124 The Story of the New England Whalers 



route in search of the annual treasure ship, some- 

 times with success, but outside of this thin line 

 the mighty expanse of the Pacific was unknown. 

 In 1743-1744 Admiral Lord Anson strove to take 

 a squadron of six ships around Cape Horn to 

 destroy the Spanish forces on the west coast of 

 South America, but so great were the real dangers 

 as well as the terrors of the passage that only one, 

 the ship carrying the flag, succeeded. Admiral 

 Bougainville, of the French navy, became famous 

 as an explorer because he succeeded in sailing 

 around the world a little later. It was on February 

 14, 1779, that Captain James Cook, one of the 

 most noted of the explorers of the Pacific, was 

 killed at the Sandwich Islands, and it was not until 

 1 791-1 795 that Vancouver did the work that placed 

 his name on the map of the northwest coast. 



In the Atlantic, during the eighteenth century, 

 the waters were, of course, better known. The 

 slaver's three-passage route was followed often 

 enough. There were packet lines from Spain 

 to the West Indies and the river Plate, from 

 France to the St. Lawrence (before the year 1762), 

 and from England to her colonies. But only the 



