]64 
e o 
and the Eagle failed with another frigate on a cruife s in 
which they were very fuccefsful. After this Mr. Walker 
heard no more of Mr. Cook, until'Augult 175S, when 
he received from him a.letter dated Pembroke, before 
Louifbufgh, July 30, 1758, in which he gave a diltinCt 
account of our fuccefs in that expedition, but does not 
fay what Ration he then filled. 
He received a cornmiilion, as lieutenant, on the firR 
day of April, 1760; and foon. after gave a fpecimen of 
thofe abilities which recommended him to the commands 
which he executed fo highly to his credit, that his name 
will go down to poflerity as one of the molt (kilful navi¬ 
gators .which this country has produced.- In 1765, he" 
was with fir William Burnaby on the Jamaica ftation ; 
and that officer having occalion to, fend difpatches to the 
governor of Jucatan, relative to the logwood-cutters in 
the bay of Honduras, lieutenant Cook was feleCled for 
that employment; and he performed it .in a manner which 
entitled him to the approbation of the admiral. A rela¬ 
tion of this voyage and journey was publillied in 1769, 
. under the title of “ Remarks j?n a Pallirge from the River 
Balife, in the Bay-of Honduras, to Merida, the Capital 
of the Province of Jucatan, 'in the Spanirti Well Indies, 
by Lieutenant Cook,” in an octavo pamphlet. 
With a perfect knowledge of all the duties belonging 
to a fea life, Mr. Cook poffeffed great (kill in altronomy. 
In 1767, the royal fociety refolved, that it would be pro¬ 
per to lend perfons into fome part of the South Seas, to 
obferve the tranfit of the planet Venus over the fun’s 
difk ; and, by a memorial delivered to his majefty, they 
recommended the illands of Marquefas de Mendoza, or 
thofe of Rotterdam or Amllerdam, as the propere.lt then 
known for making fuch obfervation. To this memorial 
a favourable anfwev was returned ; and the Endeavour, 
a fhip built for the coal-trade, was put in cornmiilion, 
an.d the command given to lieutenant Cook. But-before 
the vefl’el was ready to fail, captain Wallis returned from 
his voyage, and pointed out Otaheite as a place more 
proper for the purpofe of the expedition than either qf 
thofe mentioned by the royal fociety. This alteration 
was approved of, and our navigator was appointed by 
*hat learned body, with Mr. Charles Green, to oblerve 
the tranfit. On this occalion lieutenant Cook was made 
captain, and his cornmiilion bore date the 25th of May, 
1768. He immediately hoilled the pendant, and took 
command of the 111 ip, in which he failed down the river 
on the 30th of July. In this voyage he was accompanied 
by JoTeph Banks, efquire, now hr Jofeph, bart. K. B. 
and preiident of the royal fociety, and doctor Solander. 
On the 13th of OClober he'arrived at Rio de Janeiro, 
and, on the 13th of April, 1769, came to Otaheite, where 
the tranfit of Venus was obferved in different parts of the 
ifland. He Raid there until the 13th of July, after which 
he went in fearch of feveral illands, which he dilcovered. 
He then proceeded to New Zealand, and, on the 10th of 
OCtober, 1770, arrived at Batavia, with a veil'd almolt 
worn out, and the crew much fatigued and very fickly. 
The repairs of the fhip obliged him to continue at this 
unhealthy place until the 27th of December, in which 
time he loft many of his feamen and paffengers, and more 
in the paffage to the Cape of Good Hope, which place 
he reached on the 13th of March, 1771. On the 14th 
of April he left the Cape, and the ili of May anchored 
at St. Helena, from whence he failed on the 4th, and 
came to anchor in the Downs on the 12th of June, after 
having been abfent almoft three years, and in that time 
had experienced every danger to which a voyage of fuch 
a length is incident, and in which he had made difco- 
veries equal to thofe of all the navigators of his country 
from the time of Columbus to the prefent. The narra¬ 
tive of this expedition was written by Dr. Hawkelworth, 
which, as the facts contained in it have not been denied, 
nor the excellence ot the compofitiondi Touted, has cer- 
jainly been treated with a degree of feverity, which, 
O K. 
when every thing is confidered, mud excite the altonilh- 
ment of every reader of tafte and fallibility. 
Soon after, captain Cook’s return to England, it was 
refolved to equip two Blips to complete the difeovery of 
the fouthern hemifphere. It had long been .a prevail¬ 
ing idea, that the unexplored, part contained another 
continent; and Alexander Dalrymple, efquire, a gen¬ 
tleman of an enterprifmg fpirit, had been very firmly 
perfuaded of its exillence. To afeertain the fact was 
the principal object of this expedition; and that nothing 
might be omitted that could tend to facilitate the en- 
terprife, two Drips were provided, furniflicd with every 
neceffary which could promote the fuccefs of tire un¬ 
dertaking. The firlt was called the Rel'olution, under 
the command of captain Cook ; the other, the Adven¬ 
ture, commanded by captain Furneaux. Both of them 
failed from Deptford on the 9th of April, 1772, and 
arrived at the Cape of Good Hope on the 30th of Oc¬ 
tober. They departed from thence on the 22d of No¬ 
vember, and from that time until the 17th of January, 
1773, continued endeavouring to discover the continent, 
when they were obliged to relinquish the defign, ob- 
fefving the whole Tea covered with ice from the direc¬ 
tion of i'outh-eall round by the louth to wefi. They 
then proceeded into the South Seas, and made many 
other difeoveries, and returned to the Cape of Good 
Hope outlie 2iltof March, 1774, and from thence to 
England on the 14th of July ; having during three years 
and eighteen days (in which time the voyage was per¬ 
formed) loll but one man, by ficknefs, in captain Cook’s 
Blip ; although he had navigated throughout all the cli¬ 
mates from fifty-two degrees north to feventv-one degrees 
fouth, with a company of an hundred and eighteen men. 
The relation .of this voyage was given to the public by 
captain Coqk lrimfelf, and by Mr. George Forller, fon 
of Dr. Forller, who had been appointed by government 
to accompany him, for the purpofe of making obferva- 
tions on fuch natural productions as might be found in 
the courfe of the navigation. That publifhed by captain 
Cook has generally been aferibed to a gentleman of great 
eminence in the literary world ; but if the teftimony of 
one who was on-board the Blip, and who made an extraCt 
from the journal in its rude uncorreCted Hate, may be 
rtlied on, there feems no reafon to aferibe the merit 
of the work to any.other perfon than lie whofe name it 
bears." 
The want of fuccefs which attended captain,Cook’s 
voyage to dil’cover a fouthern continent, did not dilcou- 
rage another attempt, which had been recommended 
fome time beford. This was no other than the finding 
out a north-well paffage, which the fancy of fome had 
conceived to be a practicable fcheme. Captain Cook’s 
opinion being alked concerning the perfon who would 
be molt proper to execute this defign, he readily ottered 
lrimfelf, and once more relinquilhed the comforts of do- 
mefiic life, to engage in feenes of difficulty and danger. 
His intrepid fpirit and inquifitive mind induced him thus 
to tender his lervices without the fmallelt hefitation, and 
they were gladly accepted. - He prepared for his depar¬ 
ture with the utmoft alacrity, and failed in the month 
of July, 1776. A few months after his departure from 
England, the royal fociety voted him fir Godfrey Cop¬ 
ley’s gold medal, -as a reward for the account which he 
had tranfmitted to that learned body, of the method 
taken to preferve the health of the crew of his Blip ; and 
fir John Pringle, in an oration pronounced on the 30th 
of November, obferved “ how meritorious that perfon 
mull appear, who had not only made the moll extenfive, 
but the moll inllruClive, voyages; who had not only dif- 
covered, but furveyed, vail traCts of new coalts ; who 
had difpelled the illufion of a terra aujlralis incognita, and 
fixed the bounds of the habitable earth, as well as thofe 
of the navigable ocean, in tiie fouthern hemifphere; 
but that, however ample a field for praife thefe circum- 
ftances 
