James Cook was part of survey expeditions to eastern Canada in the late 1750s, and a hydrographic survey of Newfoundland in 1766. He commanded three “Voyages of Discovery.” The first departed in 1768. Cook commanded the bark Endeavour, which sailed to Tahiti to observe and record the transit of the planet Venus in the hope that the information would be of value to navigators. His survey of the islands of New Zealand lasted until April of 1770, after which he headed west, reaching New South Wales, Australia. He encountered the Great Barrier Reef, which nearly ended the expedition by damaging the hull of the Endeavour. Cook returned to Britain on July 12, 1771.
The second “Voyage of Discovery” began almost exactly a year later, embarking from Plymouth on July 13, 1772. It was decided that Cook would sail a new vessel, similar to the Endeavour, and that a consort would accompany his command ship for safety reasons. Two vessels sturdily built for the coal trade were selected: the Resolution, sailed by Cook, and the Adventure, commanded by Tobias Furneaux. George Vancouver was part of the crew working aboard the Resolution. The second voyage also focused on the southern hemisphere, with the ultimate intent of searching for the theoretical geography of a vast southern continent. They surveyed numerous islands in the South Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, and New Guinea and crossed the Antarctic Circle, sailing to the ice flows of the southern pole. They returned to Britain on July 30, 1775, after three years and eighteen days.
The third “Voyage of Discovery” was launched on July 12, 1776 by the Resolution. Charles Clerke, commanding the new ship Discovery, departed in August and they rendezvoused in Capetown, on Africa’s southern coast, in November. Tasmania, New Zealand, Tonga, and the Sandwich or Hawaiian Islands were used as rest and refuelling points, for the destination was the Pacific Northwest. Vancouver sailed again under Cook’s command as a midshipman aboard the Discovery. In March of 1777, they spotted what Sir Francis Drake had called “New Albion,” the Pacific Northwest along the Oregon coastline. They sailed north, pulling in at Nootka Sound and continuing to the Aleutians and Unalaska in their search for a Northwest Passage. Ice halted their progress through the Bering Strait at a point they named Icy Cape. In late October, they sailed back to the Sandwich Islands, intending to winter there.
After Cook’s death in Hawaii, Clerke, the second in command, took the expedition north to the Kamchatka Peninsula and into Bering Strait. Captain Clerke died on August 22, 1779, likely from tuberculosis. Captain Gore, who had been the first lieutenant on the Resolution, took command, making a trading stop in Macao in December before sailing the Indian Ocean and rounding the African cape. They arrived home on October 4, 1780.
