Today, I was given a sense of closure. The remains of Captain Cook and the other 4 men lost to us that fateful February morning last week have been returned to us. While it took several days to get all of their pieces back, we can finally give what's left of their bodies a proper sailor's burial at sea.

Relations with the savages as I now call them, have been at a hostile standstill. We retaliated against them a couple of days ago by looting and burning some of their villages. That is something that would have bothered me a few months ago, but since the loss of Captain Cook, I feel lost.

In response to our attack against the savages villages, we were visited 2 days ago on February 21, 1779 by one of the savage Chieftains, who came under a white flag. He came bearing a series of peace offering gifts such as coconuts, breadfruit, and other trinkets. He informed acting Captain Charles Clerke that he would return the bodies of our fallen tomorrow. I'm glad that he came to his senses because I was afraid that I would have burned this whole island to the ground if it meant retrieving the others.

The Chieftain was true to his word as he showed up the next day at 9 in the morning. He not only brought us hogs, but also some of the remains of Captain Cook. What comes next is slightly disturbing, but Captain Cook would have valued the honesty of my words. His back bone and feet were missing, along with most of his skin. Upon departing, the Chieftain promised to bring Captain Cook's remaining bones and the bones of the other 4 men. He claimed that there was nothing he could do about the missing skin though.

Upon examination of Captain Cook's mutilated corpse by ship surgeon William Anderson, multiple things were noted about his post-mortem treatment. Captain Cook had been scalped, the skin on his hands had been peeled back, and the skin on his face was mostly gone. In all seriousness, we will never be able to know for sure whether or not the savages actually returned Captain Cook's body or some other poor soul. For the sake of my own sanity, I have chosen to believe that the savages indeed returned the body of our fallen Captain. Regardless, I was appalled at the treatment of Captain Cook's body by these savages. Not only was it indecent and inhumane, but also disrespectful to a man I considered to be a mentor.

The next day, the Chieftain returned with the missing pieces of Captain Cook's body. His body is now as complete as it will get. Along with Captain Cook's missing bones, the Chieftain also brought most of the bodies of those other 4 sailors that died on the beach with Captain Cook. I say mostly complete because all 4 of them were missing their arms. When asked about the missing arms, the Chieftain stated that they were unrecoverable. Whether or not he's telling the truth about that is anyone's guess, but at this point I'm not sure I even want to know what happened to them. At this point, we've regained enough of their bodies that we can give them some sort of proper burial.

With the retrieval of our dead, we can now finish the last repairs that our ships require and leave this godforsaken place. If I ever return to this place, it will be too soon.

- J. Taylor 1779