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Midshipman's Journal belonging to Frederick Norton Cook, RAN
Midshipman's Journal belonging to Frederick Norton Cook, RAN

Midshipman's Journal belonging to Frederick Norton Cook, RAN

Author (Australian, (1905 - 1985))
Date1923-1925
Object number00054701
NameJournal
MediumIn on paper, glue, sailcloth canvas
DimensionsOverall: 340 × 220 × 55 mm
Copyright© Rhod Cook
ClassificationsBooks and journals
Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Rhod Cook
DescriptionMidshipman's Journal belonging to F.N. Cook, RAN whilst serving aboard HMS Repulse as a seconded naval officer to the British Royal Navy in the years immediately prior to the outbreak of the Second World War. This object is one of a large collection of documents, photographs, uniforms, ship badges and ephemera associated with the Royal Australian Navy service of brothers William Cook and Frederick Cook. Both men entered service prior to the Second World War, were seconded to the Royal Navy, and underwent training at Greenwich and Portsmouth. Frederick Cook later gained fame as the only Australian survivor of HMS Royal Oak, torpedoed by a German U-boat in October 1939. William Cook was the youngest commander of an Australian destroyer during the Second World War, and was First Lieutenant of HMAS Wyatt Earp, the primary research vessel for the Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition in 1947-48.SignificanceFrederick Cook's Midshipman's Journal dates to the immediate pre-Second World War period, and is particularly significant because it features several incredibly detailed hand-drawn maps and diagrams that compliment his chronicle of Repulse's round-the-world voyage (in concert with HMAS Anzac, HMAS Adelaide and HMAS Brisbane) between June 1923 and October 1925. Extensively illustrated documents of this kind are incredibly rare.

Frederick Cook served with distinction during the Second World War and was mentioned in despatches twice. He was also presented to King George IV and awarded the DSC for gallantry. He was also the only Australian aboard HMS Royal Oak when it was torpedoed at Scapa Flow in September 1939, and one of only 400 of Royal Oak's complement of 1200 to survive the ship's loss.