John Rowe sailed on Cook’s Second Voyage in Adventure under Captain Tobias Furneaux. Rowe joined the ship from HMS Torbay on 17 December, 1771, as a master’s mate. For a month, from 31 October, 1773, to 30 November, he was an able-bodied seaman (AB). He then resumed as a master’s mate.
Rowe was born about 1746. He was supposedly a cousin of Furneaux, though the exact relationship remains unclear.
Rowe was leading the expedition in Queen Charlotte Sound, New Zealand, to obtain water and fresh greens when he was killed at Wharehunga Bay (Grass Cove) on 17 December, 1773.1
John Robson
References
1. Cook’s Log, page 1568, vol. 21, no. 4 (1998).
Originally published in Cook's Log, page 15, volume 40, number 1 (2017).