1772?75 British maritime voyage
Second voyage of James Cook
The route of Cook's second voyage
|
Date
| 1772?1775
|
---|
Type
| Voyage
|
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Cause
| To determine whether there was any great southern landmass
|
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Outcome
| Proved the Terra Australis to be a myth
|
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The
second voyage of James Cook
, from 1772 to 1775, commissioned by the British government with advice from the
Royal Society
,
[1]
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.
[2]
After a delay brought about by the botanist
Joseph Banks
' unreasonable demands, the ships
Resolution
and
Adventure
were fitted for the voyage and set sail for the
Antarctic
in July 1772.
[3]
On 17 January 1773,
Resolution
was the first ship to venture south of the
Antarctic Circle
,
[4]
which she did twice more on this voyage. The final such 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 in temperate latitudes 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
[5]
and predicted that an Antarctic land would be found beyond the ice barrier.
On this voyage the
Larcum Kendall K1
chronometer
was successfully employed by
William Wales
to calculate longitude. Wales compiled a log book of the voyage, recording locations and conditions and the use and testing of various instruments, as well as making many observations of the people and places encountered on the voyage.
[6]
Conception
[
edit
]
In 1752, a member of the
Royal Society of London
,
Alexander Dalrymple
, had found
Luis Vaez de Torres
' testimony proving the existence of 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
[7]
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
.
[8]
Preparation and personnel
[
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]
Vessels and provisions
[
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]
Cook commanded
HMS
Resolution
on this voyage, while
Tobias Furneaux
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, purchased by the Royal Navy in 1771 for £4,151, and converted to naval specifications for a cost of £6,565. She was 111 feet (34 m) long and 35 feet (11 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 an
azimuth compass
made by
Henry Gregory
, ice anchors and the latest apparatus for distilling fresh water from sea water.
[9]
Twelve light 6-pounder guns and twelve
swivel guns
were carried. At his own expense Cook had brass door-hinges installed in the great cabin.
[10]
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 (30 m) long, 28 feet (8.5 m) abeam and her draft was 13 feet (4.0 m) and carried ten guns. Both were built at the Fishburn yard at Whitby and purchased from Captain William Hammond of
Hull
.
[11]
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 rigours of the journey.
[12]
The performance of the clocks was recorded in the logbooks of astronomers
William Wales
[13]
and
William Bayly
,
[14]
and as early as 1772 Wales had noted that the watch by Kendall was 'infinitely more to be depended on'.
[15]
Provisions loaded onto the vessels for the voyage included 59,531 pounds (27 t) of biscuit, 7,637 four-lb (approx 1.8 kg) pieces of salt beef, 14,214 two-lb (approx 1 kg) pieces of salt pork, 19
tuns
(about 18,000 litres) of beer, 1,397 imperial gallons (6,350 L) of spirits 1,900 pounds (860 kg) of suet and 210 imp gal (950 L; 250 US gal) of
'Oyle Olive'
. As
anti-scorbutics
they took nearly 20,000 pounds (9.1 t) of
'Sour Krout'
and 30 imperial gallons (140 L) of
'Mermalade of Carrots'
.
[note 1]
Both ships carried livestock, including bullocks, sheep, goats (for milk), hogs and poultry (including geese). The crews had fishing gear (supplied by
Onesimus Ustonson
)
[17]
and a
water purification system
designed by
Charles Irving
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.
[12]
Ships' companions
[
edit
]
Furneaux, commander of
Adventure
, was an experienced explorer, having served on
Samuel Wallis
'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
.
[
citation needed
]
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
Resolution
to suit Banks. This refit cost
£10,080 12s 9d
. 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
£882 3s 0d
. Banks subsequently refused to travel under the resulting "adverse conditions". Instead the position was taken by
Johann Reinhold Forster
and his son,
Georg
, who were taken on as Royal Society scientists for the voyage.
Resolution
carried a crew of 112; as senior lieutenants Robert Cooper and
Charles Clerke
and among the midshipmen
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.
[
citation needed
]
Voyage
[
edit
]
Cook's second voyage of discovery departed
Plymouth Sound
on Monday 13 July 1772. His first port of call was at
Funchal
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".
[5]
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 a Swede,
Anders Sparrman
joined the expedition as a botanist.
[18]
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 early on 23 November 1772 the crew were issued with
fearnaught
jackets and trousers at the expense of the government.
[19]
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
Antarctic Circle
on 17 January. The next day, being severely impeded by the ice, they changed course and headed away to the north-east,
[20]
after having reached 67°15's.
[21]
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
in 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 mainland
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 (now
Dusky Sound
) in the South Island of New Zealand where the ship rested until 30 April. The
Resolution
reached the rendezvous at Queen Charlotte Sound on 17 May.
[22]
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 one of the first Pacific Islanders to visit Europe, before returning to Tahiti with Cook in 1776.)
[23]
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
M?ori
, and eventually sailed back to Britain, setting out for home on 22 December 1773 via
Cape Horn
, arriving in England on 14 July 1774.
[22]
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 1,400 miles (2,200 km). The third crossing of the Antarctic 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.
[24]
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 arc 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.
[25]
Homeward voyage
[
edit
]
On 10 November 1774 the expedition sailed east over the Pacific and sighted the western end of the Strait of Magellan on 17 December. They spent Christmas in a bay they named
Christmas Sound
on the western side of
Tierra del Fuego
. After passing Cape Horn, Cook explored the vast 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 Island
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.
[26]
Later, in February 1775, he called the existence of such a polar continent "probable" and in another copy of his journal he wrote:
[I] firmly believe it and its more than probable that we have seen a part of it.
[27]
On 21 March 1775
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.
[28]
Return home
[
edit
]
Cook's reports upon his return home put to rest the popular myth of Terra Australis.
[29]
Another accomplishment of the second voyage was the successful employment of the
Larcum Kendall K1
chronometer
, 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.
[30]
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.
[31]
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".
[32]
Publication of journals
[
edit
]
On his return to England, Forster claimed that he had been granted exclusive publication rights to the history of the voyage by the First Lord of the Admiralty,
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. To avoid the ban, Forster's son
Georg
wrote a report instead, titled
A Voyage Round the World
, which was published in 1777, six weeks before Cook's account appeared. Cook never read Forster's book because it was published after he left on his third voyage, from which he did not return.
[33]
Some of the botanical results of the voyage were published by the Forsters as
Characteres generum plantarum
in 1776, with earlier 1775 copies given to King
George III
and to
Carl Linnaeus
.
[34]
Legacy
[
edit
]
Cook's accounts of the large seal and whale populations helped influence further exploration of the Southern Ocean from sealers in search of the mammals' valued skins.
[35]
In the 19th century over one thousand sealing ships travelled to the Antarctic regions and its shoreline.
[
citation needed
]
Notes
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
Citations
[
edit
]
- ^
Williams 2004
, p. 51
- ^
Hough 1994
, p. 182
- ^
"Journal of Captain Cook's voyage round the world in HMS Resolution"
. Cambridge Digital Library
. Retrieved
23 July
2013
.
- ^
Forster 1777
, p. 108
- ^
a
b
Hough 1994
, p. 239
- ^
Wales, William.
"Log book of HMS 'Resolution'
"
. Cambridge Digital Library
. Retrieved
28 May
2013
.
- ^
An Historical Collection of the Several Voyages and Discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean
, vol 1, on Archive.org
- ^
Rigby & van der Merwe 2002
, p. 24
- ^
"Log book of HMS 'Resolution'
"
. Cambridge Digital Library
. Retrieved
23 July
2013
.
- ^
Villiers 1967
, p. 160
- ^
Beaglehole 1974
, p. 281
- ^
a
b
Villiers 1967
, p. 162
- ^
Wales, William.
"Log book of HMS 'Resolution'
"
. Cambridge Digital Library
. Retrieved
6 August
2013
.
- ^
Bayly, William.
"Log book of HMS Adventure"
. Cambridge Digital Library
. Retrieved
6 August
2013
.
- ^
Wales, William.
"Log book of HMS 'Resolution'
"
. Cambridge Digital Library
. Retrieved
6 August
2013
.
- ^
"Carrot Marmalade, Muddle Cake and Potatoe Puffs | FAIR | Freedom of Access to Information and Resources"
. Archived from
the original
on 3 January 2018
. Retrieved
3 January
2018
.
- ^
Hello (11 July 2007).
"Fishing reel proves prize catch at auction"
.
Yorkshire Post
. Retrieved
8 April
2017
.
- ^
Hough 1994
, p. 242
- ^
Wales, William.
"Log book of HMS 'Resolution'
"
. Cambridge Digital Library
. Retrieved
29 July
2013
.
- ^
Hough 1994
, p. 248
- ^
Forster 1777
, p. 109
- ^
a
b
Rigby & van der Merwe 2002
, p. 141
- ^
Salmond, Anne
(2003),
The Trial of the Cannibal Dog
, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, p. 3,
ISBN
978-0-300-10092-1
- ^
Rigby & van der Merwe 2002
, p. 45
- ^
Rigby & van der Merwe 2002
, p. 46
- ^
Maher, Kathy B. (December 2002).
"South Sandwich ? Did You Know?"
.
National Geographic
. Archived from
the original
on 27 September 2008
. Retrieved
15 January
2018
.
- ^
Beaglehole, J.C. (1968).
Cook, Journals, vol.2
. Cambridge: Hakluyt Society. p. 643, n.3.
ISBN
9781472453242
.
- ^
Collingridge 2002
, p. 311
- ^
Hough 1994
, p. 263
- ^
"Captain James Cook: His voyages of exploration and the men that accompanied him"
.
National Maritime Museum
. Archived from
the original
on 21 April 2007
. Retrieved
10 October
2007
.
- ^
Beaglehole 1974
, p. 444
- ^
Collingridge 2002
, pp. 334?335
- ^
Hough 1994
, p. 322
- ^
Rosove 2015
, pp. 615?616
- ^
"Antarctic History"
. 2006
. Retrieved
12 October
2011
.
Sources
[
edit
]
- Beaglehole, John Cawte
(1974).
The Life of Captain James Cook
.
A & C Black
.
ISBN
0-7136-1382-3
.
- Collingridge, Vanessa
(2002).
Captain Cook: The Life, Death and Legacy of History's Greatest Explorer
. Ebury Press.
ISBN
0-09-188898-0
.
- Forster, Georg
(1777).
A Voyage Round the World: In His Britannic Majesty's Sloop, Resolution, Commanded by Capt. James Cook, During the Years 1772, 3, 4, and 5
. B. White.
- Hough, Richard
(1994).
Captain James Cook
. Hodder and Stoughton.
ISBN
0-340-82556-1
.
- McLynn, Frank
(2011).
Captain Cook: Master of the Seas
. Yale University Press.
ISBN
978-0-300-11421-8
.
- Rigby, Nigel; van der Merwe, Pieter (2002).
Captain Cook in the Pacific
. London, England: National Maritime Museum.
ISBN
0-948065-43-5
.
- Robson, John (2004).
The Captain Cook Encyclopædia
. Random House Australia.
ISBN
0-7593-1011-4
.
- Rosove, Michael H. (2015).
"The folio issues of the Forsters' Characteres Generum Plantarum (1775 and 1776): a census of copies"
.
Polar Record
.
51
(6): 611?623.
Bibcode
:
2015PoRec..51..611R
.
doi
:
10.1017/S0032247414000722
.
ISSN
0032-2474
.
S2CID
129922206
.
- Villiers, Alan (1967).
Captain Cook. The Seaman's Seaman
. London: Penguin Books.
ISBN
0-14-139062-X
.
- Williams, Glyndwr
(1997).
Captain Cook's Voyages: 1768?1779
. London: The Folio Society.
- Williams, Glyndwr (2004).
Captain Cook: Explorations and Reassessments's
. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell Press.
ISBN
1-84383-100-7
.
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Cook, James
;
Furneaux, Tobias
(1777).
A Voyage Towards the South Pole, and Round the World : performed in His Majesty's ships the Resolution and Adventure, in the years 1772, 1773, 1774, and 1775
(2nd ed.). London: W. Strahan and T. Cadell.
Volume 1
,
Volume 2
- Edwards, Philip, ed. (2003).
James Cook: The Journals
. London: Penguin Books.
ISBN
0-14-043647-2
.
Prepared from the original manuscripts by J. C. Beaglehole 1955?67
- Forster, Georg
, ed. (1986).
A Voyage Round the World
. Wiley-VCH.
ISBN
978-3-05-000180-7
.
Published first 1777 as:
A Voyage round the World in His Britannic Majesty's Sloop Resolution, Commanded by Capt. James Cook, during the Years, 1772, 3, 4, and 5
- Richardson, Brian (2005).
Longitude and Empire: How Captain Cook's Voyages Changed the World
. University of British Columbia Press.
ISBN
0-7748-1190-0
.
- Thomas, Nicholas (2003).
The Extraordinary Voyages of Captain James Cook
. New York: Walker & Co.
ISBN
0-8027-1412-9
.
- Villiers, Alan
(Summer 1956?57). "James Cook, Seaman".
Quadrant
.
1
(1): 7?16.
- Villiers, Alan John (1983) [1903].
Captain James Cook
. Newport Beach, CA: Books on Tape.
External links
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]
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