A Voyage Towards the South Pole and Round the World Volume I Part 1

A Voyage Towards the South Pole and Round the World.

Volume 1.

by James Cook.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

Whether the unexplored part of the Southern Hemisphere be only an immense ma.s.s of water, or contain another continent, as speculative geography seemed to suggest, was a question which had long engaged the attention, not only of learned men, but of most of the maritime powers of Europe.

To put an end to all diversity of opinion about a matter so curious and important, was his majesty's princ.i.p.al motive in directing this voyage to be undertaken, the history of which is now submitted to the public.

But, in order to give the reader a clear idea of what has been done in it, and to enable him to judge more accurately, how far the great object that was proposed, has been obtained, it will be necessary to prefix a short account of the several voyages which have been made on discoveries to the Southern Hemisphere, prior to that which I had lately the honour to conduct, and which I am now going to relate.

1519 Magalhaens.

The first who crossed the vast Pacific Ocean, was Ferdinand Magalhaens, a Portuguese, who, in the service of Spain, sailed from Seville, with five ships, on the 10th of April, 1519. He discovered the straits which bear his name; and having pa.s.sed through them, on the 27th of November, 1520, entered the South Pacific Ocean.

In this sea he discovered two uninhabited islands, whose situations are not well known. He afterwards crossed the Line; discovered the Ladrone Islands; and then proceeded to the Phillipines, in one of which he was killed in a skirmish with the natives.

His ship, called the Victory, was the first that circ.u.mnavigated the globe; and the only one of his squadron that surmounted the dangers and distresses which attended this heroic enterprise.

The Spaniards, after Magalhaens had shewed them the way, made several voyages from America to the westward, previous to that of Alvaro Mendana De Neyra, in 1595, which is the first that can be traced step by step. For the antecedent expeditions are not handed down to us with much precision.

We know, however, in general, that, in them, New Guinea, the islands called Solomon's, and several others, were discovered.

Geographers differ greatly concerning the situation of the Solomon Islands.

The most probable opinion is, that they are the cl.u.s.ter which comprises what has since been called New Britain, New Ireland, &c.

1595 Mendana.

On the 9th of April, 1595, Mendana, with intention to settle these islands, sailed from Callao, with four ships; and his discoveries in his route to the west, were the Marquesas, in the lat.i.tude of 10 S.; the island of St Bernardo, which I take to be the same that Commodore Byron calls the Island of Danger; after that, Solitary Island, in the lat.i.tude of 10 40' S., longitude 178 W.; and, lastly, Santa Cruz, which is undoubtedly the same that Captain Carteret calls Egmont Island.

In this last island, Mendana, with many of his companions, died; and the shattered remains of the squadron were conducted to Manilla, by Pedro Fernandes de Quiros, the chief pilot.

1605 Quiros.

This same Quiros was the first sent out, with the sole view of discovering a southern continent, and, indeed, he seems to have been the first who had any idea of the existence of one.

He sailed from Callao the 21st of December, 1605, as pilot of the fleet, commanded by Luis Paz de Torres, consisting of two ships and a tender; and steering to the W.S.W., on the 26th of January, 1606. being then, by their reckoning, a thousand Spanish leagues from the coast of America, they discovered a small low island in lat.i.tude 26 S. Two days after, they discovered another that was high, with a plain on the top. This is probably the same that Captain Carteret calls Pitcairn's Island.

After leaving these islands, Quiros seems to have directed his course to W.N.W. and N.W. to 10 or 11 S. lat.i.tude, and then westward, till he arrived at the Bay of St Philip and Jago, in the Island of Tierra del Espirito Santo. In this route be discovered several islands; probably some of those that have been seen by later navigators.

On leaving the bay of St Philip and St Jago, the two ships were separated.

Quiros, with the Capitana, stood to the north, and returned to New Spain, after having suffered greatly for want of provisions and water. Torres, with the Almiranta and the tender, steered to the west, and seems to have been the first who sailed between New Holland and New Guinea.

1615. Le Maire and Schouten

The next attempt to make discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean, was conducted by Le Maire and Schouten. They sailed from the Texel, on the 14th of June, 1615, with the ships Concord and Horn. The latter was burnt by accident in Port Desire. With the other they discovered the straits that bear the name of Le Maire, and were the first who ever entered the Pacific Ocean, by the way of Cape Horn.

They discovered the island of Dogs, in lat.i.tude 15 15' S., longitude 136 30' W.; Sondre Grondt in 15 S. lat.i.tude, and 143 10' W. longitude; Waterland in 14 46' S., and 144 10' W.; and twenty-five leagues westward of this, Fly Island, in lat.i.tude 15 20'; Traitor's and Coco's Islands, in lat.i.tude 15 43' S., longitude 173 13' W.; two degrees more to the westward, the isle of Hope; and in the lat.i.tude of 14 56' S., longitude 179 30' E., Horn Island.

They next coasted the north side of New Britain and New Guinea, and arrived at Batavia in October, 1616.

1642 Tasman.

Except some discoveries on the western and northern coasts of New Holland, no important voyage to the Pacific Ocean was undertaken till 1642, when Captain Tasman sailed from Batavia, with two ships belonging to the Dutch East India Company, and discovered Van Diemen's Land; a small part of the western coast of New Zealand; the Friendly Isles; and those called Prince William's.

1594 Sir Richard Hawkins.

Thus far I have thought it best not to interrupt the progress of discovery in the South Pacific Ocean, otherwise I should before have mentioned, that Sir Richard Hawkins in 1594, being about fifty leagues to the eastward of the river Plate, was driven by a storm to the eastward of his intended course, and when the weather grew moderate, steering towards the Straits of Magalhaens, he unexpectedly fell in with land, about sixty leagues of which he coasted, and has very particularly described. This he named Hawkins's Maiden Land, in honour of his royal mistress, Queen Elizabeth, and says it lies some threescore leagues from the nearest part of South America.

1689 Strong.

This land was afterwards discovered to be two large islands, by Captain John Strong, of the Farewell, from London, who, in 1689, pa.s.sed through the strait which divides the eastern from the western of those islands. To this strait he gave the name of Falkland's Sound, in honour of his patron Lord Falkland; and the name has since been extended, through inadvertency, to the two islands it separates.

Having mentioned these islands, I will add, that future navigators will mis-spend their time, if they look for Pepy's Island in 47 S.; it being now certain, that Pepy's Island is no other than these islands of Falkland.

1675 La Roche.

In April, 1675, Anthony la Roche, an English merchant, in his return from the South Pacific Ocean, where he had been on a trading voyage, being carried by the winds and currents, far to the east of Strait Le Maire, fell in with a coast, which may possibly be the same with that which I visited during this voyage, and have called the Island of Georgia.

Leaving this land, and sailing to the north, La Roche, in the lat.i.tude of 45 S., discovered a large island, with a good port towards the eastern part, where he found wood, water, and fish.

1699 Halley.

In 1699, that celebrated astronomer, Dr Edmund Halley, was appointed to the command of his majesty's ship the Paramour Pink, on an expedition for improving the knowledge of the longitude, and of the variation of the compa.s.s; and for discovering the unknown lands supposed to lie in the southern part of the Atlantic Ocean. In this voyage he determined the longitude of several places; and, after his return, constructed his variation-chart, and proposed a method of observing the longitude at sea, by means of the appulses and occultations of the fixed stars. But, though he so successfully attended to the two first articles of his instructions, he did not find any unknown southern land.

1721 Roggewein.

The Dutch, in 1721, fitted out three ships to make discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean, under the command of Admiral Roggewein. He left the Texel on the 21st of August, and arriving in that ocean, by going round Cape Horn, discovered Easter Island, probably seen before, though not visited, by Davis;* then between 14 41' and 15 47' S. lat.i.tude, and between the longitude of 142 and 150 W., fell in with several other islands, which I take to be some of those seen by the late English navigators. He next discovered two islands in lat.i.tude 15 S., longitude 170 W., which he called Baumen's Islands; and, lastly, Single Island, in lat.i.tude 13 41'

S., longitude 171 30' W. These three islands are, undoubtedly, the same that Bougainville calls the Isles of Navigators.

[* See Waser's description of the Isthmus of Darien.]

1738 Bouvet.

In 1738, the French East India Company sent Lozier Bouvet with two ships, the Eagle and Mary, to make discoveries in the South Atlantic Ocean. He sailed from Port L'Orient on the 19th of July in that year; touched at the island of St Catherine; and from thence shaped his course towards the south-east.

On the 1st of January, 1739, he discovered land, or what he judged to be land, in lat.i.tude 54 S., longitude 11 E. It will appear in the course of the following narrative, that we made several attempts to find this land without success. It is, therefore, very probable, that what Bouvet saw was nothing more than a large ice-island. From hence he stood to the east, in 51 of lat.i.tude to 35 of E. longitude: After which the two ships separated, one going to the island of Mauritius, and the other returning to France.

After this voyage of Bouvet, the spirit of discovery ceased, till his present majesty formed a design of making discoveries, and exploring the southern hemisphere; and, in the year 1764, directed it to be put in execution.

1764 Byron.

Accordingly Commodore Byron, having under his command the Dolphin and Tamer, sailed from the Downs on the 21st of June the same year; and having visited the Falkland Islands, pa.s.sed through the Straits of Magalhaens into the Pacific Ocean, where he discovered the islands of Disappointment, George's, Prince of Wales's, the isles of Danger, York Island, and Byron Island.

1766 Wallis.