[85] Admiral Sir W.J.L. Wharton, who edited Cook's original journal, points, out that the idea seems equally to have emanated from Captain Cook, its carrying out being merely entrusted to Monkhouse because he was familiar with the process. Sailing away with this device, which reduced the leaking of the ship to only about 15 inches of water an hour, easily kept at bay by the pumps, Cook passed close to two small islands, which at one time had seemed almost unattainable, and which out of gratitude he called Hope Islands. "In all the joy of our unexpected deliverance we had not forgotten that there was nothing but a lock of wool between us and destruction." At last they managed to reach the right kind of harbour at the place where the great town of Cooktown now stands. Here the ship was run up against a steep part of the shore, the stores, provisions, and the men were all transferred to the beach, where a camp was made and tents were put up for the sick; for, in addition to their other troubles, scurvy had broken out. Amongst other people thus affected was Tupia, the invaluable Polynesian interpreter, who, however, no sooner got on shore than he caught plenty of fresh fish and obtained herbs which cured his scurvy. Banks explored the country in all directions. There were many traces of the natives, but none of these people were visible. In his walks he met with vast flocks of pigeons and crows[86], and the pigeons (the plumage of which was exceedingly beautiful) proved most welcome as stores of fresh food. [86] These crows, so often referred to by Cook and the early Australian explorers, were not true crows of the sub-family Corvinæ (crows, ravens, or jackdaws), but belonged to genera like _Corcorax_ and _Gymnorhina_, more nearly related to choughs and shrikes. On examining the main leak of the ship it was found that the coral rocks had pierced through four planks even into the timbers of her construction. There was not a splinter to be seen, but all was as smooth as though it had been cut by sharp instruments. The vessel would have been inevitably swamped but that a portion of the leak was filled up by fragments of rock broken off the spikes of coral.