Case 14
- Cook’s Second Voyage
James Cook. A Voyage Towards the South Pole, and Round the World. Vol. 1. Second edition. London: Printed for W. Strahan, and T. Cadell, 1777.
Cook’s main task on his second voyage (1772-75) was to disprove the existence of a southern continent. The Resolution, commanded by Cook, and the Adventure, commanded by Tobias Furneaux (1735-81), sailed from England in July 1772. Both ships spent time in New Zealand waters between excursions into unexplored parts of the Pacific. During a six-week sojourn in the autumn of 1773, Cook charted much of Dusky Sound. His use of New Zealand as a base for probes to the south and east finally proved there was no southern continent.
James Cook. A Voyage Towards the South Pole, and Round the World. Vol. 1. Second edition. London: Printed for W. Strahan, and T. Cadell, 1777.
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Georg Forster. 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 ... Vol. 1. London: Printed for B. White; J. Robson; P. Elmsly; and G. Robinson, 1777.
Johann Reinhold Forster (1729-98) and George Forster (1754-94), father and son, accompanied Cook’s second voyage as naturalists aboard Resolution, and proved to be, in Cook’s words, “querulous and uncongenial shipmates.” When the Admiralty refused the elder Forster any part in the official account of the voyage, the Forsters sought to forestall it by writing one of their own, which they completed in six weeks. Their account was published some months before Cook’s and has been criticised on the grounds of accuracy, authorship and a failure to acknowledge assistance derived from Cook’s journal.
The men of Cook’s second voyage became the first Europeans to cross the Antarctic Circle. Forster’s description of this event is displayed here.
Georg Forster. 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 ... Vol. 1. London: Printed for B. White; J. Robson; P. Elmsly; and G. Robinson, 1777.
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