Soon after the intelligence arrived of his unfortunate decease, this matter was taken up by the lords of the Admiralty, with a zeal and an effect, which the following authentic document will fully display: 'At the Court at St.James's, the 2nd of February, 1780; '(L.S.) 'Present, 'The KING's Most Excellent Majesty in Council.
'Whereas there was this day read, at the Board, a memorial from the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, dated the 27th of last month, in the words following: viz.
'Having received an authentic account of the death of that great Navigator, Captain James Cook, who has had the honour of being employed by Your Majesty, in three different voyages, for the discovery of unknown countries in the most distant parts of the globe; we think it our duty humbly to represent to Your Majesty, that this meritorious officer, after having received from Your Majesty's gracious benevolence, as a reward for his public services in two successful circumnavigations, a comfortable and honourable retreat, where he might have lived many years to benefit his family, he voluntarily relinquished that ease and emolument to undertake another of these voyages of discovery, in which the life of a commander, who does his duty, must always be particularly exposed, and in which, in the execution of that duty, he fell, leaving his family, whom his public spirit had led him to abandon, as a legacy to his country.

We do therefore humbly propose, that Your Majesty will be graciously pleased to order a pension of two hundred pounds a year to be settled on the widow, and twenty-five pounds a year upon each of the three sons of the said Captain James Cook, and that the same be placed on the ordinary estimate of the navy.
'His Majesty, taking the said memorial into his Royal consideration, was pleased, with the advice of His Privy Council, to order, as it is hereby ordered, that a pension of two hundred pounds a year be settled on the widow, and twenty-five pounds a year upon each of the three sons of the said Captain James Cook, and that the same be placed on the ordinary estimate of His Majesty's navy; and the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty are to give the necessary directions herein accordingly.
W.FAWKENER.' The preceding memorial to the king was signed by the Earl of Sandwich.
Mr.Buller, the Earl of Lisburne, Mr.Penton, Lord Mulgrave, and Mr.
Mann; and the several officers of the Board of Admiralty seconded the ardour of their superiors, by the speed and generosity with which his majesty's royal grant to Captain Cook's widow and children passed through the usual forms.
Another occasion was afterwards seized of conferring a substantial benefit on the captain's family.

The charts and plates belonging to the Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, were provided at the expense of government; the consequence of which was, that a large profit accrued from the sale of the publication.

Of this profit, half was consigned, in trust, to Sir Hugh Palliser and Mr.Stephens, to be applied to the use of Mrs.Cook, during her natural life, and afterwards to be divided between her children.
Honour as well as emolument, hath graciously been conferred by his majesty upon the descendants of Captain Cook.

On the 3rd of September, 1785, a coat of arms was granted to the family, of which a description will be given below.[19] [Footnote 19: Azure, between the two polar stars Or, a sphere on the plane of the meridian, north pole elevated, circles of latitude for every ten degrees, and of longitude for every fifteen, shewing the Pacific Ocean between sixty and two hundred and forty west, bounded on one side by America, on the other by Asia and New Holland, in memory of the discoveries made by him in that ocean, so very far beyond all former navigators.