Zachary Hickes

Who was Zachary Hickes?

Zachary Hickes was a Royal Navy officer, second-in-command on Lieutenant James Cook's voyage to the east coast of Australia. Hickes spelt his name with an "e", but it has often been written by others as Hicks without the "e".

Hickes was 29 and held the rank of lieutenant when appointed to Cook's voyage in the Endeavour in 1768. He had previously served on other ships as master's mate and as acting lieutenant aboard the sloop Hornet from 21 August 1767, before being commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant aboard HM Bark Endeavour on 26 May 1768. On the Endeavour he was credited with locating Hicks Bay in New Zealand, and then with being the first to see the mainland of Australia at Point Hicks. Cook named both those places after him.

Hickes died on 25 May 1771 on the homeward leg of the voyage, after the Endeavour left St. Helena. As Cook recorded in his journal, the cause of Hickes' death was 'a Consumption which he was not free from when we saild from England…’, although it seems not to have interfered with his duties.