coral stuck in the hole that it had made. If it had not stayed in the hole, water would have come in at a much faster rate and the ship would have surley sunk. Nich helps around the camp with various chores such as well-digging, foraging for vegetables, and helping Mr. Banks find new plants to record in his books. After the carpenters pronounced Endeavour sea-worthy, it wasn't for several more days until the tide started coming in that they could get her back into the water. On one of Mr. Banks' exploratory trips, they found what they thought was a very starnge creature that was able to walk, or rather jump on two legs (turns out it was a kangaroo). After even more days passed, they were finally able to get Endeavour back up and on the water. Most of the sick are recovering which is cheerful and fils the men with good hope for what is to come. Nich and Tarheto have been learning about the place and growing increasingly knowlegable of the land.

Q2 Post10

While traveling north along the eastern coast of Australia, Endeavour and her crew sail into the Great Barrier Reef and get caught in one of the coral pieces during low tide. The crew has to work frantically to keep the ship from sinking by working the pumps on the ship. After several hours, everyone (except the captain and other commanding people) has worked the pumps and one of them is broken so that just allows more water to come into the ship. Eventually, the tide rises and lifts Endeavour off the coral and allows the carpenters to fasten a makeshift bottom to the hole and the water level in Endeavour finally starts to go down. During the next couple days, the crew has to carefully guide Endeavour through the reefs to land so the can fasten a new hull for the ship. Nich is by now incredibly worn out by all the pumping he has been doing and is grateful for the dry land once they finally make landfall to repair the ship. This is probably the hardest anyone has ever worked onboard Endeavour this whole journey.