Shells collected on Captain Cook’s final voyage rescued from skip

Marine zoologist Dr John Buchanan saved more than 200 specimens feared lost forever in the 1980s

Shells collected by Captain Cook’s crew were “miraculously” saved from a skip by a passing scientist after they were thrown away in the 1980s, it has emerged.
A collection of more than 200 specimens had been preserved since the 18th century when they were gathered on the explorer’s third Pacific voyage, but the artefacts vanished 40 years ago and were feared lost forever.
It has now emerged that the shells were tossed into a skip in the 1980s but spotted and rescued by a passing marine zoologist.
The late Dr John Buchanan kept the shells safe for 40 years after saving them in what was “nothing short of a miracle”, according to his family, and they have now been donated to English Heritage.
His family said: “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.
“We were delighted to return the collection to English Heritage for future generations to enjoy.”
The shells were collected by an amateur enthusiast called Bridget Atkinson (1732-1814), who wrote to people around the globe requesting specimens.
Several of the vast collection were gathered during Cook’s final and fatal voyage to the Pacific.
The shells were passed down to Atkinson’s grandson John Clayton (1792-1890), before being sold along with the Clayton estate in 1930, and entering the collection of Newcastle University.
Thereafter, the history of the collection seemed to stop, and experts believed the rare shells collected by Atkinson had simply been lost.
But it has now emerged that in the 1980’s the shells were thrown into a skip as part of a general clear-out before Buchanan spotted the specimens and took them home.
They include a circular saw shell from New Zealand, which was sent back to Atkinson by George Dixon while he was serving as armourer under Cook during his third voyage on HMS Resolution.
Another shell is that of the giant clam and the chambered nautilus, a mollusc with scores of tentacles.
Dr Frances McIntosh, English Heritage’s collections curator for Hadrian’s Wall and the North East, has welcomed the donation of the shells from the Buchanan family.
She said: “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.”