The Endeavour bark being refitted after 

 sfie was damaged on tfie Great Barrier Reef. 



Tfiis aerial view shows Green Island, typical 

 of the many coral formations of the Great 

 Barrier Reef off Australia's east coast. 



Cook hoped to resolve all such questions on his homeward 

 voyage, but he failed to answer one when a gale forced him too 

 far to the north of Tasmania to determine whether it was an island; 

 the question was to remain unanswered until 1798. 



The Endeavour sailed up Australia's unknown east coast to a 

 harbor that Cook named Botany Bay because of the abundance of 

 plants gathered there by one of the scientists on board — Sir Joseph 

 Banks. Continuing up the coast, the expedition escaped utter dis- 

 aster by a hairbreadth. To the northwest, converging steadily upon 

 the Australian coast, lies the Great Barrier Reef, a wonderful but 

 dangerous mass of coral formations 1200 miles long. On June 10 

 the Endeavour sailed into this trap without warning and impaled 

 herself on a coral ledge. 



Water poured in through the torn planks and for a time the 

 pumps labored in vain. But there was no panic and eventually the 

 ship was refloated on the rising tide. Saved as if by a miracle, the 

 the crew made temporary repairs to the gaping holes below decks. 

 Cook's choice of a shallow-draft collier was vindicated; a man-of- 

 war or a merchantman would have been battered to pieces. Even 

 the Endeavour would have foundered had not one of its gaping 

 holes been plugged by a great piece of coral that broke off and 

 remained fast in the planking. 



After turning the continent's northeast corner, the ship sailed 

 through Torres Strait, the first European vessel to do so since 1606. 

 Finally, they arrived at Batavia, where they put in for provisions 

 and repairs before returning to England. So far, the crew's health 

 had been generally good, but death now stalked the decks of the 

 Endeavour. During ten weeks in Batavia more than thirty men 

 (among them the Tahitian chief, Tupia) died of malaria and dysen- 

 tery, a tragic finale to one of the greatest voyages in history. 



On July 12, 1 77 1, James Cook was back in London again, ready 

 to make his report to the Royal Society and the nation. It was a 

 somewhat disappointing report for the Society because the obser- 

 vation of the transit of Venus had not improved existing knowledge 

 of the Earth's distance from the Sun ; however. New Zealand and 

 Australia had been added to the British Empire, and the possible 

 location of the Great Southern Continent had been pushed farther 

 south in the Pacific. Since Australia and New Zealand were now 

 clearly delineated as islands, the fabulous unknown land must 

 exist — if it did exist — in as yet unexplored southern latitudes. 



Knowing that Britain's colonial rivals, the French and Spanish, 

 were increasing their activity in the Pacific, the Admiralty acted 

 swiftly by sending Cook on a second voyage. This time he was to 

 circumnavigate the globe as far to the south as he could. He was 

 commissioned as a Captain and given two ships, the Resolution and 

 Adventure, the latter commanded by a Captain Tobias Furneaux. 

 Both were of recent construction and were similar in design to the 

 Endeavour. 



On July 13, 1772, the ships, far more lavishly equipped than the 

 Endeavour had been, sailed from Plymouth bound for the Cape of 

 Good Hope and thence southward and eastward into unknown 

 seas. Early in December, soon after leaving the Cape, the expedition 

 saw its first icebergs — massive flat-topped islands moving silently 

 through the water. Mariners refer to the latitudes through which 

 the ships were sailing as the filthy fifties — and not without reason. 



40 



