I —

THE GREAT ATLAS OF DISCOVERY

-.
) : . .

Cook goes ashore

THE OUT"
to
take possession oj the
(§\ land he has found. IN jti
V In THE 18TH CENTURY Europeans knew very little about the South Pacific. Many
did not believe it was an ocean at all and thought instead that the region was
comprised of a giant "Southern Continent" which stretched across the South Pole
and reached as far north as the tropics. The Solomon Islands, New Zealand,
and possibly even Australia were all considered part of this huge land
mass. Two nations - Great Britain and France - took the lead in
exploring the South Pacific, but it was an Englishman, Captain
James Cook, who solved the mystery of the "Southern
Continent." Cook made three voyages to the South Seas
between 1768 and 1779. His charts of the region,
showing the Solomon Islands, New Zealand's
Thc Endea\-our
North and South islands, and the east coast
runs aground on
the Great E. of Australia, proved they were separate
Reef, causing
a large hole that
countries rather than a single
t

has to be rep:
continent. He never saw
Antarctica, but he sailed close
enough to realize that this was
the true southern continent.

Cook and his men

— —
I

50
I

100 150
I I

200
I

250 Miles
st in
one of the ship's
The few Abongm, An unusual choice of ship
(he) see. run Cook learned to be a skilled
seaman by shipping coal around
the North Sea from his home town,
<
m the port of Whitby. Later, when he had to
choose around the world, he
a ship to sail
u chose a Whitby collier and renamed it the
Endeavour. Colliers were built to cam'
coal, so the Endeavour was neither
beautiful nor fast, but she was tough.
There was enough room on board for
supplies and a crew of 94 men, including

U S T R A L I A WmM the wealthy young naturalist Joseph

Banks and his team of scientists.

X
Captain James Cook A
Cook and his crew
Cook joined the Royal Navy in 1755 are attacked by
at the age of 27, after serving 10 years Maoris. They shoot
on merchant Although he joined
ships. back, and to Cook's
At Botany Bay, Joseph Banks distress, several
the navy in a lowly position, he was a +
and the other naturalists Maoris are killed.
skilled navigator and pilot, and was rapidly
collect hundreds of plants
re seen before promoted. However, he did not become an
officer until 1768, when he was appointed
to lead the expedition to the Pacific.
»"»
'
Just signu
POINT
HICKS t^ook 1728-1779
4- -f.
+• +• +
The kangaroo y
Cook's crew were the first Europeans to see * Cook
an Australian kangaroo. They were totally arrives

confused by it and could not decide what / in New

kind of animal it might be. It was the color
/ * Zealand,
TASMANIA of a mouse and the size of a deer, and it
jumped like a hare. In the end they decided
it must be "some kind of stag."
4 Cook and his crew
t
- y trade with the Maori.

is blow Cook off course,

way back,
but he fights his
^ determined that his map of
Queen Charlotte Sound, a SOUTH (4)+
**
the coastline will be accurate.
collection of fine harbors ft.
--— .
visited by Cook on all his y
voyages to New Zealand. •/ .'"
jj
i&WY^ 7

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