Dust has been gathering in the attic for 40 years: Shells from Captain Cook’s last voyage were found

An internationally important seashell collection, including samples from Captain Cook’s final voyage, has been unexpectedly rediscovered 40 years after it was thought to have been destroyed during the move to the university where it was kept, The Guardian writes.

Researchers say the collection contains more than 200 incredibly rare examples, all of which have been returned to English Heritage in Northumberland, where they are being prepared to go on display. It is known that this incredibly valuable collection of seashells was collected by Bridget Atkinson, a little-known woman in the world.

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According to Frances Mackintosh, English Heritage’s curator of collections in the north-east, Atinson was not a duchess or a member of London’s high society, she was not in the history books, but she was an extraordinary woman. Bridget Atkinson grew up in a wealthy family but rarely left her farm in Cumbria. She’s lifelong passion was seashells, and she used her extensive contacts to create a collection of 1,200 specimens from around the world.

Bridget Atkinson was also interested in science and geography, and so her collection of rare seashells was passed down through the generations, eventually coming into the hands of Bridget’s grandson, John Clayton, whose collections form the basis of the museum at the English Heritage site.

In the 1930s Atkinson’s collection ended up at what is now Newcastle University, but during an office move in the 1980s the collection was lost; It was believed to have been thrown away, and so scientists had no hope of finding the shells. . But everything turned out differently.

Almost 40 years later, a collection of seashells was unexpectedly found while cleaning a house. It turned out that lecturer and marine zoologist John Buchanan, who was passing by during the move, noticed the discarded collection and took it home. Members of the Buchan family discovered the collection and donated it to English Heritage.

Researchers were able to identify and catalog the collection, which included rare specimens sent to Atkinson by gunsmith George Dixon during the third world voyage on which Cook died.

The Atkinson collection includes many rare species from around the world, according to Tom White, chief curator of non-insect invertebrates at the Museum of Natural History, who helped with the project. These specimens were in great demand in 18th-century Britain during the heyday of shell collecting, when individual specimens could sell for large sums of money.

Previously Focus He wrote that Captain Cook’s famous ship was found off the coast of Rhode Island.