Example 1777 World Events

Bill Silver Cape Cod Associates RE

158 Upper County Road Presents 1777

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JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN

2 nd Battle of Assunpink Creek

17 th Birth of Patrick Bront ё

3 rd Crowel - Nickerson Marriage

14 th Flag Day

<---> General Wash- ington In Morris- town

??? Lucy Knox Letter

3 rd Battle of Princeton

13 th Battle of

24 th Battle of Sag Harbor

Bound Brook

12 th Santa Clara

JAN

30 th Birth of Johann Gauss

15 th Vermont Republic

25 th Mozart’s Piano Concerto #9

Introduction –

King Ge

King’s Pin

ve  TOC JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC {Click to see its article} Event Title

2 nd Siege of Fort Ticon- deroga

6 th Battle of Oriskany

19 th - - - 17 th Battles of Saratoga

1 st Congress Proclaims National Thanks- giving Day

19 th Valley Forge

24 th Cook’s 3 rd Voyage — Christmas Island

31 st Lafayette Joins American Army

15 th Articles of Confed- eration

– Kelley Family

orge III

ne Boards

Introduction – and th

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This FlipBook magazine is intended to give you a sense of what life was like here in 1777, and what other historic events happened around the world in that year. 158 Upper Country Road was built in 1777 . David Kelley, believed to be a Captain in the Revolutionary Army, was probably the original owner. This David 5 Kelley was born into the fifth of eleven generations of the David Kelley family. There was at least one David Kelley in each generation. The first David Kelley (aka O'Kelley, O'Killea) was born about 1636 in County Galway, Ireland. His parents died aboard ship on the voyage to America, and the sea captain dropped him off at Cape Cod. He became an indentured servant to John Darby, and later to Edward Sturges. The earliest official record of David appears in 1655 when David was implicated in charges of fornication with his future wife Jane Powell, a Welsh servant of one William Swift. She was 17 and he was 19. He married Jane in 1670 and they lived in Yarmouth. Their children were: Jeremiah, David, John, Benjamin, Elizabeth, Sarah, and Joseph. David died in 1697; Jane died in 1711 . Jeremiah was the great grandfather of David 5 Kelley.

he David Kelley Family

Great Kelley Clan First Names Amasa Bangs Barlo Lovely Mercy Minerva Nabby Obea

Bethiah Cahoon Charity Cyrenius Data Daty Diadama Drusey Erastus Experience Fear Hattil Hersey Jabez

Peace Puella Salmon Sands Savary Shubael Sintha Tamsin Thankful

I went to great lengths to obtain accurate information, but offer no guarantee that everything stated in this eMag is completely factual.

Venny Waity Wind Zadock Zenus Zilpha

Bill Silver

Keziah Lettice Libni

For a complete list of the Kelley clan see: “David O’Killea the Immigrant of Old Yarmouth …” by Eunice Kelley Randall

King Geo

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Trick Question 158 Upper County Road was built in 1777 . Who was President of the United States? King George III . Even though the American colonies had declared their independence from England and King George the year before, there was no single leader of the rebelling Americans. Our George was not inaugurated as our first president until 1789. The planet Uranus was originally named "Georgium sidus," the Georgian Star, after King George III of England, who had funded the 40-foot telescope used in its discovery. Outside of Cape Cod, and the 13 Colonies, there were many interesting events in 1777. Although it seems that life on Cape Cod was rather peaceful in 1777, this was a year of constant battles against both the British and Americans who were loyal to the King. We call it the Revolutionary War, but in reality it was more like our First Civil War. In some states more Americans were killed by other Americans than were killed by British soldiers.

orge III

Born King Died 1738 1760 1820

King’s Pin

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King’s Pine Boards

Starting in 1711, the King’s Mark or “Broad Arrow” branded the widest, tallest old-growth Eastern White Pines in the American Colonies as property of the King of England. Colonists who violated this rule would be fined £100 (about $180,000 today). Unlike hardwood, White Pine can stand for years without cracking. It is soft, easy to cut, straight, and contains few knots. By 1691 the Crown had claimed almost all White Pines more than 24-inches in diameter, and marked them using the King’s Broad Arrow. They later reduced the diameter to 12 inches. The Colonists of the area were outraged. Pine was valuable for boards necessary in building their own homes. They routinely poached the pines. In 1772, a riot in Weare, New Hampshire occurred over the punishment of six sawmill owners caught milling trunks marked by the King’s Arrow. The incident, called the “Pine Tree Riot” has been cited as a precursor to the Boston Tea Party. Indeed, the first flag of the American Revolutionaries carried the image of a White Pine in the upper left-hand corner.

ne Boards

19” floor board

Upstairs hall 158 Upper County

King’s Pine Board With false split!

Battle of the Assunpink

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The Battle of the Assunpink Creek , a.k.a. the Second Battle of Trenton took place in and around Trenton, New Jersey, on January 2, 1777 . The battle resulted in an American victory. After the Continental’s surprise victory at the Battle of Trenton on December 26, 1776, General George Washington expected a strong British counter-attack. He decided to meet this attack in Trenton, and established a defensive position south of the Assunpink Creek. Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis led the British forces southward after the December 26 battle. Leaving 1,400 men in Princeton, Cornwallis advanced on Trenton with about 5,000 men on January 2. His advance was significantly slowed by defensive skirmishing by American riflemen, and his advance guard did not reach Trenton until twilight. After assaulting the American positions three times, and being repulsed each time, Cornwallis decided to wait and finish the battle the next day. Washington moved his army around Cornwallis's camp that night and attacked at Princeton the next day. This defeat prompted the British to withdraw from most of New Jersey for the winter.

k Creek – January, 2 nd

Battle of Princeton –

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The Battle of Princeton was a small battle in which General George Washington's revolutionary forces defeated British forces near Princeton, New Jersey. On the night of January 2, 1777 George Washington, Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, repulsed a British attack at the Battle of the Assunpink Creek in Trenton. That night, he evacuated his position, circled around General Lord Cornwallis' army, and went to attack the British garrison at Princeton. Brigadier General Hugh Mercer of the Continental Army clashed with two regiments under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Charles Mawhood of the British Army. Mercer and his troops were overrun and Washington sent some militia under Brigadier General John Cadwalader to help him. The militia, on seeing the flight of Mercer's men, also began to flee. Washington rode up with reinforcements and rallied the fleeing militia. He then led the attack on Mawhood's troops, driving them back. Mawhood gave the order to retreat and most of the troops tried to flee to Cornwallis in Trenton.

– January 3 rd , 1777

George Washington at the Battle of Princeton

Mission Santa Clara de A TOC

Mission Santa Clara de Asís is a Spanish mission founded by the Franciscan order in the present-day city of Santa Clara, California. The mission, the eighth in California, was founded on January 12, 1777 and named for Saint Clare of Assisi, the foundress of the order of the Poor Clares. It is the namesake of both the city and county of Santa Clara, as well as the University of Santa Clara, which was built around the mission. This was the first California mission to be named in honor of a woman, and the only one now located on a university campus. Although ruined and rebuilt six times, the settlement was never abandoned, and today it functions as both a parish church of the Diocese of San Jose and a university chapel for Santa Clara University.

Asis – January 12 th , 1777

Mission OLD & NEW

VIDEO

Vermont Republic –

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In January 1777 delegates from 28 towns met and on the 15 th they declared Vermont’s independence from both the British colony of Quebec and the American states of New Hampshire and New York. They also abolished adult slavery within their new republic. Due to of vehement objections from New York, which claimed territorial ownership of large parts of the Vermont Republic, the Continental Congress declined to recognize Vermont. Yet many Vermonters took part in the American Revolution. The Vermont Republic was called the "reluctant republic" because many early citizens favored political union with the United States rather than independence. But, popular opinion and the legal construction of the government made it clear that the independent State of Vermont would eventually join the original 13 states. And, in 1791, Vermont was admitted to the United States as the 14th state . The Great Seal of the Vermont Republic was designed by Ira Allen (1751 - 1814). He was one of the founders of the Vermont Republic, a leader of the Green Mountain Boys, and the brother of Ethan Allen.

– January 15 th , 1777

Flag of the Green Mountain Boys

VIDEO

Great Seal of Vermont Note the pine tree with 14 branches.

Mozart’s Piano Concerto

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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 – 1791) was one of the greatest composers of all time. His music has a natural flow and irresistible charm, and can express humor, joy or sorrow with both conviction and mastery... Born in Salzburg, Mozart showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood. He was competent on keyboard and violin by age five, and he composed from the age of five – more than 600 works – many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic concertate, chamber, operatic, and choral music. He is among the most enduringly popular of classical composers. Piano Concerto No. 9 Jenamy ( Jeunehomme ) in E-flat major, was written in Salzburg in 1777, and first performed there on January 25 th . He scored it for solo piano, 2 oboes, 2 horns, and strings. It is highly regarded by critics, and has been called "perhaps the first unequivocal masterpiece of the classical style.” The work has long been known as the Jeunehomme Concerto, as it was once thought that Mozart composed it for a French pianist ‘Jeunehomme’. Actually, he was inspired by Victoire Jenamy, a daughter of a dancer who was one of Mozart's friends.

o No. 9 – January 25 th

Mozart in 1777, by an unknown artist.

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16 Year Old Daniel Kharitonov at the Piano

Washington Winters in

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By the beginning of February, 1777 at his quarters at Morristown, General Washington grew anxious as to the intentions of the British who were now snug and comfortable in their quarters in New York and the surrounding area. The British were not his only problem. Holding the army together to fight another day was more difficult due to the self- interest of his Generals, Congress, and the individual colonies. Congress had seen the British military evolve from a force to defeat the French and Indians into an occupation force imposed on the colonies. They were now fearful of being dominated by a strong military. After the Declaration of Independence Washington irritated most of the colonies by not considering them sovereign, but a part of a greater nation, to be called “The United States.” Never understood by the British, but accepted by his own forces, was his battle strategy of Hit and Run. His frequent tactical withdrawals never allowed the enemy to destroy his army in battle. This saved lives and vital resources. Although seemingly defeated, American forces often just faded away, recouping their losses, and then returned to fight another day.

Morristown – February

Ford Mansion – Washington’s Headquarters

Ford Mansion – Washington’s Office

Birth of Reverend Patric

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Reverend Patrick Brontë was born on March 17 th 1777 and died on June 7 th , 1861. He was an Irish-English priest and author who spent most of his adult life in England and was the father of the writers Charlotte ( Jane Eyre ), Emily ( Wuthering Heights ), and Anne ( The Tenant of Wildfell Hall ). He was also father to: Maria, Elizabeth, and Branwell, his only son. Patrick outlived all his children and his wife, the former Maria Branwell, by forty years. Patrick Bronte was the first of ten children born to Hugh Brunty, a farm labourer, and Alice McClory, in County Down. At one point in his adult life, Patrick formally changed the spelling of his name from Brunty to Brontë .

“He that dares not grasp the thorn should never crave the rose.” “ No generous mind delights to oppress the weak, but rather to cherish and protect.”

Anne Bronte

ck Brontë – March 17 th

Rev. Patrick Brontë

Three Brontë sisters, in an 1834 painting by their brother Branwell. From left to right: Anne, Emily and Charlotte.

VIDEO

Crowell / Nickerson

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Abner Crowell was born in 1726, the son of John Crowell and Experience Higgens. Abner married Sara O’Killey – and they had eight children. Sara died in 1775. On April 3 rd , 1777 Abner married Ruth Nickerson. Abner died on Feb 8 th 1778 while imprisoned on a British prison ship in Newport Harbor. British Prison Ships had bad provisions, bad water, and scant rations. No medical men attended the sick, disease reigned, and hundreds died from pestilence, or were starved. American Sea Captain Dring wrote: “At night silence was a stranger to our dark abode. There were continual noises. The groans of the sick and the dying; the curses poured out upon our inhuman keepers. The suffocating heat and the confined and poisonous air, mingled with the wild and incoherent ravings of delirium. These were the sounds, every night, that were around us in all directions. And, the suffering from the rage of thirst during the night, was very great.“ In mid October, 1777 , one of the prison ships was burnt. It was reported, at the time, that the prisoners had fired their prison, which, if true, proves that they preferred death, even by fire, to the lingering sufferings of pestilence and starvation.

Wedding – April 3 rd

British Prison Ships

VIDEO

Battle of Bound Br

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The Battle of Bound Brook (April 13, 1777) was a surprise attack conducted by British and Hessian forces against a Continental Army outpost at Bound Brook, New Jersey. Throughout the winter months of 1777, a guerrilla war of sorts went on, in which the American militia and army companies harassed British and German outposts and ambushed their foraging and raiding expeditions. One of the forward bases used for these operations was at Bound Brook. Late on the evening of April 12, 1777, four thousand British and Hessian troops under the command of Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis marched from the British stronghold of New Brunswick. All but one detachment reached positions surrounding the outpost before the battle began near daybreak the next morning. During the battle, most of the 500-man garrison escaped by the unblocked route. American reinforcements arrived in the afternoon, but not before the British plundered the outpost and began their retreat. The British goal of capturing the entire garrison was not met, although some Americans were killed or captured.

Brook – April 13 th

Map by Johann Ewald depicting the Bound Brook area and the plan of attack.

Birth of Johann Ga

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Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777 – 1855) was a German mathematician who contributed significantly to many fields, including number theory, algebra, statistics, analysis, differential geometry, geodesy, geophysics, mechanics, optics, electrostatics, astronomy, and matrix theory. He is ranked as one of history's most influential mathematicians. Gauss was born on April 30, 1777 in Brunswick, Germany as the son of poor working-class parents – his mother was illiterate. He was a child prodigy. At age 19 he proved that a polygon can be constructed using a compass and unmarked straight edge IF the number of sides is a prime number. This represented the first progress in regular polygon construction in more than 2000 years. A 17-sided Heptadecagon is engraved on Gauss’ grave stone. At age 21, he completed Disquisitiones Arithmeticae , his magnum opus. It consolidated number theory as a discipline and has shaped the field to the present day. At age 22 he proved the fundamental theorem of algebra which states that every non-constant single-variable polynomial with complex coefficients has at least one complex root. Gauss discovered the possibility of non-Euclidean geometries which led to, among other things, Einstein's theory of general relativity – which describes the universe as non-Euclidean.

auss – April 30 th

VIDEO

Johann Gauss

Heptadecagon

German 10-Deuchmark Banknote - 1993

Letter {Excerpts} from TOC

Lucy Knox to Henry Knox – Boston, May 1777 .

I can think of no address which would convey an idea of my affection and esteem … with love and anxiety for you. I cannot tell where you are nor form any judgment where you are going. We hear both armys are in motion, but what their rout is, we cannot hear. What a situation, for us who are at such a distance. All my hopes are that it will not, cannot last. Billy is very unwell – he has a terrible breaking out which Dr. Bulfinch says is very like a leprosy. I fear we shall lose him. The price of every thing is so exorbitant. It is difficult to get the necessarys of life here, at any price. This evil increases daily – beef is at eaight pence a pound, eggs two pence apiece, and for very ordinary Lisbon wine, twenty shillings a gallon. As for flour it is not to be had at any price, nor cyder . The behavior of our town meeting has almost made me a Tory – old Mr. Erving is confined in close jail upon the suspicion of being a Tory. But, so much for the present. My hand trembles to such a degree that it has been much trouble to me to write.

Lucy to Henry Knox – May

Lucy (1756-1824)

Henry (1750-1806) Boston bookstore owner, Chief Artillery Officer of the Continental Army. First U.S. Secretary of War.

Born into wealth and privilege, the daughter of the Provincial Governor of Massachusetts.

Battle of Sag Har

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The Battle of Sag Harbor on Long Island showed how the American Patriots won battles with initiative, courage, ingenuity, and audacity. It also demonstrated that our war of rebellion was also a civil war. Seventy men from Lt. Colonel DeLancey's Tory Battalion were dispatched from New York on a foraging expedition to Sag Harbor – sailing in 12 well armed vessels and protected by an equally well armed schooner. All went well for the Tories until Colonel Return J. Meigs Sr. heard about it and took things into his own hands. He and 170 men on the evening of the May 23 rd promptly set off in whale boats from Guilford, Connecticut, to engage the foragers. Sailing across a Long Island Sound "full of British cruisers“ they landed at Sag Harbor at 2 AM the next day, May 24th . "Taking DeLancey's troops by surprise they killed six men and captured the rest, burnt all their vessels except the schooner, also a large store of provisions and forage, and were back in Guilford by noon, having covered a distance of 100 miles in eighteen hours, and suffering no casualties. For this feat, the only Patriot victory on Long Island, the Congress voted Return Meigs an 'elegant sword' .” Meigs’s sword was donated by Return Jonathan Meigs IV to the Smithsonian Institute’s Museum of American History.

rbor – May 24 th

Colonel Return J. Meigs Sr. – and his gravestone

Example of a Presentation Elegant Sword

Flag Day –

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VIDEO

– June 14 th

The Flag Resolution of 1777

On June 14, 1777 , the Second Continental Congress passed the Flag Resolution which stated: " Resolved, That the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.“ Flag Day is now observed on June 14 of each year. While scholars still argue about this, tradition holds that the new flag was designed by Francis Hopkins, a naval flag designer and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. It was first hoisted in June 1777 by the Continental Army at its Middlebrook encampment.

Siege of Fort Ticon

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The historic Siege of Fort Ticonderoga occurred between July 2 nd and July 6 th at Fort Ticonderoga, near the southern end of Lake Champlain in the state of New York. British Lieutenant General John Burgoyne's 8,000-man army occupied high ground above the fort, and nearly surrounded the defenses. These movements led the occupying Continental Army, an under-strength force of 3,000 under the command of General Arthur St. Clair, to withdraw from Ticonderoga. There were some casualties, but there was no formal siege and no pitched battle. Burgoyne's army occupied Fort Ticonderoga and Mount Independence, the extensive fortifications on the Vermont side of the lake, without opposition on July 6 th . Advance units pursued the retreating Americans. The uncontested surrender of Ticonderoga caused an uproar in the American public and military circles, as it was believed to be virtually impregnable, and a vital point of defense. St. Clair was vilified by Congress. Although later exonerated in a court martial, his military career was over. But, after the war, he served as President of the Continental Congress, and Governor of the Northwest Territory that would become Ohio in 1800.

nderoga – July 2 nd

Fort Ticonderoga Today

Gen. Arthur St. Clair

Gen. John Burgoyne

Lafayette Joins Contin

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On July 31 st , 1777 , 19-year-old French aristocrat, Marquis de Lafayette accepts a commission in the Continental Army. Earlier, King Louis XVI feared angering Britain and prohibited Lafayette’s departure to America. The British ambassador to the French court demanded the seizure of Lafayette’s ship, which resulted in Lafayette’s arrest. Lafayette managed to escape, set sail and elude two British ships. After his safe arrival in South Carolina, Lafayette traveled to Philadelphia, expecting to be General George Washington’s second -in- command. Lafayette’s youth made Congress reluctant to promote him, but his willingness to volunteer without pay won their respect and he was commissioned as a Major-General. He was shot in the calf at the Battle of Brandywine. Refusing treatment he managed to organize a successful retreat. He also fought at the battles of Barren Hill, Monmouth & Rhode Island. Following the formal treaty of alliance with France in 1778 he asked to return to France. Franklin reported from Paris that Lafayette was an excellent advocate for American at the French court. He returned to America and in 1781 fought in the siege of Yorktown. He named his only son George Washington.

nental Army – July 31

VIDEO

Young Lafayette

Lafayette meets General George Washington

Battle of Oriskan

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The Battle of Oriskany, August 6, 1777 , was a major engagement of the Saratoga campaign and one of the bloodiest battles in the Northern theater of our Revolutionary War. An American party trying to relieve the siege of Fort Stanwix was ambushed by a party of Loyalists and their allied Native American tribes, particularly Mohawk and Seneca. This was one of the few battles in the war in which almost all of the participants were North American. The Patriots were allied with the Oneida tribe. Early in the siege of Fort Stanwix, an American relief force from the Mohawk Valley under General Nicholas Herkimer, numbering around 800 men, attempted to end the siege. British commander Barry St. Leger led a troupe of Loyalists and Native Americans that ambushed Herkimer's force in a small valley about six miles east of Fort Stanwix, near the present-day village of Oriskany, New York. During the battle, Herkimer was mortally wounded. This battle is commemorated at the Oriskany Battlefield State Historic Site .

ny – August 6 th

General Nicholas Herkimer

Oriskany Battlefield State Historic Site

Battles of Saratoga –

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The Battles of Saratoga ( September 19 and October 7 ) were decisive Americans victories. British Gen. John Burgoyne led a large invasion army down the Champlain Valley from Canada, hoping to meet a similar force marching northward from New York City. The southern force never arrived, and Burgoyne was surrounded by American forces. He fought two small battles to break out – eighteen days apart on the same ground, 9 miles south of Saratoga, New York. They both failed. Trapped by superior American forces, with no relief in sight, Burgoyne surrendered his entire army on October 17 th . Burgoyne's strategy to divide New England from the southern colonies started well, but slowed due to logistical problems. He attacked General Horatio Gates in the Battle of Freeman's Farm – but suffered significant casualties. He attacked again at Bemis Heights the Americans captured a portion of his defenses. He was compelled to retreat to Saratoga where his army was surrounded by the much larger American force. Burgoyne's surrender was key to formally brining France and Spain into the war as an American ally against Britain. France had given us supplies, ammunition and guns, notably the de Valliere cannon – which was important at Saratoga.

First Thanksgiving Pro

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On November 1, 1777 the Continental Congress proclaimed the new United States’ first national day of thanksgiving. Congress wrote: “ It is therefore recommended to the Legislative or executive Powers of these United States, to set apart Thursday, the eighteenth Day of December next , for solemn Thanksgiving and Praise ” This holiday was to commemorate our victory at the Battle of Saratoga. Neither on November 1 st , when this resolution was passed, nor on December 18 th , when the population celebrated, were Americans aware that on December 17 the French would finally formalize a military and trade alliance with the rebelling states. The victory at Saratoga convinced the French king that the Americans might be worthy allies. Having a national day of thanksgiving was a major step in creating an American national identity. Previously the colonies celebrated individually or as part of the British Empire. Now they experienced together a nation-wide event that would affect them, all and formalized a celebration that involved them all. From colonies to states – from states to a nation.

45

oclamation – Nov. 1 st

VIDEO

Articles of Confederati

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The Articles of Confederation was an agreement among all thirteen original states in the United States of America that served as its first constitution. Its drafting by a committee appointed by the Second Continental Congress began on July 12, 1776, and an approved version was sent to the states for ratification on November 15, 1777 . The formal ratification by all thirteen states was completed in early 1781. Government under the Articles was superseded by a new constitution and federal form of government in 1789. Even unratified, the Articles provided a system for the Continental Congress to direct the American Revolutionary War, conduct diplomacy with Europe and deal with territorial issues and Native American relations. Nevertheless, the weakness of the government created by the Articles became a matter of concern for key nationalists. On March 4, 1789, the general government under the Articles was replaced with the federal government under the United States Constitution. The new Constitution provided for a much stronger federal government with a chief executive (the President), courts, and taxing powers.

ion Approved – Nov. 15 th

VIDEO

Valley Forge –

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With the winter setting in, General George Washington sought quarters for his men. Washington and his troops had just fought their last major engagement of 1777 at the Battle of White Marsh. He wanted a more secure location for the winter. He selected Valley Forge, 18 miles northwest of Philadelphia. On December 19, 1777 , when his poorly fed, ill-equipped 12,000-man army, weary from long marches, struggled into Valley Forge. Grounds for encampments were selected, and defense lines were planned and begun. Though construction of more than a thousand huts provided shelter, it did little to offset the critical shortages that continually plagued the army. The men described their huts as "cozy and comfortable quarters" and they provided sufficient protection from the moderately cold, wet, Pennsylvania winter. But, alternating freezing and melting of snow and ice made it impossible to keep dry and allowed for disease to fester. Undernourished and poorly clothed, living in crowded, damp quarters, the army was ravaged by sickness and disease. Typhoid, jaundice, dysentery, and pneumonia felled as many as 2,000 men that winter at Valley Forge.

December 19 th

VIDEO

Cook’s 3 rd Voyage – Ch

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Captain James Cook embarked on his third and final voyage in 1776. Sailing the HMS Resolution his “decoy” mission was to explore the South Pacific. His real mission was to search the western shores of North America for the Northwest Passage to India. In 1778 he discovered the Hawaiian Islands. Cook returned to Hawaii in 1779 where he was killed. He never got to search for the non-existent Norwest Passage. On December 24 th 1777 Cook was exploring the local islands that are part of Christmas Island . It was named "Christmas Island" because it was discovered on Christmas Day, December 25 th , 1643. “About half an hour after day breake land was discovered which upon a nearer approach was found to be one of those low islands so common in this sea.” The next day Cook observed Christmas & dedicated the day to mirth and feasting – primarily on turtles. One party that morning had returned with more than 20 turtles. The same day Cook "having some cocoanuts and yams on board in a state of vegetation, ordered them to be planted on the island…” He also left on the island a bottle containing this inscription : Georgius Tertius Rex 31 Decembris 1777

hristmas Island – Dec. 24 th

Captain J. Cook

VIDEO

Christmas Island

Bill Silver Cape Cod Associates RE

158 Upper County Road Presents 1777

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