Cook prepared a plan whereby he would circumnavigate the south pole at as high latitudes as cold, ice and land would allow. Knowing it would be impossible to stay for long periods in the extreme cold Cook proposed the use of Queen Charlotte Sound in New Zealand and Tahiti as bases for repair and recuperation. He submitted a chart to the Admiralty showing the proposed track close to 60°S. The Admiralty agreed to the plan and nominated Cook to be in charge of the expedition, promoting him to Commander. When Cook received his instructions they bore a marked resemblance to his own original suggestions.
On the Endeavour voyage, Cook had experienced the problems of using only one ship so he made strong representations that two vessels should sail this time. The Admiralty agreed and two more colliers, the Marquis of Granby and the Marquis of Rockingham, were purchased from Captain Hammond in Hull. They were renamed the Drake and the Raleigh but, as it was felt such names might antagonise the Spanish, these names were abandoned for HMS Resolution and HMS Adventure. The Resolution was 462 tons while the Adventure was 340 tons (the Endeavour had been 369 tons). and both had been built at the Fishburn yard in Whitby.
The modifications took time and Cook started to worry that they would not sail on time. On April 10th the Resolution was sailed down the Thames to check its seaworthiness but by the 14th near the Nore the pilot in charge gave up. It was totally unsuitable to be taken to sea. Lieutenant Cooper, who had been acting for Cook, reported the news to Cook. The Navy Board and the Admiralty quickly decided that the Resolution should be returned to its original state and sent the ship to Sheerness for this to be done. The passengers would fit the ship, not the ship the passengers.
Banks visited Sheerness and was livid at developments. He swore that he and his party would not sail if his proposals were not carried out and made strong representations to Lord Sandwich. Sandwich now sided with the Navy so that Banks had, in effect, excluded himself from the voyage.
Meanwhile, personnel had been assembled to crew the ships. The Resolution's Lieutenants were Cooper, Clerke (who had sailed on Endeavour) and Pickersgill. The Master was Gilbert, who had worked in Newfoundland. The Captain of the Adventure was Tobias Furneaux, who had sailed to the Pacific, before with Wallis on the Dolphin, while his Lieutenants were Shank (who only lasted as far as Cape Town), Kempe and Burney.
The last-minute loss of Banks and Solander occasioned the need to quickly replace them with naturalists, and Johann Reinhold Forster and his son, Georg, were chosen. Johann Forster, while most capable as a scientist, was not the easiest person to deal with, especially in the confines of a ship for three years, and proved a source of friction throughout the voyage and after. Georg worked hard to smooth over many of those frictions and proved an excellent scientist. One person who did not like Forster was William Wales, the astronomer on the Resolution. Another astronomer, William Bayley sailed on the Adventure. Another late appointment was William Hodges as artist and he was to make some memorable records of the voyage in his paintings.
The preparations were ready by the end of June 1772 and Cook joined the Resolution at Sheerness. The ship sailed from the Thames the next day and reached Plymouth on July 3rd where the Adventure had been waiting since May. Cook received his instructions but, more interestingly, he took on board chronometers that would be used to determine longitude. They were ready to sail at last.
On August 2nd they sailed south, passing Ferro in the Canary Islands before coming to the Cape Verde Islands. Rounding Boa Vista the ships anchored in Praia on the south side of Sao Tiago Island. The scientists took the opportunity to go ashore, while charts were made of the harbour before they sailed again on the 15th. Henry Smock, a ship's carpenter on the Resolution, fell overboard on the 20th while John Lambrecht, a midshipman, died on the Adventure on the 27th. The two ships managed to keep together as they crossed the Equator on September 7th. In this part of the voyage the ships were put through their paces to assess their speed and handling abilities, and the scientists trialled new instruments including a submergible thermometer for seawater temperatures and a still for converting salt water onto fresh drinking water.
The ships arrived at Cape Town on October 31st where the Dutch gave them a friendly reception but were slow at producing provisions that had been requested. Cook was already behind schedule owing to Banks' modifications to the Resolution and these further delays frustrated him considerably. He knew how important it was to reach high latitudes around Antarctica while it was still summer so ice and cold conditions did not hinder exploration. Every day in port was a day lost.
Others were not idle; Gilbert, the Master, charted Table Bay, Hodges painted and the Forsters collected. They even collected an assistant called Anders Sparrman, a Swede, who proved a useful addition to the party. Cook gave Furneaux further instruction in health matters as the Adventure had arrived at the Cape with too many men sick (the Resolution had none). While in port Cook heard about other explorers, especially the French Kerguelen and Du Fresne. Kerguelen was reported as having located land at 48°S, south of Mauritius while Du Fresne had been returning Aotourou, a Tahitian, to his island.
In 1739 Bouvet, a French explorer, had located a cape, Cape Circumcision, in these latitudes and Cook, wanting to confirm its location, set a course west when he reached 58°S. Christmas was celebrated in boisterous style to Forster Senior's disapproval. Cook sailed as far as 10°E without any sign of land and then turned back. He was sceptical of the Cape's existence, speculating that it had been an iceberg but the co-ordinates were wrong and the Cape was finally fixed in 1898 as part of Bouvet Island.
The crew experimented by loading blocks of ice from icebergs and melting them to produce drinking water. By January 12th 1773 conditions were calm and clear so Cook at 39°E turned south and on January 17th they were the first known ships to cross the Antarctic Circle. The next day having reached 67°15'S their passage was blocked by thick ice and they were forced to reteat north. At the end of the month they were finally free of icebergs and Cook began searching for the land described by Kerguelen. They were unsuccessful and then, on February 8th in thick fog, the two vessels were separated. The Resolution circled for several days, firing cannons but could not find the Adventure, which was deemed to have sailed off for the rendezvous.
The Resolution headed back to higher latitudes narrowly missing Heard Island and by late February had reached 60°S, 95°E. On the 24th they sailed to 61°52'S before pack ice stopped them once more and forced them back. Cook was intent on resolving the Southern Continent but he was not to know that he had virtually been at the Antarctic mainland at this point. They were able to see the Aurora Australis at this time, the first recorded sighting of this phenomenon. Cook sailed east keeping the Resolution close to latitude 60°S for three weeks before deciding to make for warmer waters on March 17th. He considered aiming for Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) but at 146°E he was already too far east and steered instead for New Zealand.
Meanwhile Furneaux had sailed for the rendezvous after separation, keeping around latitude 40-45°S, so that in early March he had arrived at Van Diemen's Land. He called in briefly at Bruny Island on the South Coast before sailing up the West Coast of the Island and then striking east for New Zealand, where he arrived at Queen Charlotte Sound on April 7th.
On March 25th the southwest corner of Te Wai Pounamu was sighted and the next day Cook brought the Resolution into Dusky Sound, one of the inlets he had refused to enter three years earlier. While the Resolution waited by Anchor Island, boats were dispatched to find a suitable anchorage. Pickersgill found one on the south side of the inlet and later called Pickersgill Harbour. A clearing was made ashore for the astronomers to work, earning the spot the name Astronomer's Point, while a brewery was set up using rimu and manuka. Officers began to explore the Sound and, at Cascade Point in Cascade Cove, Maori were seen in the distance who then followed them back to the ship, but no contact resulted. Cook found the Maori's camp but it was deserted.
More exploration took place in order to shoot wildfowl and seals for food. Many local features were named for the animals shot there and the detailed charts compiled show Woodhen Cove, Duck Cove and Seal Rocks. Luncheon Cove and Supper Cove denote the meals enjoyed. Gradually contact was established with local Maori. Gifts were exchanged with a small family on Indian Island and others visited the ship.
Cook explored the Acheron Passage and realised it gave egress to the sea so that, when they sailed on April 30th, he decided to leave via that route. Progress was very slow and it took until May 5th to reach Passage Point. Pickersgill and the Forsters spent two days up Wet Jacket Arm while Cook investigated Breaksea Sound and Gilbert charted the passage to the sea. On May 11th they sailed back out into the open sea and north up the coast. Cape Farewell was rounded on May 17th but before making Queen Charlotte Sound six large waterspouts were seen and drawn. There was great relief when they arrived at Ship Cove to find the Adventure safely anchored there.
Furneaux reported cases of scurvy aboard the Adventure and that their cook had died so Cook sent over a replacement. On August 6th at latitude 25°S, and when no land had been seen, the ships turned west to sail through the Tuamotus to Tahiti, which was reached on the 15th. As they came to Tahiti, Cook was not on deck and their approach was too far south at the island's southeastern corner so that the ships nearly ran onto the fringing reef. When he had walked around the island four years earlier Cook had identified Tautira as a potential safe harbour and it was to here that he was now heading. They managed to sail through a gap in the reef but not without difficulties and several anchors were lost.
On August 17th the ships anchored at Cook's Anchorage near Tautira in Vaitepiha Bay where they were received warmly. The local chief was now Vehiatua, who as a boy in 1769 had accompanied Cook on part of his walk, and the two men met on the 23rd. Gilbert managed to recover some of the anchors while Hodges painted scenes of the Vaitepiha River and Valley. Another anchor was retrieved years later and is an exhibit in the Museum of Tahiti and the Islands at Punaauia. Cook decided to leave Tautira on the 24th and two days later arrived at Matavai Bay. Things had changed since Cook's last visit, with two wars apparently having taken place, and new people were in power. Tu, based in Pare, was now Chief and he visited Cook on August 27th. Entertainments were organised for the visitors when Cook returned Tu's visit the following day. In both Tautira and Matavai provisions were in short supply, probably as a result of the wars that had occurred and Cook, realising the situation would not improve, decided to leave. The ships sailed on September 1st for Huahine and the other Leeward Islands of the Society Islands.
Huahine was reached the next day and Cook sailed the Resolution through Passe Avapeihi to anchor near Fare. He had to send his boats though to assist the Adventure, which nearly hit the reef. Ori, who was still Chief on Huahine, greeted Cook warmly and gifts and compliments were exchanged. Unlike Tahiti provisions were in good supply and trade was brisk. Sparrman went inland where he was robbed and stripped, which led to a tense situation. Ori offered himself as hostage but the matter was quickly sorted out and, since the ships were ready, Cook determined to leave. On September 7th they sailed with an extra passenger on the Adventure. This was Mai (later known as Omai) who would gain fame in London.
They sailed across to Raiatea and rounded the south end of the island. Cook modified his charts as he sailed past, fixing the islands of Haaio and Nao Nao and Vaihuti Bay, before reaching the anchorage at Passe Rautoanui. Orio, the Chief welcomed Cook lavishly with entertainments, dancing, theatre and music every day of the visit. Pickersgill was charged with obtaining fresh supplies and even went north to Tahaa for fresh pigs. The ships left Raiatea on September 17th and Cook, having changed his mind about returning straight to New Zealand, headed instead for some islands, the Tonga Group, that Tasman had visited in 1643.
A few days later on the 23rd an atoll with two small uninhabited islands that Cook called the Hervey Islands were seen. They were Manuae and Te Au O Tu and, later, they were included in the Cook Islands. Sailing on without stopping the ships arrived at the Tongan Group on October 2nd. Tasman and Visscher had visited two islands that they called Amsterdam and Middelburg, and Cook was keen to fix the islands' position. The Resolution and Adventure approached Middelburg from the east and rounded the south of the islandwhere, passing between it and a smaller island, Kalau, they sailed up to anchor off its northwest shore. The anchorage was called English Roads while the island's traditional name is 'Eua. Cook went ashore at Ohonua to meet Chief Taione (Tionee) and relations were most friendly. Everyone was impressed by the island and its agriculture and well-tended gardens but the Tongans showed no desire to trade so Cook decided to move on to another island visible to the northwest.
They sailed across to Tongatapu (Tasman's Amsterdam) on October 3rd. After passing the island's southern point, Houma Toloa or Cook's Point, many canoes accompanied the ships to an anchorage, Van Dieman's Roads at the northwest of the island. Cook was soon introduced to a Chief, Ataongo (Otago) who would look after him during his stay but the social structure of Tonga was complex and Cook never met the King. The reception was so cordial that Cook gave the name, Friendly Islands, to the islands. The visit was only short but for those four days trade was brisk in coconuts, bananas, pigs and Cook, despite the short time, gave a detailed and favourable description of Tongatapu and 'Eua. He learned also about more islands to the north.
Cook could not afford to stay longer as he needed to be ready to return to Antarctic waters at the beginning of summer. They departed, therefore, on October 8th heading for New Zealand. The tiny island of 'Ata was passed the next day. The crossing was uneventful until Table Cape on the Mahia Peninsula was sighted on the 21st. Sailing down the East Coast of Te Ika a Maui Cook gave livestock to Maori who came out to the ships in canoes. When they were near Cape Palliser gales started that lasted over a week causing the ships to ply back and forward until, on the 30th, they were separated. The Resolution made it into Cook Strait on November 2nd and only the tides prevented them entering what would later be called Wellington Harbour before they arrived at Queen Charlotte Sound on the 3rd. The Adventure was not there and did not appear.
Many of the crew were sick so Cook decided to head north for warmth but also to check a space on his chart of the Pacific. He continued north to latitude 47°S in longitude 122°W without meeting any land when, to everyone else's surprise and disappointment, Cook turned once more and struck southwards. By January 26th 1774 they had crossed the Antarctic Circle at longitude 109°W in mild but foggy conditions. They were surrounded by very large icebergs until, on January 30th having reached 71°10'S, they came to the edge of impenetrable pack ice that forced them to turn and retreat. It was, by a long way, the furthest south and closest to the South Pole that anyone had been. Both Vancouver and Sparrman claimed to be the individual who was furthest south.
William Wales, the Astronomer on the Resolution, would later teach at Christ's Hospital School where one of his pupils was Samuel Taylor Coleridge. It is most probable that Wales would have told stories about his voyage with Cook, and Coleridge's poem, "The Ryme of the Ancient Mariner" was partly inspired by the voyage. Many verses show close similarities to descriptions in Cook's Journal for this voyage.
Even Cook was now ready to give up searching for Terra australis incognita and he wrote "I, who had ambition not only to go farther than anyone had done before, but as far as it was possible for man to go, was not sorry at meeting with this interruption". Cook reckoned that if a Southern Continent did exist it did so at such high latitudes as to be too cold and inhospitable.
In late February Cook fell seriously ill with stomach complaints and handed over command to Lieutenant Cooper. His condition became critical and only constant nursing by Surgeon Patten, together with some help from the elder Forster, saved Cook. Forster had his dog killed and made a broth from it, which was carefully fed to Cook. It is believed now that Cook had a problem with his gall bladder and a paralysed bowel. Given that Cook was now 46 and the length of time he had been at sea, often in terrible conditions, it is not surprising that Cook should succumb to illness.
The ship though continued north without sighting any land. The weather was changing and the crew now complained about it being too hot and a lack of drinking water (parallels again with "The Ancient Mariner). In early March the Resolution turned west looking for Easter Island and on the 13th the island was sighted. It is probable that Davis Island and Easter Island are one and the same. Easter Island is one of the most remote inhabited locations in the world. After meeting the people on the island Cook realised that the Polynesians had even reached this distant spot calling it Te Pito o Te Henua (it later acquired the name Rapa Nui). The Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen, who had visited in 1722, gave it its more common name.
The Resolution approached the island from the southeast but no harbours or landing places could be seen on the South Coast. Cook skirted along the coast and round South Cape before sailing up the West Coast but there was no safe harbour there either. He returned south to stand off and anchor off a small settlement called Hanga Roa. Going ashore on March 14th Cook found he could communicate with the local people albeit with difficulty. Some trading took place but fresh drinking water was in short supply.
Cook sent a party ashore to explore the island being still too weak himself to accompany them. The Forsters, Wales and Pickersgill all gave Cook accounts of what they had seen and where they had gone. Local people had accompanied them, with one man carrying a white flag in the lead across what proved to be a treeless and barren terrain that had no surface water and little cultivation. The party crossed to the South Coast at Vaihu and then walked to the eastern end of the island, which is 18 kilometres long. They climbed a hill (Puakatiki?) that gave them views of the South and North Coasts before returning. The party was fascinated by the many large statues (moai) standing or lying on platforms (ahu), mainly around the coast. Hodges painted one group of statues near Orito.
The ship was under sail on March 16th and they departed the next day. Cook was ill again as they sailed north, this time looking for islands known from Mendana's voyage from Peru in 1595. The Spanish had called these islands Las Marquesas de Mendoca and the name had contracted to the Marquesas, though the Polynesian name was Te Fenua Enata. The islands were thought to be in latitude 10°S so the Resolution started sailing west on March 29th and sighted Fatu Huku on April 6th.
Cook sailed through the strait between the islands of Hiva Oa and Tahuata searching for a harbour described by Mendona on the West Coast of Tahuata. They came to the safe harbour or Vaitahu Bay on April 8th. Water and provisions were available and trade began but misunderstandings arose and a Tahuatan was shot dead. Trade continued but with suspicions on both sides. Someone from the Resolution started using red feathers from Tonga as currency and this undermined all other tender so Cook decided it was time to leave. The Resolution sailed from Vaitahu on April 12th and made for the West Coast of Hiva Oa but no landing place could be seen. The ship then headed for Tahiti without seeing the other islands of the Marquesas further to the north. Despite the short stay and the limited contact, the Marquesan people and islands left a very favourable impression on Cook. Few women had been seen but the men were held to be the most handsome in the Pacific.
On April 22nd 1774 Cook sailed once more into Matavai Bay on Tahiti. Remembering the lack of supplies the previous August he did not intend to stay long but was surprised to find pigs and other supplies in profusion. Cook was also amazed by the spectacle he saw at Pare a few days later where over 300 double canoes were assembled. Cook counted 160 war canoes and 170 smaller support canoes with about 7000 men on board. The purpose of the fleet was uncertain but an attack on the neighbouring island of Moorea seemed most likely. To'ofa was in control of the fleet and seemed to have assumed equal status to Chief Tu. A tense situation arose on May 8th when a musket was stolen but it was retrieved and, to diffuse matters, Cook gave a fireworks display.
They left Tahiti on May 14th and sailed across to Huahine where they had a lukewarm reception and their stay was marked by several incidents, including Forster's servant Scholient being attacked and robbed. Cook moved on to Raiatea to anchor inside Passe Rautoanui on the West Coast. Chief Orio put on elaborate entertainments featuring his daughter Poetua. They were able to trade as provisions were plentiful and they left the island on June 4th. The next day they passed the outlying island of Mopihaa and began following a more northerly course than they had on the first island sweep.
Two weeks later they came to an atoll where Cook took the ship in close while Gilbert went ashore to examine the string of uninhabited, small islets dotting the fringe of the atoll. There was no passage for the Resolution into the lagoon and sailed on. One islet is now called Cooks, while another cluster of small islets has the name Small Cooks. The whole atoll is called Palmerston Atoll and is part of the Cook Islands. On June 22nd Cook approached another island, which he skirted to the north while small boats tried to land. As the crew tried to climb a cliff near Tuapa local people threw coral at them and they retreated to the ship. A second attempt to land was made near Alofi with the same result. This island, Niue, was termed Savage Island by Cook because of their hostile reception.
Pressing on Cook reached the Tongan Islands again on June 25th but this time he was further north in the Ha'apai Group. Cook was aiming for Nomuka or Rotterdam as it was called on Visscher's chart of Tasman's voyage of 1643. He sailed south of Telekitonga and between Tonumea and Mango to arrive from the southwest at Nomuka, where Cook anchored in the middle of the North Coast. The island was able to supply provisions and fresh water in plenty so trade was brisk. Surgeon Patten and Lieutenant Clerke had their muskets taken and when they were recovered Cook thought it best to leave.
Cook sailed north on June 29th to the west of Tungua heading for two interesting islands. On the 30th Cook sailed through the channel between Kao and Tofua, an active volcano. Low cloud prevented those on board from seeing whether the volcano was active and Cook was not prepared to go ashore to investigate. On the stretch from Nomuka to Tofua Cook had been able to watch Tongan canoes and admire how they were sailed, together with their capabilities for speed and manoeuvrability.
15 years later the Mutiny on the Bounty took place off Tofua. Captain Bligh, who would be the Master on the Resolution on Cook's Third Voyage, landed his longboat on Tofua but was attacked, losing his Quartermaster.
The island of Maewo, one of those visited by Quiros, was sighted on July 16th. Cook rounded the north of the island before sailing south between Maewo and Aoba and then down the West Coast of Pentecost. Though Cook never landed on Pentecost some rocks near Ateu Point are called Captain Cook's Rocks. Cook was now surrounded by islands and headed southwest for the island of Malekula where he found an inlet and anchored the Resolution on the 22nd. Cook went ashore only to find that the people were Melanesian not Polynesian so communication was extremely difficult. He exchanged green branches with one of the 4-500 people who had assembled on the beach. The British were not encouraged to trade but were allowed to cut wood. Cook and Forster were able to visit a local village. An incident then occurred between the two parties and Cook thought it wise to leave.
Cook was not to know that the Malekulans regarded their visitors as ghosts and, as ghosts did not eat or drink, there was no need to supply food or water. They sailed from the inlet, Port Sandwich, and turned south. William Wales called a nearby group of small islands Maskelyne's Isles (after the Astronomer Royal). The bay between these islands and Malekula is Cook Bay. Resolution continued past the islands of Epi and Emae (a reef to the west of Emae is called Cook Reef) to arrive at a group of small islands that Cook called the Shepherd Islands. Turning southwest they passed between Mataso and Wot Rock to arrive at Efate. They passed to the east of this island and could see further islands to the south but the Resolution became becalmed in light winds. Gradually though it worked its way to the first island, Erromango.
Cook took the Resolution down the West Coast of Erromango at the beginning of August, searching for a harbour but the winds reversed and the ship was forced back north. Gilbert was sent off to investigate Elizabeth Bay but Cook had to recall him when they were driven north. Rounding the north of the island Cook came to a large bay and began looking for an anchorage. Clerke landed on a small island, Goat Island, to search for water but was unsuccessful. Cook in the meantime had anchored in Polenia Bay on August 4th and attempted to land but his reception was cool if courteous. As he was invited to step ashore Cook became suspicious and gave orders to return to the ship. A fight broke out and marines fired their muskets killing four locals. Back on board, winds shifted and Cook issued instructions to leave. He took the ship round a headland that he named Traitor's Point (Pointe Uvwore) and sailed for another island visible in the distance. The bay south of Pointe Uvwore is named Cook Bay even though Cook never called there.
The next island was Tanna and Cook anchored the Resolution in an inlet near the southeastern corner of the island. The headland to the east of this inlet, Port Resolution, is called Cape Cook. They were met by a large crowd of local people but the reception was lukewarm and, although the ship stayed for two weeks, relations remained distant. The crew was able to fish and get fresh water, wood and some supplies but Cook always set a guard of marines when anyone went ashore. The volcano of Yasur overlooks the inlet but the British were discouraged from exploring it or going anywhere far from the beach. One Tanna man, Paowang, did become friendly and he and a chief were entertained on the ship.
Before they sailed on August 20th a sentry overreacted and shot dead a Tanna man. Cook was shocked and ordered the marine to be flogged but the ship's officers argued his case and he was let off. The Resolution sailed east to view two islands, Aniwa and Futuna, but did not land and returned round the south of Tanna to head north past the west of Erromango. One further island, Anatom, lay to the south, unvisited, but Cook felt he had reached the end of the island chain. By the 23rd the ship was off the West Coast of Malekula.
On August 24th Cook sailed east through the Bougainville Strait between Malekula and Malo and changed course north along the coast of a larger island. Cook correctly identified this island with Quiros' Tierra del Espiritu Santo and honoured the Spanish explorer by naming a headland Cape Quiros. Rounding this cape he entered St. Phillip and St. James' Bay where he located Quiros' Jordan River flowing into the bay. The island's name has been shortened to Espiritu Santo. The Resolution sailed round the northwest cape of the island, Cape Cumberland, and sailed down the West Coast before leaving these islands on September 1st 1774.
Bougainville had visited the northern members of the island group and had named them the Great Cyclades. Cook, though, called them the New Hebrides and this name remained until the country gained independence and became known as Vanuatu. Cook's chart of the New Hebrides is one of the early wonders of hydrographic charting, being completed largely by running survey in only four weeks of actual sailing time.
Cook went off to climb Mount Vengaya, south of Balade, and from its summit he could see the wide valley of the River Diahot and, in the distance, the island's parallel south coast. The dryness, the vegetation and the nature of the countryside reminded Cook strongly of New Holland, not so far away to the west in the same latitude. Cook sent parties off along the coast to explore and locate a passage via the north to the other coast recently seen from Mount Vengaya.
On September 13th they sailed north on Gilbert's recommendation passing Balabio and Belap Islands and keeping a safe distance from the reef (later known as Recif de Cook or Cook Reef). However, the reef persisted to the north and no route west was found so Cook turned near a sandy isle, Ongombua, and sailed back past Balade. He sailed on, wary of the reef remembering his time on the Great Barrier Reef, but keeping the coast in sight. They were sufficiently close to be puzzled by tower-like structures that they could see and that were increasing in numbers. Cook thought they were trees and was keen to get ashore to investigate. By September 24th they had arrived at the southern end of the island and Cook named two headlands Cape Coronation and Queen Charlotte's Foreland.
Reefs and gales prevented the Resolution rounding Queen Charlotte's Foreland and they were forced further southeast near to another smaller island that appeared to be covered in the "towers". Cook worked the ship back towards the larger island but found the reefs closing in, forcing him to anchor off a tiny islet. This was Amere Island, Cook's Botany Island. The botanists were able at last to inspect the "towers" and confirm they were trees (the trees, New Caledonia Pines, have a latin name honouring Cook - Araucaria columnaris cooki). The carpenters felled some trees, which were deemed most suitable as ship's timber.
From the little he could learn from the local people they had no name for the whole of the large island so Cook now gave it the name of New Caledonia as, sailing down its coast, it had reminded him of Scotland. The smaller island he called the Isle of Pines, though it was called Kounie locally. A headland to the west Cook called Prince of Wales Foreland (it is actually on Ouen Island and not on Grand Terre, as the large island is also known). The reefs prevented the Resolution from leaving in any direction but the way it had approached Amere Island. Cook looked for a route near Totea Island but soon gave up and headed southeast for New Zealand on October 1st 1773.
They neared Cape Egmont on the West Coast of Te Ika a Maui, New Zealand on October 17th and anchored in Ship Cove in Queen Charlotte Sound the next day. The Adventure was not in the cove but there was evidence it had been there since the Resolution's last visit. The bottle left for Furneaux had gone and trees had been felled recently with axes but there was no message from the other ship. Repairs and restocking began straight away as Cook was keen to be on its way and round Cape Horn.
Cook visited Motuara Island but found it to be uninhabited and its vegetable plots untended. He met Maori from whom he received various stories, some contradictory, about killings and ships sinking. The Maori themselves were not at ease. In early November Cook took the pinnace to investigate an inlet further up Queen Charlotte Sound. He had suspected when he climbed Cook's Lookout four years earlier that this inlet connected the Sound to Cook Strait and he now found he was correct. Interestingly, a chart of this passage (later called Tory Channel) by Peter Fannin, the Master of the Adventure, shows he had independently explored the passage.
They found a message from Cook in Ship Cove describing what had happened to the Resolution and Cook's plans. No further rendezvous was suggested. Furneaux set about repairing the ship and restocking water and supplies. A chart by the Master, Fannin, shows that he explored well up the Sound beyond present day Picton and also confirmed that Tory Channel connected the Sound to Cook Strait.
On December 17th the cutter with Rowe, a Midshipman, and nine others aboard set off to the East side of the Sound to cut fresh greens but did not return. The next day Furneaux sent Lieutenant Burney in the launch to find out what had happened. They rowed past Long Island and through East Bay to Whareunga Bay (Grass Cove) where they found remains of the cutter and, more ominously, remains of the cutter's crew. Burney and Fannin saw several hundred Maori and thought it wise to withdraw to the ship. Furneaux, hearing the news, decided to leave straight away and, with little chance of meeting Cook, set off for Britain.
The Adventure sailed on December 23rd and crossed the Pacific near latitude 60°S without seeing any land. They passed well to the south of Cape Horn in late January 1774 but cold forced them further north in the South Atlantic where Furneaux looked once more for Cape Circumcision (Bouvet Island) without success. On March 19th the Adventure anchored at Cape Town. He stayed there until April 16th when he sailed for Britain, which was reached on July 14th. (Cook at this time was approaching the New Hebrides two-thirds of the way through his second island sweep).
The Resolution passed through Cook Strait and headed south holding a course between those taken on his two Pacific sweeps. When they reached latitude 55°S, that of Tierra del Fuego, they headed east on a course that would take them through some parts of the Ocean as yet unexplored. On December 17th they arrived at Cape Desado on Desolation Island after an uneventful passage and having seen no land or indications of land. A map of the Pacific with the criss-cross of routes taken by Cook on the Endeavour and the Resolution shows how Cook was now able to declare that no significant large landmasses remained to be located in the South Pacific. If anything did remain out there it was small or lay in cold and inhospitable latitudes. The map also shows how Cook fixed the positions of islands visited by earlier explorers such as Tasman, Quiros and Mendana, whose surveying and cartographic abilities and tools were far short of those of Cook. In fact, the map that Cook nearly single-handedly produced was virtually identical to the one we know today.
Cook followed the coast of Tierra del Fuego, which comprised hundreds of small islands some of which were charted and named but many were not, making for Cape Horn. The Resolution was kept at a safe distance from the shore and soon passed the Grafton Islands, Noir Island, Tower Rocks and the Gilbert Islands (named after the Master). A large inlet passed on the 19th is now called Cook Bay. Cook needed provisions and to check the state of the Resolution. He found an inlet suitable for his purpose on the 20th into which he took the ship. He stayed here for eight days over Christmas, which earned the inlet the name Christmas Sound. Fresh water and vegetables were obtained while Cook, the Forsters, Pickersgill and Clerke made sorties exploring the Sound. Local Fuegan people visited the ship and gifts were exchanged. Various birds were shot for food and features around the Sound were named for the birds shot there. A towering rock on Waterman Island was called York Minster.
The Resolution sailed on December 28th and rounded Cape Horn safely the next day before making for the Bay of Good Success to check for signs of the Adventure. Pickersgill went ashore but found no trace of the other ship having been there. Sailing on Cook went through the Strait of Le Maire and turned east along the North Coast of Staten Island. He came to a group of small islands, the New Year's Isles, on December 31st 1774. Cook anchored the ship in the lee of the largest island, Observatory Island, and sent Gilbert to explore an inlet on Staten Island. Gilbert charted what proved to be a good harbour and named it New Year's Harbour and some isles at its mouth, Gull Isles. Two days later they sailed east passing a bay, later called Cook Bay, and rounding Cape St. John before heading off to explore the South Atlantic.
The Resolution sailed through the reported location for Golfo de St. Sebastinao without detecting any sign of land but did sight land on January 14th, well to the east of Dalrymple's supposed location. Gregorio Jerez, in the Leon in 1756, had seen an island that he called San Pedro and it was possibly the same as the one that Cook now began to investigate. On the 17th Cook worked the ship through a strait between Willis and Bird Islands and began sailing along the north coast of what appeared to be a mountainous, snow-covered and barren land. He named Capes North and Buller and the Bay of Isles before anchoring at the mouth of an inlet.
Cook and the Forsters took a small boat and landed in the inlet that Cook called Possession Bay. Only three species of plant were found in the cold and bleak environment. Fur seals and various birds, including King Penguins, were seen but the large glaciers flowing into the bay had the most effect when one "calved an iceberg" with a huge bang while Cook's party was there. A small inlet close to where the Resolution anchored is now called Cook Bay. The Resolution continued along the coast and by the 19th Cook could see more land to the southeast. On the 20th they rounded Cape Disappointment and could see the coast heading northwest, confirming the land to be an island that Cook called South Georgia. Smaller islands were named after crew members including Pickersgill and Cooper Islands.
Cook was puzzled that land in 55°S should have such a cold and inhospitable climate with no flowing water and scarcely any vegetation. He wondered whether glaciers were the source of pack ice but could not account for the huge amount of pack ice he had encountered. They then sailed east to locate the land sighted earlier but a gale and then dense fog made sailing difficult. On the 23rd they found the land to be only rocks, covered in seabirds, and Cook called them Clerke's Rocks after his officer. The Resolution headed off southeast and then south to reach 60°S where it was enveloped in very thick fog.
Cook did not want to meet pack ice in the fog so he turned east on January 27th. Progress was slow, but on the 31st a towering rock was discerned through the fog. Freezland Rock was named after the seaman who first sighted it while more land, seen behind the rock, was called Cape Bristol. Cook turned and, retracing his path, found more land. The Forsters suggested the name Southern Thule, equating the place with the furthest point south. With visibility continuing to be very poor Cook could not be sure whether the pieces of land seen were joined or separate islands. He decided on the former and called all his sightings Capes and the stretch of water between Thule and Bristol he called Forster's Bay (now Forster's Passage).
The Resolution next sailed north on Febrauary 1st passing two more "capes", Montagu and Saunders. Cook changed course northeast while to the northwest he saw a cluster of small islands, the Candlemas Islands (a large rock in Nelson Strait between the two larger islands is called Cook Rock). On February 5th Cook struck south again and, since he could see no further trace of land, he decided the capes of the previous days had all been small islands that he grouped and named as the South Sandwich Islands. Russian explorers later located three more islands to the north belonging to the group and showed that Southern Thule was in fact three islands, the middle of which they called Cook Island. Cook made no attempt to land on any of the South Sandwich Islands.
Cook turned east and for eight days sailed close to 58°S through many icebergs. He then altered course northeast aiming for where Bouvet's Cape Circumcision was meant to be but the longitude was wrong and he was already too far east. By the 25th Cook had despaired of ever finding Bouvet's Cape and decided to head north for Cape Town. They had circumnavigated the world in high latitudes as set out in their instructions and had finally laid to rest the idea of a Great Southern Continent. Two more small islands were shown on Dalrymple's chart, Denia and Marseveen, and Cook made a quick effort to find them. He soon dismissed their existence (rightly) and headed on to Cape Town where he anchored in Table Bay on March 22nd 1775.
While the repairs were being carried out Cook met Julien Marie Crozet, a French explorer, and from him learned about French voyages and discoveries in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. The meeting fired Cook with new ideas for future voyages.
The Resolution departed Cape Town on April 27th in company with another Indiaman, the Dutton. Using Kendal's chronometer, Cook was able to sail a direct course to St. Helena and predict to the Dutton exactly when they would reach the island. True to the prediction the ships anchored at Jamestown, St. Helena on May 15th but Cook's own reception was less than warm. At Cape Town he had seen a copy of John Hawkesworth's edition of the Journal of his first voyage, which contained unflattering descriptions of St. Helena and now he found the book had already reached the island as well. Cook had to do some quick diplomacy but as a joke he still received many wheelbarrows as Hawkesworth had said, incorrectly, that there was no wheeled transport on St. Helena. More pleasantly for Cook the Governor of the island was John Skottowe, who was the son of Thomas Skottowe, Cook's employer and benefactor in Great Ayton in his youth. They renewed their friendship and rode about the island by day. Balls and dinners were held for the crew at night.
The Resolution sailed north on May 21st with the Dutton but the two ships parted company three days later. Cook steered the ship to Acension Island where he hoped to obtain turtles for food. They arrived at the island on May 28th, anchoring at Cross Bay near Georgetown, but turtles were in short supply and the island itself was not fertile so Cook left on May 31st.
Cook was keen to be home but even now there were the positions of some islands to be fixed and his conscience and pride caused him to search further. The island of St. Matthew was only given brief attention (it does not exist) but on June 9th the ship came to Fernando de Noronha off Brazil. Kendal's chronometer was used to fix the island's position but Cook did not attempt to land. Instead he fired a salute to a fort that could be seen on shore and sailed on.
Leaving Fernando de Noronha Cook sailed north, crossing the Equator on June 11th. A northerly and then northwesterly course was held until July 9th when they turned east for the Azores. On this passage Cook trialled a still for distilling fresh water but he felt it required too much fuel even though it produced good quantities of water. On the 11th the Resolution anchored at Horta on the island of Fayal in the Central Azores. Cook spent five days at Horta, making a detailed description of the place and its inhabitants. Mr. Dent, the acting British Consul, helped them restock with beef and water.
Cook sailed again on July 19th passing to the north of Pico, Sao Jorge and Terceira islands and finally headed for Britain and home. The Resolution sighted Plymouth on July 29th and the next day Cook brought the ship to anchor at Spithead, off Portsmouth. They had been away for just over three years and only four men had died, one from sickness. Cook went straight to London to report to the Admiralty and to see his family. The Resolution meanwhile was directed to Deptford on the Thames via Gallions Reach.
Cook had set out a detailed plan for the Voyage, especially circumnavigating the world near 60°S to look for the Great Southern Continent, and he was able to carry out the plan virtually in its entirety. The continent was shown to exist only near the pole and would be too cold and inhospitable for people to live there. He became the first person to cross the Antarctic Circle and came very close to reaching the Antarctic mainland.
The sweeps Cook made of the South Pacific criss-crossed that ocean and left very little for future explorers to locate. Islands Groups such as the Marquesas, New Hebrides (Vanuatu) and Easter Island, previously known but whose positions were vague, were charted and fixed. New Caledonia, Niue, Norfolk Island and members of the Cook Islands were located and made known for the first time. Vast tracts of the Ocean were shown to have no land at all.
On the First Voyage Cook had met Polynesian people on vastly scattered islands and had been struck by their dispersal and the sailing and navigational skills required to achieve it. On the Second Voyage Cook was amazed to find the dispersal was greater than previously realised. He also encountered Melanesian people on New Caledonia and the New Hebrides. Cook and his crew had acquired some ability in Polynesian language so communication, of sorts, had been possible and relations had generally been good. On the Melanesian islands the languages were quite different and communication was very limited so the presence of the British was usually just tolerated and not encouraged.
Cook also visited the barren islands of South Georgia and South Sandwich in the South Atlantic and spoilt Dalrymple's ideas about there being habitable land in the area. Returning up the Atlantic, Cook once more brought home a healthy crew after three years away. The Forsters, despite some friction with others on board, brought home much of interest to scientists while the marine chronometers had shown their worth as navigational tools. Cook's charts were superb and the paintings of William Hodges provide a wonderful pictoral record of this magnificent voyage.
At Mile End Elizabeth Cook was relieved to have Cook home. Unfortunately, another of their children, George, had died in October 1772, aged only three months. Only the two boys, James and Nathaniel survived. James who was now 12 had begun attending the Naval Academy at Portsmouth, while the younger, Nathaniel, would soon follow his brother. A sixth child, Hugh, would be born in May 1776.
Cook was soon presented at Court and promoted to Post-Captain of HMS Kent. However, before Cook could take up this post, he was appointed to the Greenwich Hospital as Fourth Captain. This was something of a sinecure for Cook as he received a pension and was entitled to live at the Hospital (he chose to remain at Mile End though). It was intended that Cook use the opportunity to write up the records of the Second Voyage for publication, thereby avoiding the problems that had resulted from allowing a non-naval person to write the Endeavour Voyage. To assist Cook, Canon Douglas was brought in to help with style, grammar, etc. The work was eventually published to great acclaim in May 1777, after Cook's departure on his Third Voyage.
Cook was also moving in more exalted circles. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (the same body that had initiated the Endeavour Voyage) and admitted to the Society in March 1776. A paper that he presented on the prevention of scurvy won, for Cook, the Society's Copley Medal. Cook often dined out and met people such as James Boswell, the diarist. He even had his portrait painted by Dance.
Soon, however, Cook was becoming bored with this life and he required little pressure from the Earl Of Sandwich and other members of the Admiralty to accept charge of another expedition, this time to search for the Northwest Passage from the Pacific Ocean.
Cook though, soon became bored and wrote to his friend John Walker in Whitby: "A few months ago the whole southern hemisphere was hardly big enough for me, and now I am to be confined within the limits of Greenwich Hospital". At about the same time, the Admiralty was having thoughts about restarting the search for the Northwest Passage, north of North America, to the Pacific and China (Cathay).
The First Sea Lord, the Earl of Sandwich, was looking for a leader of a possible expedition and, while acknowledging that Cook had already done sufficient to warrant his retirement, felt Cook to be the most suitable choice. After Sandwich had manoeuvered his colleagues into offering Cook the position, Cook needed little persuasion to accept the offer. Cook would take two ships to the Pacific and search from there while Richard Pickersgill, who had sailed previously with Cook, would take HMS Lyon north past Baffin Island to look from the Atlantic in the East.
North European countries had been looking for northern routes to the Pacific for over 200 years. There were potentially lucrative markets for trade in Cathay (China) and the Spice Islands (Indonesia) but Spain and Portugal controlled the traditional southern routes for reaching the region so an alternative was required. Pack ice and extreme cold had always prevented earlier success either by a Northwest Passage or by a Northeast Passage to the north of Russia and Siberia. Nobody was even sure that a navigable sea passage did in fact exist but many had been prepared to find out. In 1728 Vitus Bering, a Dane working for Russia, proved that America and Asia were separated by a strait but how it was linked to the Atlantic remained unknown.
It would not be until 1878 that Nils Nordensjkjold, a Swede, eventually navigated the Northeast Passage and another 27 years again until 1905 when Roald Amundsen, a Norwegian, made it through the Northwest Passage.
Furneaux had returned to Britain in 1774 with a Polynesian on board the Adventure. Mai (or Omai as he became known in Britain) was introduced into British Society and became a celebrity. In 1776, though, it was felt that Mai should return to the Society Islands and Cook was given the task of transporting him there.