A VOYAGE TO THE PACIFIC OCEAN

Undertaken, by the command of His Majesty, for making discoveries in the Northern Hemisphere

Performed under the direction of Captains Cook, Clerke, and Gore,

In His Majesty's ships the Resolution and Discovery : in the years 1776, 1777, 1778, 1779, and 1780

In three volumes

Vol. I and II written by James Cook ; vol. III by James King

Second edition: 3 volumes : [10], xcvi, 421; [14], 548; [14], 556 pages, engraved vignettes of the Royal Society Medal on the title pages – Vol. I has Cook in profile; Vol. II has the verso of the same medal; Vol. III has Captain King. There are several maps bound into the body of these volumes which should be in the Atlas. Volume 1 has folding maps opposite page 91 and 225 and 277, volume 2 has a map opposite page 279, a folding map opposite page 466 and a folding coastal profile opposite page 470, and volume 3 has a folding map opposite page 1, a map opposite page 184 a folding coastal profile opposite page 312 as well as a folding letterpress table as Appendix 11, light foxing throughout, half tan calf with matching marbled boards, red title label gilt on the spines, a very good set.

A distinguishing feature of the second quarto edition is the addition of engraved vignettes of the Royal Society Medal to the title pages. The second edition of Cook's Third Voyage is considered typographically superior to the first edition.

Together with: First edition: Folio volume: Cook’s Atlas to the Third Voyage. London, A. Strahan for G. Nicol and T. Cadell, 1784. There are 87 accompanying copper engraved plates and maps, some folding or double page, issued separately in this atlas (540 x380mm) without a title page or pagination. The binding of the Atlas is different to the 3 volumes of text with half calf marbled boards and red title label gilt on the spine. The covers are detached. There is slight water staining on the edges of several pages of the Atlas which do not affect the images. They are in good condition.

Cook’s third voyage was as ambitious in its objectives as the previous two voyages. He was instructed by the Admiralty to search for a passage from the North Pacific to the North Atlantic (commonly known as the ‘Northwest Passage’), in order to provide a shorter sea route for trade between Britain and the Pacific. In order to conceal the true purpose of the voyage, it was announced that the expedition would return Mai, the first Polynesian to visit Britain, to his homeland. Mai had been brought to Britain on board the Adventure, the ship captained by Tobias Furneaux on Cook’s second voyage, which had returned in summer 1774.

The Admiralty’s instructions stipulated that Cook was to sail, via Tahiti, to the west coast of North America where, above 65° north, he was to ‘explore such Rivers or Inlets as may appear to be of considerable extent and pointing towards Hudsons or Baffins Bay’. If he failed to find the passage he was to winter in the Russian port of Petropavlovsk on the Kamchatka peninsula ‘or wherever else you shall judge more proper’. The following spring he was to ‘proceed from thence to the Northward as far as, in your prudence, you may think proper, in further search of a North East, or North West passage, from the Pacific Ocean into the Atlantic Ocean, or the North Sea’.

Overnight on 14 February 1779, the large boat from the Discovery disappeared. As he had done in other places, Cook went on shore with the marines to take a senior figure hostage in order to demand its return. Charles Clerke later recorded that, on finding Kalani‘opu‘u having just woken up, Cook believed him to be ‘quite innocent of what happen’d and proposed to the old Gentleman to go onboard with him, which he readily agree’d to’. As the party returned to the beach, where two or three thousand people had assembled, tensions increased. News may have reached the crowd of the death of a man shot by British sailors who were blockading the harbour. Violence broke out and Cook was killed on the beach alongside four of the marines. Sixteen Hawaiians are believed to have been killed.

After Cook’s death Charles Clerke took command of the expedition. The ships returned to the Arctic in search of the Northwest Passage but again found the ice sheet blocking their way. Clerke, who had been suffering from tuberculosis, died on the voyage south and was buried at Kamchatka. John Gore then took charge of the expedition. On the return journey the ships called at Macao in China, where sea otter pelts were sold for large profits, something that would encourage other British expeditions to the north Pacific in future years. The ships arrived back in Britain in autumn 1780.

For further detailed information see:
https://www.bl.uk/the-voyages-of-captain-james-cook/articles/the-third-voyage-of-james-cook#

Beddie (M.K.) ed. Bibliography of Captain James Cook 1543 page 298 - 299 for a description of the Atlas.

Beddie (M.K.) ed. Bibliography of Captain James Cook 1552 page 301 – 302 for a description of the text.

Forbes (David W.) ed. Hawaiian National Bibliography, 1780-1900: Volume 1: 1780-1830.