[Binnacle]

Trying to obtain more information about the Laissez Passer carried by James Cook I copied this from a website -

"He was the first really scientific navigator and his voyages made great contributions to many fields of knowledge". His contributions to the advancement of knowledge were widely recognised in his own time. During his Third Voyage, when Britain and America were at War, Benjamin Franklin, who had met Cook in London and was then serving the Colonies’ representative at the Court in Paris, wrote a general laissez passer for the expedition, requesting that the American and French fleets leave them unmolested, declaring that “The Increase of Geographical Knowledge facilitates the Communication between distant Nations in the Exchange of useful Products and Manufactures and the Extension of Arts whereby the common enjoyments of Human Life are multiply'd and augmented, and Science of other kinds encreas'd to the Benefit of Mankind in general.”

Source - http://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/l3_world_france.html