Throughout the night, steering watch and watch, we were ever conscious of the cold and sought to find relief by constantly looking about, seeking a distraction. Incredibly in all those miles from Australia, we never saw a whale or any creature other than sea birds. Dawn off Preservation Inlet with the mountains outlined in gold was magnificent. The weather gods must have known I had waited twenty years for that day for as we squared up to enter Dusky Sound with its 365 islands, the sun was shining brilliantly. We ran up through the Many Islands past Luncheon Cove to Pickerskill Harbour and secured the Haparanda in precisely the spot that Captain Cook had moored the Resolution on his second voyage 197 years ago, almost to the day. We eagerly landed and sought out and found Captain Cook's tree stumps.
It was here that William Wales, the astronomer, had supervised the clearing of trees in order to allow astronomical bearing to be taken to determine the latitude and longitude of New Zealand.
Eighteen years after Cook, the overgrown stumps could not be found by those on Vancouver's voyage. Yet Doctor Hector saw them about 1869 during his courageous voyage, surveying of the mineral resources of Fiordland.
The Book "Dusky Bay', by the Dunedin brothers, A. and N. Begg, proved a great help to us in our visit to Dusky. These enthusiastic men have even erected a plaque, with the intention of honouring Cook and indicating the actual spot in which Cook spent six weeks.
This I feel will prove to be a two edged sword. Attracted by the plaque the crews of visiting fishing boats have already worn a track from stump to stump, chipping and cutting carelessly at the stumps and disturbing the fern which has so long protected them. It seems likely that in a few years, the stumps will be gone. It is quite possible that by the year 2000 members of the New Zealand Historical Society will mourn the zeal of the well-intentioned gentlemen who have let the cat out of the bag. Clearly visible in Luncheon Cove is the line of rocks on which the keel of Providence, the first vessel built in New Zealand, was laid.