Shells from Captain Cook’s third voyage are saved from skip by passing lecturer

Sign up for a full digest of all the perfect opinions of the week in our Voices Dispatches electronic mail

Sign as much as our free weekly Voices e-newsletter

An 18th century shell assortment from Captain James Cook’s third voyage, thought misplaced for greater than 40 years, has been returned to English Heritage after being saved from a skip in “nothing short of a miracle”.

The assortment, containing greater than 200 specimens together with an extinct species and a number of other believed to have been despatched again from Cook’s ill-fated voyage, is to go on public show for the primary time in additional than 100 years.

The objects had been thrown out by a university, however had been rescued from the skip by a retired scientist.

The assortment, which serves as a document of Britain’s function in world commerce and its colonial attain within the late 18th century, was the eagerness of Bridget Atkinson (1732-1814).

She by no means left Britain, and infrequently left Cumbria, however amassed greater than 1,200 shells from throughout the globe.

The assortment was inherited by her grandson, John Clayton (1792-1890), earlier than being offered together with the Clayton property in 1930.

Some 200 of the artefacts remained on show at Chesters Roman Fort and Museum in Northumberland and had been subsequently loaned to the zoology division of Armstrong College, now Newcastle University.

But, within the Eighties, the shells had been thrown out throughout an workplace clear-out on the college.

It was feared that they had been misplaced ceaselessly, but it surely has now been revealed {that a} passing lecturer, Dr John Buchanan, rescued them from a skip.

They have now been donated to English Heritage by the Buchanan household and returned to the museum, the place they’ve been reunited with a large clam which was beforehand the one remaining piece within the assortment.

Dr Buchanan’s household mentioned: “Our father was a marine zoologist and senior lecturer from 1958 until his retirement, based at the Dove Marine Laboratory in Cullercoats.

“He rescued the collection as he believed in conservation, and the shells remained in our family home for 35 years.

“Following the death of our mother, we discovered that the shells were part of the Clayton Collection. We were delighted to return the collection to English Heritage for future generations to enjoy.”

Among the shells is a thorny oyster (Spondylus americanus).

In an 1804 letter, Mrs Atkinson begged her son Matthew, who was primarily based in Jamaica, to get the shell for her.

Found alongside the Atlantic coast, from North Carolina right down to the Caribbean and so far as Brazil, it’s adorned with spines almost 2in (5cm) lengthy.

Others embrace a sunburst star turban or round noticed shell, Astraea heliotropium, endemic to New Zealand, which was despatched again to Mrs Atkinson by George Dixon whereas he was serving as armourer underneath Cook throughout his third voyage on HMS Resolution.

Another shell is that of the enormous clam, Tridacna gigas, the most important bivalve on the earth, which is now protected underneath the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites).

The chambered nautilus (Nautilus pompilius) shell additionally options within the assortment.

According to English Heritage, it’s among the many most coveted of pure historical past objects for collectors.

The animal that lived inside this shell had round 90 tentacles.

It lived within the outer chamber of the shell and, because it grew, it created bigger chambers, every time sealing off the vacated one.

Dr Frances McIntosh, English Heritage’s collections curator for Hadrian’s Wall and the North East, mentioned: “We’ve always known about Bridget Atkinson’s collection but had believed it completely lost.

“To discover that the shells have not only survived but been kept safe and loved all this time is nothing short of a miracle.

“Bridget Atkinson was a remarkable woman, with a real curiosity about the natural world.

“At a time when women generally collected shells to decorate their furniture and grottos with, Bridget was collecting them for their scientific and geographical interest rather than their aesthetics.

“As well as being a testament to Bridget’s character and contacts, this collection is also a superb record of Britain’s role in global trade in the late 18th century, not to mention human impact on the natural world.”

Dr Tom White, principal curator of non-insect invertebrates on the Natural History Museum, who has been serving to English Heritage to establish and catalogue the shells, mentioned the gathering consists of quite a few uncommon species, together with the now-extinct Distorsio cancellina and others.

He mentioned: “These would have been extraordinarily sought-after in 18th century Britain, during the golden age of shell collecting when single specimens could sell for thousands of pounds.”

– The assortment will go on show, for the primary time in additional than 100 years, at Chesters Roman Fort and Museum in Northumberland from Wednesday March 13.