Second voyage of James Cook
Encyclopedia
The second voyage of James Cook 1772–1775, commissioned by the British government with advice from the Royal Society
, was designed to circumnavigate the globe as far south as possible to finally determine whether there was any great southern landmass, or Terra Australis
. On his first voyage
, Cook had demonstrated by circumnavigating New Zealand
that it was not attached to a larger landmass to the south, and he charted almost the entire eastern coastline of Australia
, yet Terra Australis was believed to lie further south. Alexander Dalrymple
and others of the Royal Society still believed that this massive southern continent should exist. After a delay brought about by the botanist, Joseph Banks
, making unreasonable demands, the ships Resolution and Adventure were fitted for the voyage and set sail for the Antarctic
in July 1772.
On 17 January 1773, Resolution was the first ship to cross the Antarctic Circle
which she crossed twice more on the voyage. The third crossing, on 3 February 1774, was to be the most southerly penetration, reaching latitude 71°10′ South at longitude 106°54′ West. Cook undertook a series of vast sweeps across the Pacific, finally proving there was no Terra Australis by sailing over most of its predicted locations.
In the course of the voyage he visited Easter Island
, the Marquesas, Tahiti
, the Society Islands
, Niue
, the Tonga Islands, the New Hebrides
, New Caledonia
, Norfolk Island
, Palmerston Island
, South Sandwich Islands, and South Georgia, many of which he named in the process. Cook proved the Terra Australis Incognita to be a myth and predicted that an Antarctic
land would be found beyond the ice barrier.
On this voyage the Larcum Kendall K1 chronometer
was the successfully employed to calculate longitude.
In 1752 a member of the Royal Society of London, Alexander Dalrymple
, had found Luis Váez de Torres testimony proving a passage south of New Guinea
now known as Torres Strait
, whilst translating some Spanish documents captured in the Philippines. This discovery led Dalrymple to publish An Historical Collection of the Several Voyages and Discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean. in 1770–1771 which aroused widespread interest in his claim of the existence of an unknown continent. Soon after his return from his first voyage in 1771, Commander Cook was commissioned by the Royal Society to make a second voyage in search of the supposed southern continent, Terra Australis Incognita.
commanded its companion ship, HMS Adventure
. Resolution began her career as the 462 ton North Sea
collier
Marquis of Granby, launched at Whitby
in 1770, and purchased by the Royal Navy in 1771 for £4,151 and the conversion cost was £6,565. She was 111 feet (33.8 m) long and 35 feet (10.7 m) abeam. She was originally registered as HMS Drake, but fearing this would upset the Spanish, she was renamed Resolution, on 25 December 1771. She was fitted out at Deptford
with the most advanced navigational aids of the day, including a Gregory Azimuth Compass, ice anchors and the latest apparatus for distilling fresh water from sea water. Twelve light 6-pounder guns and twelve swivel gun
s were carried. At his own expense Cook had brass door-hinges installed in the great cabin.
HMS Adventure began her career as the 340 ton North Sea
collier
Marquis of Rockingham, launched at Whitby
in 1771. She was purchased by the Navy that year for £2,103 and named Rayleigh, then renamed Adventure. She was 97 feet (29.6 m) long, 28 feet (8.5 m) abeam and her draft was 13 feet (4 m) and carried ten guns. Both were built at the Fishburn yard at Whitby
and purchased from Captain William Hammond of Hull
.
Cook was asked to test the Larcum Kendall
K1 chronometer
on this voyage. The Board of Longitude
had asked Kendall to copy and develop John Harrison
's fourth model of a clock
(H4) useful for navigation at sea. The first model finished by Kendall in 1769 was an accurate copy of H4, cost £450, and is known today as K1. Although constructed like a watch, the chronometer had a diameter of 13 cm and weighed 1.45 kg. Three other clocks, constructed by John Arnold
were carried but did not withstand the rigors of the journey.
Provisions loaded onto the vessels for the voyage included 59531 pounds (27,002.8 kg) of biscuit, 7,637 four-lb pieces of salt beef,14,214 two-lb pieces of salt pork, 19 tuns
of beer, 1397 gallons (6,350.9 l) of spirits 1900 pounds (861.8 kg) of suet and 210 gallons of 'Oyle Olive'. As anti-scorbutics they took nearly 20000 pounds (9,071.8 kg) of 'Sour Krout'
and 30 gallons (136.4 l) of 'Mermalade of Carrots'. Both ships carried livestock, including bullocks, sheep, goats (for milk), hogs and poultry (including geese). The crews had fishing gear and a water purification system was carried for distilling sea-water or purifying foul fresh-water. Various pieces of hardware (such as knives and axes) and trinkets (beads, ribbons, medallions) to be used for barter or as gifts for the natives were also taken aboard.
's circumnavigation
in Dolphin
in 1766–1768. He headed a crew of 81 which included Joseph Shank as first lieutenant, and Arthur Kempe as second lieutenant. There were also twelve marines headed by Lieutenant James Scott, Furneaux's personal servant, James Tobias Swilley, and, as master's mate John Rowe who was a relation of Furneaux. The ship's astronomer was William Bayly.
It was originally planned that the naturalist
Joseph Banks
and what he considered to be an appropriate entourage would sail with Cook, so a heightened waist, an additional upper deck and a raised poop deck
were built on the Resolution to suit Banks. This refit cost . However, in sea trials the ship was found to be top-heavy, and under Admiralty instructions the offending structures were removed in a second refit at Sheerness, at a further cost of . Banks subsequently refused to travel under the resulting "adverse conditions" and was replaced by Johann Reinhold Forster
and his son, George
, who were taken on as scientists for the voyage. The Resolution carried a crew of 112; as senior lieutenants Robert Cooper and Charles Clerke
and two young officers, George Vancouver
and James Burney. The master was Joseph Gilbert and Isaac Smith, a relation of Cook's wife was also aboard. William Wales was the astronomer and William Hodges the artist. In all, there were 90 seamen and 18 royal marines as well as the supernumeraries.
.
in the Madeira Islands, which he reached on 1 August. Cook gave high praise to his ship's sailing qualities in a report to the Admiralty from Funchal Roads, writing that she "steers, works, sails well and is remarkably stiff and seems to promise to be a dry and very easy ship in the sea." The ship was re-provisioned with fresh water, beef, fruit and onions, and after a further provisioning stop in the Cape Verde Islands two weeks later, set sail due south toward the Cape of Good Hope
. The Resolution anchored in Table Bay
on 30 October with the crew all in good health because of Cook's imposition of a strict dietary and cleanliness regime. It was here that Swede, Anders Sparrman joined the expedition as a botanist.
The ships left the Cape on 22 November 1772 and headed for the area of the South Atlantic where the French navigator Bouvet
claimed to have spotted land that he named Cape Circumcision. Shortly after leaving they experienced severe cold weather and the crew were issued with fearnaught jackets and trousers. By early December they were sailing in thick fog and seeing 'ice islands'. Cook had not found the island that Bouvet claimed to be in latitude 54°. Pack ice soon surrounded the ships but in the second week in January, in the southern mid-summer, the weather abated and Cook was able to take the ships southwards through the ice to reach the Arctic Circle on 17 January. The next day, being severely impeded by the ice, they changed course and headed away to the north-east.
On 8 February 1773 Resolution and Adventure became separated in the Antarctic fog. Furneaux directed Adventure towards the prearranged meeting point of Queen Charlotte Sound, New Zealand
, charted by Cook in 1770. On the way to the rendezvous, Adventure surveyed the southern and eastern coasts of Tasmania
(then known as "Van Diemen's Land
"), where Adventure Bay
was named for the ship. Furneaux made the earliest British chart of this shore, but as he did not enter Bass Strait
he assumed Tasmania to be part of Australia
. Adventure arrived at Queen Charlotte Sound on 7 May 1773.
Cook continued his explorations south-eastwards, reaching 61°21′s on 24 February then, in mid-March he decided to head for Dusky Bay, South Island of New Zealand where the ship rested until 30 April. The Resolution reached the rendezvous at Queen Charlotte Sound on 17 May.
From June to October the two ships explored the southern Pacific, reaching Tahiti
on 15 August, where Omai
of Ra'iatea embarked on Adventure (Omai later became the first Pacific Islander to visit Europe before returning to Tahiti with Cook in 1776).
After calling at Tonga
in the Friendly Islands the ships returned to New Zealand
but were separated by a storm on 22 October. This time the rendezvous at Queen Charlotte Sound was missed — Resolution departed on 26 November, four days before Adventure arrived. Cook had left a message buried in the sand setting out his plan to explore the South Pacific and return to New Zealand. Furneaux decided to return home and buried a reply to that effect. In New Zealand Furneaux lost some of his men during an encounter with Māori, and eventually sailed back to Britain, setting out for home on 22 December 1773 via Cape Horn
, arriving in England on 14 July 1774.
Cook continued to explore the Antarctic, heading south into the summer sea ice, icebergs and fog until he reached 67°31′ South before hauling north again for 2200km. The third crossing of the Arctic Circle, on 26 January 1774, was the precursor to the most southerly penetration, reaching latitude 71°10′ South at longitude 106°54′ West on 30 January when they could go no further because of the solid sea ice. On this occasion, Cook wrote:
The vessel was then launched north to complete a huge parabola in the Pacific Ocean, reaching latitudes just below the Equator then New Guinea. He had landed at the Friendly Islands
, Easter Island
, Norfolk Island
, New Caledonia
, and Vanuatu
before returning to Queen Charlotte Sound in New Zealand.
Cook discovered the South Sandwich Islands. Here he correctly predicted that:
On 21 March the Resolution anchored in Table Bay, there to spend five weeks as her rigging was refitted. She arrived home at Spithead
, Portsmouth on 30 July 1775 having visited St Helena and Fernando de Noronha
on the way.
, which enabled Cook to calculate his longitudinal position
with much greater accuracy. Cook's log was full of praise for the watch which he used to make charts of the southern Pacific Ocean that were so remarkably accurate that copies of them were still in use in the mid-20th century.
Cook was promoted to the rank of captain
and given an honorary retirement from the Royal Navy, as an officer in the Greenwich Hospital. His acceptance of the post was reluctant, insisting that he be allowed to quit the post if the opportunity for active duty presented itself. His fame now extended beyond the Admiralty and he was also made a Fellow of the Royal Society
and awarded the Copley Gold Medal
, painted by Nathaniel Dance-Holland
, dined with James Boswell
and described in the House of Lords
as "the first navigator in Europe".
On his return to England Forster claimed that he had been granted exclusive publication rights to the history of the voyage by Lord Sandwich
: a claim that Sandwich vehemently denied. Cook was writing his own account assisted by Dr John Douglas, Canon of Windsor. Eventually, Sandwich agreed that Forster and his son could add a scientific section to Cook's account of the voyage. This led to so much animosity between Forster and Sandwich that Sandwich banned him from writing or publishing anything about the voyage. Forster then avoided the ban by writing a book in his son's name using a draft of Cook's journal which he had earlier acquired. When Forster published his book, six weeks before Cook's own account, it was found to be highly critical of Cook and other members of the voyage, inaccurate and somewhat fabricated. Cook never read the book because it was published after he left on his third voyage.
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
, was designed to circumnavigate the globe as far south as possible to finally determine whether there was any great southern landmass, or Terra Australis
Terra Australis
Terra Australis, Terra Australis Ignota or Terra Australis Incognita was a hypothesized continent appearing on European maps from the 15th to the 18th century...
. On his first voyage
First voyage of James Cook
The first voyage of James Cook was a combined Royal Navy and Royal Society expedition to the south Pacific ocean aboard HMS Endeavour, from 1768 to 1771...
, Cook had demonstrated by circumnavigating New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
that it was not attached to a larger landmass to the south, and he charted almost the entire eastern coastline of Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, yet Terra Australis was believed to lie further south. Alexander Dalrymple
Alexander Dalrymple
Alexander Dalrymple was a Scottish geographer and the first Hydrographer of the British Admiralty. He was the main proponent of the theory that there existed a vast undiscovered continent in the South Pacific, Terra Australis Incognita...
and others of the Royal Society still believed that this massive southern continent should exist. After a delay brought about by the botanist, Joseph Banks
Joseph Banks
Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, GCB, PRS was an English naturalist, botanist and patron of the natural sciences. He took part in Captain James Cook's first great voyage . Banks is credited with the introduction to the Western world of eucalyptus, acacia, mimosa and the genus named after him,...
, making unreasonable demands, the ships Resolution and Adventure were fitted for the voyage and set sail for the Antarctic
Antarctic
The Antarctic is the region around the Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica and the ice shelves, waters and island territories in the Southern Ocean situated south of the Antarctic Convergence...
in July 1772.
On 17 January 1773, Resolution was the first ship to cross the Antarctic Circle
Antarctic Circle
The Antarctic Circle is one of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. For 2011, it is the parallel of latitude that runs south of the Equator.-Description:...
which she crossed twice more on the voyage. The third crossing, on 3 February 1774, was to be the most southerly penetration, reaching latitude 71°10′ South at longitude 106°54′ West. Cook undertook a series of vast sweeps across the Pacific, finally proving there was no Terra Australis by sailing over most of its predicted locations.
In the course of the voyage he visited Easter Island
Easter Island
Easter Island is a Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian triangle. A special territory of Chile that was annexed in 1888, Easter Island is famous for its 887 extant monumental statues, called moai, created by the early Rapanui people...
, the Marquesas, Tahiti
Tahiti
Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...
, the Society Islands
Society Islands
The Society Islands are a group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean. They are politically part of French Polynesia. The archipelago is generally believed to have been named by Captain James Cook in honor of the Royal Society, the sponsor of the first British scientific survey of the islands;...
, Niue
Niue
Niue , is an island country in the South Pacific Ocean. It is commonly known as the "Rock of Polynesia", and inhabitants of the island call it "the Rock" for short. Niue is northeast of New Zealand in a triangle between Tonga to the southwest, the Samoas to the northwest, and the Cook Islands to...
, the Tonga Islands, the New Hebrides
New Hebrides
New Hebrides was the colonial name for an island group in the South Pacific that now forms the nation of Vanuatu. The New Hebrides were colonized by both the British and French in the 18th century shortly after Captain James Cook visited the islands...
, New Caledonia
New Caledonia
New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...
, Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island is a small island in the Pacific Ocean located between Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia. The island is part of the Commonwealth of Australia, but it enjoys a large degree of self-governance...
, Palmerston Island
Palmerston Island
Palmerston Island is a coral atoll in the Cook Islands in the Pacific Ocean about 500 km northwest of Rarotonga. It was discovered by James Cook on 16 June 1774.-Overview:...
, South Sandwich Islands, and South Georgia, many of which he named in the process. Cook proved the Terra Australis Incognita to be a myth and predicted that an Antarctic
Antarctic
The Antarctic is the region around the Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica and the ice shelves, waters and island territories in the Southern Ocean situated south of the Antarctic Convergence...
land would be found beyond the ice barrier.
On this voyage the Larcum Kendall K1 chronometer
Marine chronometer
A marine chronometer is a clock that is precise and accurate enough to be used as a portable time standard; it can therefore be used to determine longitude by means of celestial navigation...
was the successfully employed to calculate longitude.
Conception
Alexander Dalrymple
Alexander Dalrymple was a Scottish geographer and the first Hydrographer of the British Admiralty. He was the main proponent of the theory that there existed a vast undiscovered continent in the South Pacific, Terra Australis Incognita...
, had found Luis Váez de Torres testimony proving a passage south of New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
now known as Torres Strait
Torres Strait
The Torres Strait is a body of water which lies between Australia and the Melanesian island of New Guinea. It is approximately wide at its narrowest extent. To the south is Cape York Peninsula, the northernmost continental extremity of the Australian state of Queensland...
, whilst translating some Spanish documents captured in the Philippines. This discovery led Dalrymple to publish An Historical Collection of the Several Voyages and Discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean. in 1770–1771 which aroused widespread interest in his claim of the existence of an unknown continent. Soon after his return from his first voyage in 1771, Commander Cook was commissioned by the Royal Society to make a second voyage in search of the supposed southern continent, Terra Australis Incognita.
Vessels and provisions
Cook commanded HMS Resolution on this voyage, while Tobias FurneauxTobias Furneaux
Captain Tobias Furneaux was an English navigator and Royal Navy officer, who accompanied James Cook on his second voyage of exploration. He was the first man to circumnavigate the world in both directions....
commanded its companion ship, HMS Adventure
HMS Adventure (1771)
HMS Adventure was a barque of the Royal Navy that sailed with Resolution on James Cook's second expedition to the Pacific in 1772–1775. She was the first ship to circumnavigate the globe from west to east....
. Resolution began her career as the 462 ton North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
collier
Collier (ship type)
Collier is a historical term used to describe a bulk cargo ship designed to carry coal, especially for naval use by coal-fired warships. In the late 18th century a number of wooden-hulled sailing colliers gained fame after being adapted for use in voyages of exploration in the South Pacific, for...
Marquis of Granby, launched at Whitby
Whitby
Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby has a combined maritime, mineral and tourist heritage, and is home to the ruins of Whitby Abbey where Caedmon, the...
in 1770, and purchased by the Royal Navy in 1771 for £4,151 and the conversion cost was £6,565. She was 111 feet (33.8 m) long and 35 feet (10.7 m) abeam. She was originally registered as HMS Drake, but fearing this would upset the Spanish, she was renamed Resolution, on 25 December 1771. She was fitted out at Deptford
Deptford
Deptford is a district of south London, England, located on the south bank of the River Thames. It is named after a ford of the River Ravensbourne, and from the mid 16th century to the late 19th was home to Deptford Dockyard, the first of the Royal Navy Dockyards.Deptford and the docks are...
with the most advanced navigational aids of the day, including a Gregory Azimuth Compass, ice anchors and the latest apparatus for distilling fresh water from sea water. Twelve light 6-pounder guns and twelve swivel gun
Swivel gun
The term swivel gun usually refers to a small cannon, mounted on a swiveling stand or fork which allows a very wide arc of movement. Another type of firearm referred to as a swivel gun was an early flintlock combination gun with two barrels that rotated along their axes to allow the shooter to...
s were carried. At his own expense Cook had brass door-hinges installed in the great cabin.
HMS Adventure began her career as the 340 ton North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
collier
Collier (ship type)
Collier is a historical term used to describe a bulk cargo ship designed to carry coal, especially for naval use by coal-fired warships. In the late 18th century a number of wooden-hulled sailing colliers gained fame after being adapted for use in voyages of exploration in the South Pacific, for...
Marquis of Rockingham, launched at Whitby
Whitby
Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby has a combined maritime, mineral and tourist heritage, and is home to the ruins of Whitby Abbey where Caedmon, the...
in 1771. She was purchased by the Navy that year for £2,103 and named Rayleigh, then renamed Adventure. She was 97 feet (29.6 m) long, 28 feet (8.5 m) abeam and her draft was 13 feet (4 m) and carried ten guns. Both were built at the Fishburn yard at Whitby
Whitby
Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby has a combined maritime, mineral and tourist heritage, and is home to the ruins of Whitby Abbey where Caedmon, the...
and purchased from Captain William Hammond of Hull
Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...
.
Cook was asked to test the Larcum Kendall
Larcum Kendall
Larcum Kendall was a British watchmaker.-Commission:The Board of Longitude asked Kendall to copy and develop John Harrison's ingenious fourth model of a clock useful for navigation at sea...
K1 chronometer
Chronometer
Chronometer may refer to:* Chronometer watch, a watch tested and certified to meet certain precision standards* Hydrochronometer, a water clock* Marine chronometer, a timekeeper used for celestial navigation...
on this voyage. The Board of Longitude
Board of Longitude
The Board of Longitude was the popular name for the Commissioners for the Discovery of the Longitude at Sea. It was a British Government body formed in 1714 to administer a scheme of prizes intended to encourage innovators to solve the problem of finding longitude at sea.-Origins:Navigators and...
had asked Kendall to copy and develop John Harrison
John Harrison
John Harrison was a self-educated English clockmaker. He invented the marine chronometer, a long-sought device in solving the problem of establishing the East-West position or longitude of a ship at sea, thus revolutionising and extending the possibility of safe long distance sea travel in the Age...
's fourth model of a clock
Clock
A clock is an instrument used to indicate, keep, and co-ordinate time. The word clock is derived ultimately from the Celtic words clagan and clocca meaning "bell". A silent instrument missing such a mechanism has traditionally been known as a timepiece...
(H4) useful for navigation at sea. The first model finished by Kendall in 1769 was an accurate copy of H4, cost £450, and is known today as K1. Although constructed like a watch, the chronometer had a diameter of 13 cm and weighed 1.45 kg. Three other clocks, constructed by John Arnold
John Arnold
John Arnold was an English watchmaker and inventor.John Arnold was the first to design a watch that was both practical and accurate, and also brought the term "Chronometer" in to use in its modern sense, meaning a precision timekeeper...
were carried but did not withstand the rigors of the journey.
Provisions loaded onto the vessels for the voyage included 59531 pounds (27,002.8 kg) of biscuit, 7,637 four-lb pieces of salt beef,14,214 two-lb pieces of salt pork, 19 tuns
Tun (unit)
The tun is an old English unit of wine cask volume, holding about 954 litres, almost a cubic metre. Etymologically it is identical to the ton, a unit of mass or weight and constituted approximately 2,048 pints or pounds. Originally, it was a genuine unit of volume and measured 256 gallons ,...
of beer, 1397 gallons (6,350.9 l) of spirits 1900 pounds (861.8 kg) of suet and 210 gallons of 'Oyle Olive'. As anti-scorbutics they took nearly 20000 pounds (9,071.8 kg) of 'Sour Krout'
Sauerkraut
Sauerkraut , directly translated from German: "sour cabbage", is finely shredded cabbage that has been fermented by various lactic acid bacteria, including Leuconostoc, Lactobacillus, and Pediococcus. It has a long shelf-life and a distinctive sour flavor, both of which result from the lactic acid...
and 30 gallons (136.4 l) of 'Mermalade of Carrots'. Both ships carried livestock, including bullocks, sheep, goats (for milk), hogs and poultry (including geese). The crews had fishing gear and a water purification system was carried for distilling sea-water or purifying foul fresh-water. Various pieces of hardware (such as knives and axes) and trinkets (beads, ribbons, medallions) to be used for barter or as gifts for the natives were also taken aboard.
Ships' companies
Furneaux, commander of the Adventure, was an experienced explorer, having served on Samuel WallisSamuel Wallis
Samuel Wallis was a Cornish navigator who circumnavigated the world.Wallis was born near Camelford, Cornwall. In 1766 he was given the command of HMS Dolphin to circumnavigate the world, accompanied by the Swallow under the command of Philip Carteret...
's circumnavigation
Circumnavigation
Circumnavigation – literally, "navigation of a circumference" – refers to travelling all the way around an island, a continent, or the entire planet Earth.- Global circumnavigation :...
in Dolphin
HMS Dolphin (1751)
HMS Dolphin was a 24-gun sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. Launched in 1751, she was used as a survey ship from 1764 and made two circumnavigations of the world under the successive commands of John Byron and Samuel Wallis. She was the first ship to circumnavigate the world twice...
in 1766–1768. He headed a crew of 81 which included Joseph Shank as first lieutenant, and Arthur Kempe as second lieutenant. There were also twelve marines headed by Lieutenant James Scott, Furneaux's personal servant, James Tobias Swilley, and, as master's mate John Rowe who was a relation of Furneaux. The ship's astronomer was William Bayly.
It was originally planned that the naturalist
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
Joseph Banks
Joseph Banks
Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, GCB, PRS was an English naturalist, botanist and patron of the natural sciences. He took part in Captain James Cook's first great voyage . Banks is credited with the introduction to the Western world of eucalyptus, acacia, mimosa and the genus named after him,...
and what he considered to be an appropriate entourage would sail with Cook, so a heightened waist, an additional upper deck and a raised poop deck
Poop deck
In naval architecture, a poop deck is a deck that forms the roof of a cabin built in the rear, or "aft", part of the superstructure of a ship.The name originates from the French word for stern, la poupe, from Latin puppis...
were built on the Resolution to suit Banks. This refit cost . However, in sea trials the ship was found to be top-heavy, and under Admiralty instructions the offending structures were removed in a second refit at Sheerness, at a further cost of . Banks subsequently refused to travel under the resulting "adverse conditions" and was replaced by Johann Reinhold Forster
Johann Reinhold Forster
Johann Reinhold Forster was a German Lutheran pastor and naturalist of partial Scottish descent who made contributions to the early ornithology of Europe and North America...
and his son, George
Georg Forster
Johann Georg Adam Forster was a German naturalist, ethnologist, travel writer, journalist, and revolutionary. At an early age, he accompanied his father on several scientific expeditions, including James Cook's second voyage to the Pacific...
, who were taken on as scientists for the voyage. The Resolution carried a crew of 112; as senior lieutenants Robert Cooper and Charles Clerke
Charles Clerke
Captain Charles Clerke RN was an officer in the Royal Navy who sailed on four voyages of exploration.Clerke started studying at the Royal Naval Academy in Portsmouth when he was 13. During the Seven Years' War he served aboard HMS Dorsetshire and HMS Bellona...
and two young officers, George Vancouver
George Vancouver
Captain George Vancouver RN was an English officer of the British Royal Navy, best known for his 1791-95 expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern Pacific Coast regions, including the coasts of contemporary Alaska, British Columbia, Washington and Oregon...
and James Burney. The master was Joseph Gilbert and Isaac Smith, a relation of Cook's wife was also aboard. William Wales was the astronomer and William Hodges the artist. In all, there were 90 seamen and 18 royal marines as well as the supernumeraries.
.
Voyage
Cook's first port of call was at FunchalFunchal
Funchal is the largest city, the municipal seat and the capital of Portugal's Autonomous Region of Madeira. The city has a population of 112,015 and has been the capital of Madeira for more than five centuries.-Etymology:...
in the Madeira Islands, which he reached on 1 August. Cook gave high praise to his ship's sailing qualities in a report to the Admiralty from Funchal Roads, writing that she "steers, works, sails well and is remarkably stiff and seems to promise to be a dry and very easy ship in the sea." The ship was re-provisioned with fresh water, beef, fruit and onions, and after a further provisioning stop in the Cape Verde Islands two weeks later, set sail due south toward the Cape of Good Hope
Cape of Good Hope
The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...
. The Resolution anchored in Table Bay
Table Bay
Table Bay is a natural bay on the Atlantic Ocean overlooked by Cape Town and is at the northern end of the Cape Peninsula, which stretches south to the Cape of Good Hope. It was named because it is dominated by the flat-topped Table Mountain.Bartolomeu Dias was the first European to explore this...
on 30 October with the crew all in good health because of Cook's imposition of a strict dietary and cleanliness regime. It was here that Swede, Anders Sparrman joined the expedition as a botanist.
The ships left the Cape on 22 November 1772 and headed for the area of the South Atlantic where the French navigator Bouvet
Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier
Jean Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier was a French sailor, explorer, and governor of the Mascarene Islands.He was orphaned at the age of seven and after having been educated in Paris, he was sent to Saint Malo to study navigation. He became a lieutenant of the French East India Company in 1731...
claimed to have spotted land that he named Cape Circumcision. Shortly after leaving they experienced severe cold weather and the crew were issued with fearnaught jackets and trousers. By early December they were sailing in thick fog and seeing 'ice islands'. Cook had not found the island that Bouvet claimed to be in latitude 54°. Pack ice soon surrounded the ships but in the second week in January, in the southern mid-summer, the weather abated and Cook was able to take the ships southwards through the ice to reach the Arctic Circle on 17 January. The next day, being severely impeded by the ice, they changed course and headed away to the north-east.
On 8 February 1773 Resolution and Adventure became separated in the Antarctic fog. Furneaux directed Adventure towards the prearranged meeting point of Queen Charlotte Sound, New Zealand
Queen Charlotte Sound, New Zealand
Queen Charlotte Sound is the easternmost of the main sounds of the Marlborough Sounds, in New Zealand's South Island. It is, like the other sounds, a drowned river valley , and like the majority of its neighbours it runs southwest to northeast before joining Cook Strait.The town of Picton, the...
, charted by Cook in 1770. On the way to the rendezvous, Adventure surveyed the southern and eastern coasts of Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
(then known as "Van Diemen's Land
Van Diemen's Land
Van Diemen's Land was the original name used by most Europeans for the island of Tasmania, now part of Australia. The Dutch explorer Abel Tasman was the first European to land on the shores of Tasmania...
"), where Adventure Bay
Adventure Bay
Adventure Bay is a bay on Bruny Island in southeastern Tasmania. Discovered in 1773 by Tobias Furneaux, it was named after his ship, HMS Adventure. James Cook explored the region in 1777, as did William Bligh in 1788 and 1792....
was named for the ship. Furneaux made the earliest British chart of this shore, but as he did not enter Bass Strait
Bass Strait
Bass Strait is a sea strait separating Tasmania from the south of the Australian mainland, specifically the state of Victoria.-Extent:The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Bass Strait as follows:...
he assumed Tasmania to be part of Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. Adventure arrived at Queen Charlotte Sound on 7 May 1773.
Cook continued his explorations south-eastwards, reaching 61°21′s on 24 February then, in mid-March he decided to head for Dusky Bay, South Island of New Zealand where the ship rested until 30 April. The Resolution reached the rendezvous at Queen Charlotte Sound on 17 May.
From June to October the two ships explored the southern Pacific, reaching Tahiti
Tahiti
Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...
on 15 August, where Omai
Omai
Mai , mistakenly known as Omai in Britain, was a young Ra'iatean man who became the second Pacific Islander to visit Europe, after Ahu-toru who was brought to Paris by Bougainville in 1768...
of Ra'iatea embarked on Adventure (Omai later became the first Pacific Islander to visit Europe before returning to Tahiti with Cook in 1776).
Tonga
Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga , is a state and an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprising 176 islands scattered over of ocean in the South Pacific...
in the Friendly Islands the ships returned to New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
but were separated by a storm on 22 October. This time the rendezvous at Queen Charlotte Sound was missed — Resolution departed on 26 November, four days before Adventure arrived. Cook had left a message buried in the sand setting out his plan to explore the South Pacific and return to New Zealand. Furneaux decided to return home and buried a reply to that effect. In New Zealand Furneaux lost some of his men during an encounter with Māori, and eventually sailed back to Britain, setting out for home on 22 December 1773 via Cape Horn
Cape Horn
Cape Horn is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island...
, arriving in England on 14 July 1774.
Cook continued to explore the Antarctic, heading south into the summer sea ice, icebergs and fog until he reached 67°31′ South before hauling north again for 2200km. The third crossing of the Arctic Circle, on 26 January 1774, was the precursor to the most southerly penetration, reaching latitude 71°10′ South at longitude 106°54′ West on 30 January when they could go no further because of the solid sea ice. On this occasion, Cook wrote:
I who had ambition not only to go farther than anyone had been before, but as far as it was possible for man to go, was not sorry in meeting with this interruption...
The vessel was then launched north to complete a huge parabola in the Pacific Ocean, reaching latitudes just below the Equator then New Guinea. He had landed at the Friendly Islands
Tonga
Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga , is a state and an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprising 176 islands scattered over of ocean in the South Pacific...
, Easter Island
Easter Island
Easter Island is a Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian triangle. A special territory of Chile that was annexed in 1888, Easter Island is famous for its 887 extant monumental statues, called moai, created by the early Rapanui people...
, Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island is a small island in the Pacific Ocean located between Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia. The island is part of the Commonwealth of Australia, but it enjoys a large degree of self-governance...
, New Caledonia
New Caledonia
New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...
, and Vanuatu
Vanuatu
Vanuatu , officially the Republic of Vanuatu , is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, west of Fiji, and southeast of the Solomon Islands, near New Guinea.Vanuatu was...
before returning to Queen Charlotte Sound in New Zealand.
Homeward voyage
On 10 November 1774 the expedition sailed east over the Pacific and sighted the western end of the Straight of Magellan on 17 December. The spent Christmas in a bay they named after the season and ventured on in to the South Atlantic looking for another coastline that had been predicted by Dalrymple. When this failed to materialize they turned north and discovered an island that they named South Georgia. In a last vain attempt to find Bouvet IslandBouvet Island
Bouvet Island is an uninhabited Antarctic volcanic island in the South Atlantic Ocean, 2,525 km south-southwest of South Africa. It is a dependent territory of Norway and, lying north of 60°S latitude, is not subject to the Antarctic Treaty. The centre of the island is an ice-filled crater of an...
Cook discovered the South Sandwich Islands. Here he correctly predicted that:
...there is a tract of land near the Pole, which is the Source of most of the ice which is spread over this vast Southern Ocean.
On 21 March the Resolution anchored in Table Bay, there to spend five weeks as her rigging was refitted. She arrived home at Spithead
Spithead
Spithead is an area of the Solent and a roadstead off Gilkicker Point in Hampshire, England. It is protected from all winds, except those from the southeast...
, Portsmouth on 30 July 1775 having visited St Helena and Fernando de Noronha
Fernando de Noronha
Fernando de Noronha is an archipelago of 21 islands and islets in the Atlantic Ocean, offshore from the Brazilian coast. The main island has an area of and had a population of 3,012 in the year 2010...
on the way.
Return home
His reports upon his return home put to rest the popular myth of Terra Australis. Another accomplishment of the second voyage was the successful employment of the Larcum Kendall K1 chronometerMarine chronometer
A marine chronometer is a clock that is precise and accurate enough to be used as a portable time standard; it can therefore be used to determine longitude by means of celestial navigation...
, which enabled Cook to calculate his longitudinal position
Longitude
Longitude is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east-west position of a point on the Earth's surface. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees, minutes and seconds, and denoted by the Greek letter lambda ....
with much greater accuracy. Cook's log was full of praise for the watch which he used to make charts of the southern Pacific Ocean that were so remarkably accurate that copies of them were still in use in the mid-20th century.
Cook was promoted to the rank of captain
Captain (Royal Navy)
Captain is a senior officer rank of the Royal Navy. It ranks above Commander and below Commodore and has a NATO ranking code of OF-5. The rank is equivalent to a Colonel in the British Army or Royal Marines and to a Group Captain in the Royal Air Force. The rank of Group Captain is based on the...
and given an honorary retirement from the Royal Navy, as an officer in the Greenwich Hospital. His acceptance of the post was reluctant, insisting that he be allowed to quit the post if the opportunity for active duty presented itself. His fame now extended beyond the Admiralty and he was also made a Fellow of the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
and awarded the Copley Gold Medal
Copley Medal
The Copley Medal is an award given by the Royal Society of London for "outstanding achievements in research in any branch of science, and alternates between the physical sciences and the biological sciences"...
, painted by Nathaniel Dance-Holland
Nathaniel Dance-Holland
Sir Nathaniel Dance-Holland, 1st Baronet was a notable English portrait painter and later a politician.The third son of architect George Dance the Elder, Dance studied art under Francis Hayman, and like many contemporaries also studied in Italy...
, dined with James Boswell
James Boswell
James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck was a lawyer, diarist, and author born in Edinburgh, Scotland; he is best known for the biography he wrote of one of his contemporaries, the English literary figure Samuel Johnson....
and described in the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
as "the first navigator in Europe".
Publication of journals
Earl of Sandwich
Earl of Sandwich is a 17th century title in the Peerage of England, nominally associated with Sandwich, Kent. It was created in 1660 for the prominent naval commander Admiral Sir Edward Montagu. He was made Baron Montagu, of St Neots in the County of Huntingdon, and Viscount Hinchingbrooke, at the...
: a claim that Sandwich vehemently denied. Cook was writing his own account assisted by Dr John Douglas, Canon of Windsor. Eventually, Sandwich agreed that Forster and his son could add a scientific section to Cook's account of the voyage. This led to so much animosity between Forster and Sandwich that Sandwich banned him from writing or publishing anything about the voyage. Forster then avoided the ban by writing a book in his son's name using a draft of Cook's journal which he had earlier acquired. When Forster published his book, six weeks before Cook's own account, it was found to be highly critical of Cook and other members of the voyage, inaccurate and somewhat fabricated. Cook never read the book because it was published after he left on his third voyage.