2 First voyage ( 1768- 1771)

In 1766 the Society hired him to travel to the Pacific Ocean to observe and record a transit of Venus across the Sun. Leaving in 1768, he arrived on April 13, 1769 in Tahiti where he built a small fort and observatory to observe the transit; however, due to the lack of precise scientific instruments, there was no way to accurately measure it.

He then explored the South Pacific for the mythical continent of Terra Australis, with the help a Tahitian named Tupaia who had extensive knowledge of Pacific geography. The Royal Society, and especially Alexander Dalrymple , insisted Terra Australis must exist, despite Cook's personal doubts.

He reached New Zealand, which until then had apparently been visited by Europeans only once, by Abel Tasman in 1642. Cook mapped its complete coastline (with only minor mistakes, such as calling Banks Peninsula an island and thinking Stewart Island was part of the South Island), discovering Cook Strait (named by Banks), which separates the North Island from the South Island and which Abel Tasman had not guessed at.

Next, he went on to Australia, where he discovered its east coast.

The site of Cook's first landing, at Kurnell on Botany Bay, was intended to be the site of the first British colony in Australia, but when Captain Arthur Phillip arrived with the First Fleet in 1788, he felt that Botany Bay was unsuitable, and sailed a short distance northwards to Port Jackson, for the establishment of Sydney.

However, Botany Bay was the site of one of the earliest European contacts with Australian Aborigines and the first European sightings of Australian flora and fauna (the name Botany Bay was chosen to reflect the diverse range of flora found there).

Cook also discovered the Great Barrier Reef, when his ship ran aground June 11th 1770; Endeavour was seriously damaged and his voyage was delayed for two months while repairs were carried out. He then sailed through Torres Strait between Australia and New Guinea, again becoming only the second European to do so (the first being Luis Vaez de Torres, in 1604). His ship on this voyage, HM Bark Endeavour, gave the name to the Space Shuttle Endeavour.

By this point in the voyage Cook had lost no men to scurvy, a remarkable and unheard-of achievement in the 18th century. He forced his men to eat such foods as citrus fruits and sauerkraut, under punishment of flogging if they did not comply, although no one yet understood why these foods prevented scurvy. Unfortunately, he sailed for Batavia, the capital of the Dutch East Indies, to put in for repairs. Batavia was known for its outbreaks of malaria, and much of Cook's crew would succumb to the disease before they returned home in 1771, including the Tahitian Tupaia.

Cook's journals were published upon his return and he became something of a hero among the scientific community. Among the general public, however, the aristocratic botanist Joseph Banks was a bigger hero. Banks even attempted to take command of the Cook's second voyage, but removed himself from the voyage before it began.

3 Second voyage ( 1772- 1775)

Cook was once again commissioned by the Royal Society to search for the mythical Terra Australis. Despite Cook's evidence to the contrary from the first voyage, Alexander Dalrymple refused to believe a massive southern continent did not exist. Cook commanded HMS Resolution on this voyage, while Tobias Furneaux commanded HMS Adventure . Cook circumnavigated the globe at a very high southern latitude, becoming the first European to cross the Antarctic Circle on January 17, 1773, reaching 71°10' south, and discovered South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. In the Antarctic fog, Cook and Furneaux were separated. Furneaux made his way to New Zealand, where he lost some of his men following a fight with the Maori, and eventually sailed back to Britain while Cook was still exploring the Antarctic.

Cook almost discovered the mainland of Antarctica, but turned back north towards Tahiti to resupply his ship. He then travelled south again, in a second fruitless attempt to find the supposed continent, bringing with him a young Tahitian named Omai, who proved to be somewhat less knowledgeable about the Pacific than Tupaia had been on the first voyage. On his return voyage, he landed at the Friendly Islands and Easter Island, and returned home having destroyed the myth of Terra Australis.

Another accomplishment of the second voyage was the successful testing of John Harrison's timekeeping instruments, which at last facilitated accurate measurement of longitude.

Upon his return, he was given an honorary retirement from the Royal Navy, but he could not be kept away from the sea. A third voyage was planned to find the Northwest Passage. Cook would travel to the Pacific and hopefully travel east to the Atlantic, while a simultaneous voyage would travel the opposite way.

4 Third voyage ( 1776- 1779)

On his last voyage, Cook once again commanded HMS Resolution, while Captain Charles Clerke commanded HMS Discovery. Ostensibly the voyage was planned to return Omai to Tahiti; this is what the general public believed, as he had become a favourite curiosity in London. After returning Omai, Cook travelled north and in 1778 became the first European to visit the Hawaiian Islands, which he named the "Sandwich Islands" after the 4th Earl of Sandwich, the then First Lord of the Admiralty. From there, he travelled east to explore the west coast of North America, eventually landing at Nootka Sound on Vancouver Island, although he unknowingly sailed past the Strait of Juan de Fuca. He explored and mapped the coast from California all the way to the Bering Strait, discovering what came to be known as Cook Inlet in Alaska on the way.

The Bering Strait proved to be impassable, although he made several attempts to sail through it. Cook became increasingly frustrated on this voyage, and probably began to suffer from a stomach ailment; it is speculated that this led to irrational behaviour towards his crew, such as forcing them to eat walrus meat, which they found inedible.

Cook returned to Hawaii in 1779. On February 14 at Kealakekua Bay , some Hawaiians stole one of Cook's small boats; normally, as thefts were quite common in Tahiti and the other islands, he would have taken hostages until whatever was stolen was returned, but his stomach ailment and increasingly irrational behaviour lead to an altercation with a large crowd of Hawaiians gathered on the beach. In the ensuing skirmish, shots were fired at the Hawaiians and Cook was clubbed and stabbed to death.

Clerke took over the expedition and made a final attempt to pass through the Bering Strait. The Resolution and Discovery finally returned home in 1780.

5 Cook's protegés

A number of the junior officers who served under Cook went on to distinctive accomplishments of their own.

• William Bligh, Cook's sailing master , was given command, in 1787, of the HMS Bounty to return to Tahiti and return with breadfruits.
• George Vancouver, one of Cook's midshipmen, later lead a voyage of exploration to the Pacific Coast of North America in 1791-1794.
• John Cawte Beaglehole was Cook's biographer and edited his Journals.

6 See also

• Death of Cook

7 External links

• James Cook Links Page
• Explorer voyage maps including those of James Cook
• The Endeavour journal, as kept by James Cook - digitised and held by the National Library of Australia

Cook, James Cook, James Cook, James Cook, James

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