Draft:John Mara (seafarer and author)

John Mara (also known as John Marra) was a seaman, born in Cork, Ireland, circa 1746. He was the gunner's mate aboard HMS Resolution under the leadership of Captain James Cook, when the ship, became the first on record to cross the Antarctic Circle on 17th January 1773. He later wrote an account of the voyage which was published before Cook's own account was released.^[1][2]

Early life and career

Little is known about Mara's early life or the date and place of his birth. An account of his naval service in a record of the ships on which he served, appeared in an application for his admission to Greenwich Naval Hospital for Naval pensioners on 9th May 1792.^[3] It revealed that in 1762, his Naval career commenced in India aboard HMS Revenge where 16-year-old Mara served as the Captain's servant. In February 1763 he was paid off and then began a 7-year hiatus in which he likely served on a number of merchant ships.

Recruitment to HMS Endeavour

In the port of Batavia in October 1770, Mara would join the crew of HMS Endeavour as an Able Seaman under the leadership of James Cook after deserting from the ship Schoonzigt a trading vessel serving under the ownership of the Dutch East India company, (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie) Before reaching Batavia, a number of Cook's crew had fell victim to Scurvy and it was necessary to recruit new crew members. It's unclear whether he had been the subject of impressment or whether he joined Endeavour voluntarily. His former employers from Schoonzigt sought out the deserter and discovered that he was ledgered to Endeavour. They remonstrated with Cook informing him that he was a runner from their vessel who was a Danish sailor called Jan Marre. Cook reminded the Dutch representatives that, under an order issued by the Dutch East India Company, they were not allowed "to contract people from the East, or Norwegians, nor Frenchmen, Englishmen or Scotsmen."^[4] For good purpose, Cook conveyed to his accusers that the deserter was in fact an “Englishman” and the matter was at an end. After Endeavour's arrival back to England in 1771, Mara, who had impressed Cook with his work rate, was assigned for a period of 3 months to HMS Scorpion from September 1771.

HMS Resolution

Mara was mustered as Gunners Mate to HMS Resolution in December 1771 before the ship departed on Cook's second voyage with a mission to discover and chart a mysterious land mass rumoured to exist at the bottom of the Southern Ocean. During a refit at Deptford Mara made a failed attempt at desertion^[5] and in July 1772 the ship set sail from Sheerness. On 17th January 1773 Resolution became the first vessel to cross the Antarctic Circle and in doing so John Mara, along with other Irish members of the crew, became the first Irish people to penetrate beyond the southern line of latitude.
Mara, was noted for his fondness for grog and would go to great lengths to obtain more than the rations available to him on the ship. Whilst in Tahiti in May 1774, and having grown a likeness for the local carefree customs, he made prior arrangement with a group of the islanders, for a canoe to meet him as Resolution departed. Mara dived overboard and swam to the pre-arranged rendezvous but was spotted and brought back to the ship.^[6] It is documented that Mara was a particularly troublesome and footloose character who was frequently flogged for drunkenness, insolence and mutinous behaviour.^[7] He had received 12 lashes in April 1772 for mutiny and desertion and a further 12 lashes three months later for insolence to his superior officer. Mara would once again try to jump ship after the Resolution reached Queen Charlotte Sound in New Zealand. In his own journal he recalled his pursuit of one of the young, red-painted, blue lipped, cannibal ladies^[1][8].

Publication of Mara's Journal

After his return from the voyage of Resolution in 1775, Mara published a journal of the expedition which was released 6 weeks prior to Cook's own account. The publisher was Francis Newberry who traded from the area popular with book traders near to St Paul's Churchyard in the City of London. In the current market, an original edition of Marra's account is worth considerably more than the first edition journal written by Captain Cook.

References

• Marra, John. Journal of the Resolution's Voyage in 1772, 1773, 1774, and 1775 F Newberry, (London 1775]
• Royal Collection Trust
  
• National Archives ADM 73/16/30
• Browne and Other Artists. (1882). United Kingdom: (n.p.). P.20
• Beaglehole p. 385
  
• Moorehead, p.61-62
  
• Moorehead, p.61
  
• O'Sullivan, p.96
  
• Dictionary of Sydney

Bibliography

• Beaglehole J.C. The Life of Captain James Cook, Stanford, Calif. : Stanford University Press, [1974]
• Browne, Gordon and other Artists, Captain Cook's Voyages: With 30 Illustrations (1882). United Kingdom:
• Marra, John. Journal of the Resolution's Voyage in 1772, 1773, 1774, and 1775 F Newberry, (London 1775]
• Moorehead, Alan (2000) [1966]. The fatal impact: an account of the invasion of the South Pacific 1767 - 1840. Classic history (Penguin Classics repr. ed.). London: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-139029-1.
• O'Sullivan, Dan (2008). In search of Captain Cook: exploring the man through his own words. London (GB): I. B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1-84511-483-1.

External links

• John Mara – Ireland’s First Antarctic Explorer?
• Who was the runner at Batavia?