Second voyage of James Cook
Date | 1772–1775 |
---|---|
Type | Voyage |
Cause | To determine whether there was any great southern landmass |
Outcome | Proved the Terra Australis to be a myth |
The second voyage of James Cook, from 1772 to 1775, commissioned by the British government with advice from the
On 17 January 1773, Resolution was the first ship to venture south of the
In the course of the voyage he visited
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
In 1752, a member of the
Preparation and personnel
Vessels and provisions
Cook commanded
HMS Adventure began her career as the 340 ton
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
Ships' companions
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
Voyage
Cook's second voyage of discovery departed
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
After calling at
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
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
...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
Return home
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
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
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
- ^ The recipe was given to him by Baron Storsch.[16]
References
Citations
- ^ 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
- 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.
- 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
- ISBN 0-7136-1382-3.
- 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.
- ISBN 0-340-82556-1.
- 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. 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
- 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
- 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
- Captain Cook Society
- Cook's Second Voyage Website of illustrations and maps about Cook's second voyage