Description:
In the city centre at Petropavlosk, Kamchatka.
History:
Captain Clerke’s body was first buried, with military Honours due to his Rank, beneath a tree at Kamchatka in 1779. The birch coffin was surrounded with a paling fence, and an inscription fixed to a tree over his grave.
In 1787, when La Perouse visited the site, he found the inscription board was rotting, and had the inscription copied onto a copper plate, adding that he had done the restoration. The plate was then nailed to the wooden monument, the tree, which was then more than half decayed.
In 1805 Adam Johann von Krusenstern, an Estonian in the Russian Navy, was leading an expedition in the North Pacific Ocean, in the vessel Nadeshda, and had arrived at Kamchatka where the expedition ships were in need of attention. During this time some of the crew were put to work restoring the grave and erecting a new memorial to Captain Clerke.
In 1807 when Archibald Campbell visited, he reported that there was an obelisk to the memory of Clerke on a hill to the north of the harbour near the governor’s house. The monument was 16-18 feet high and built of hewn stone, topped with an image of a ship, and inscriptions on each side, much eroded by the weather. This monument was erected by the Officer’s of the ship Nadeshda.
In 1818 when the sloop Kamchatka visited, the sailors witnessed the transfer of the remains of Captain Clerke to a new grave, ‘with appropriate ceremony’. The reason being that a new church was to be built on the site.
In 1826, when HMS Blossom under the command of Captain F.W. Beechey, visited Petropavlosk, the first lieutenant George Peard recorded in his journal that Captain Stanitski, the Governor, had moved Clerke’s body and monument to the garden of his home.
The present obelisk was erected by the British Admiralty in 1913.
Inscriptions:
Side 1
SACRED TO THE MEMORY
OF
CAPTAIN CHARLES CLERKE R.N.
WHO DIED AUGUST 22ND 1779
AGED 39 YEARS
AND WHOSE BODY IS INTERRED
BENEATH THIS STONE.
Side 2
THIS MONUMENT
IS ERECTED BY
THE LORDS COMMISSIONERS OF THE ADMIRALTY OF
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND &C
TO MARK THEIR APPRECIATION OF THE
BRAVE AND HONOURABLE CAREER OF
A GALLANT BRITISH OFFICER.
.A.D. 1913
Side 3
THIS OFFICER
SERVED UNDER THE COMMAND OF
CAPTAIN COOK
THE WORLD-RENOWNED NAVIGATOR IN
HIS SEVERAL VOYAGES OF DISCOVERY.
HIS DEATH OCCURRED AT SEA AFTER A
GALLANT BUT UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT
TO PENETRATE THE ICE BEYOND BERING
STRAIT.
HE WAS A MAN OF STERLING WORTH
AND INTREPID COURAGE, FAITHFUL TO HIS
LEADER AND UNSWERVINGLY DEVOTED
TO DUTY.
The original inscription after burial in 1779:
At the foot of this Tree lies the body of
Captain Charles Clerke Esqr. who succeeded to the
Command of His Britannic Majesty’s Ships the
Resolution and Discovery,
on the death of Captain James Cook Esqr
(who was unfortunately killed by the Natives at an Island
in the South Sea on the 14th of February, in the year 1779).
He died at Sea of a lingering Consumption on the 22nd August
in the same year, aged 38.
(and added by La Perouse)
Copié sur I’inscription Angliose par ordre de Mʳ le Cᵗᵒ de la Perouse, Chef d’Escadre, en 1787.
Beneath his Escutcheon in the Church of Paratoolka is the following inscription:
The above is the escutcheon of CAPT. CHARLES CLERKE, ESQ.
He succeeded to the command of his Britannic Majesty’s Ships
the Resolution and Discovery on the death of Capt. James Cook
Esq (who was unfortunately killed by the Natives at an Island in
the South Sea on 14th February 1779 after having explored
the Coast of America from 42ᵒ30’ to 70ᵒ44’ Latitude in search
of a passage from Asia to Europe). Captain Clerke died of a
lingering Consumption at Sea on the 22nd of August 1779, aged
38 years, and lies buried at the foot of a Tree near the Ostrog
of St Peter and St Paul : he had made the Second attempt in
search of a Passage from Asia to Europe, and penetrated as far
to the North, within a few miles, as Captain Cook, but found any
further progress that way impracticable.
GPS Coordinates: 53.040911, 158.677726
References:
Cook’s Log, page 682, vol. 12, no. 3 (1989)
Cook’s Log page 768, vol. 14, no. 1 (1991)
Cook’s Log page 785, vol. 14, no3 (1991)
Cook’s Log page 837, vol. 15, no2 (1992)
Cook’s Log, page 896, vol. 16, no. 1 (1993)
Cook’s Log, page 38, vol. 27, no. 3 (2004)
Cook’s Log page 49, vol. 27, no3 (2004)
Cook’s Log, page 30, vol. 28, no. 1 (2005)
Cook’s Log, page 35-8, vol. 35, no. 3 (2012)
Cook’s Log, page 45, vol. 35, no. 4 (2012)
Cook’s Log, page 15-16, vol. 36, no. 2 (2013)
Cook’s Log, page 34, vol. 46, no. 2 (2023)
Campbell, 1969. A Voyage Round the World from 1806 to 1812. New York. Da Capo Press. p.36.
Cowley, Gordon & Deacon, Les, 1997. In the Wake of Captain Cook. Boston, Lincolnshire. Richard Kay Publications.
Kruzenshtern, I.F., & Hoppner, R.B., 1813, reprint 2018. Voyage Round the World in the years 1803,1804,1805,1806 India, Facsimile Publisher. p.566.
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