Edward Johns sailed on Cook’s Second Voyage in Adventure under Captain Tobias Furneaux. Edward Johns was baptised on 13 November, 1745, at St. Paul’s, Deptford. He was the son of Joseph and Elizabeth Johns. Joseph Johns was a shoe-maker.
Edward Johns sailed with Captain Samuel Wallis to the Pacific in HMS Dolphin, joining her as an able-bodied seaman (AB) on 4 July, 1766.1 He appears in the ship’s records as being born in Deptford about 1743. Johns joined Adventure on 12 December, 1771, as Boatswain. He was one of nine men who followed Furneaux from Dolphin, which Furneaux had effectively captained for considerable portions of the Pacific voyage whilst senior officers were unwell. Johns was still a boatswain in 1785.
Edward Johns, boatswain. . . Richard Collett, gunner. Warrants or commissions for service at this rank in the Royal Navy.2
Nothing else has been discovered about his earlier or later life.
John Robson
References
- Was number 95 on the ship’s muster roll.
- ADM 6/23/280 1785. It is held at The National Archives (TNA).
Originally published in Cook's Log, page 32, volume 39, number 4 (2016).