Cook's first voyage
voyage of exploration · 1768 AD–1771 AD
James Cook commanded HM Bark Endeavour from 1768 to 1771 on a voyage for the Royal Society to observe the transit of Venus from Tahiti, with secret orders to search for a southern continent. He charted the coasts of New Zealand and the east coast of Australia, claiming it for Britain, and nearly lost the ship on the Great Barrier Reef. Over a third of the crew died, most of disease caught at Batavia. His own journal, edited by J. C. Beaglehole, is the main source.
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Recorded boundaries
| Period | Control | Confidence | Evidence | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1768 AD | — | high confidence | no observation date recorded | Set out from Plymouth. Reached Madeira → Rio de Janeiro. Sailed on 26 August 1768. The Portuguese viceroy suspected them of spying and kept the crew aboard. |
| 1769 AD | — | high confidence | no observation date recorded | Reached Tierra del Fuego → Tahiti → Raiatea → Tūranganui-a-Kiwa → Mercury Bay → Bay of Islands. Observed the transit of Venus on 3 June 1769 from Point Venus. The Raiatean navigator Tupaia joined the ship here. First landfall in New Zealand, at Poverty Bay; the first encounter with Māori ended in killings. |
| 1770 AD | — | high confidence | no observation date recorded | Reached Queen Charlotte Sound → Cape Farewell → Point Hicks → Botany Bay → Endeavour Reef → Endeavour River → Possession Island → Batavia. Left New Zealand on 31 March 1770, having proved it was two islands and not part of a continent. First sighting of the east coast of Australia. Landed at Kamay, where the Gweagal resisted them. The ship struck the Great Barrier Reef on 11 June and was only just saved. Spent seven weeks repairing the ship at Waalumbaal Birri, now Cooktown. Claimed the east coast of Australia for Britain. Refitted the ship; malaria and dysentery caught here killed dozens of the crew. |
| 1771 AD | — | high confidence | no observation date recorded | Reached Cape Town → St Helena → The Downs. Anchored off Deal on 12 July 1771. |
Each row is a snapshot the source recorded, not a continuous history. The period between two observations is an inference this atlas shows rather than hides.
Sources
- J. C. Beaglehole, The Life of Captain James Cook, (1974)
- James Cook; edited by J. C. Beaglehole, The Journals of Captain James Cook on His Voyages of Discovery, Vol. I: The Voyage of the Endeavour, 1768–1771, (1955)