| It is strange to think now, that well into the | | | | could hold a glut of provisions and could be |
| eighteenth century, Australia and New Zealand | | | | managed by a small crew if necessary. It sailed |
| were little more than a rumour to the wider | | | | from Plymouth on 26 August 1768 with a rather |
| world. Ferdinand Magellan had made the first | | | | large crew of ninety-four. It made its way around |
| Pacific crossing in as early as 1520 but the great | | | | Cape Horn and anchored in Tahiti on 13 April 1769 |
| Ocean was still virtually uncharted. There were a | | | | where the observations for the transit of Venus |
| lingering suspicion that a vast unknown continent | | | | were to be made, however they did not prove |
| lurked in the depths of the world, it was generally | | | | to be as conclusive or accurate as had been |
| referred to as Terra Australis Nondum Cognita, | | | | hoped. It was an idyllic sojourn on the island with |
| loosely translated as The Southern Land Yet | | | | the crew and islanders striking up a camaraderie. |
| Unknown. Many European sailors including Francis | | | | The Endeavour then continued on to New |
| Drake had searched in vain for this secretive land. | | | | Zealand, where Cook mapped the entire coastline, |
| In 1769, the British Admiralty organised a scientific | | | | remarkably making only some minor errors, in |
| expedition to observe the transit of Venus which | | | | fact the maps used today are little different. |
| was to cross the sun, the expedition was also | | | | |
| given the secret mission to hunt for the hidden | | | | |
| continent. The Admiralty chose a brilliant young | | | | Cook then sailed onto the south-eastern coast of |
| navigator named James Cook to lead the | | | | Australia anchoring in Botany Bay, naming it after |
| expedition. Cook had successfully charted the St. | | | | the rich specimens which the botanists of the |
| Lawrence river in Quebec, his charts later helping | | | | expedition had gathered there. It was here that |
| General Wolfe’s army capture Quebec from | | | | Cook’s crew made first contact with an |
| the French in 1759. Cook had been born in humble | | | | Aboriginal tribe before heading northwards as far |
| circumstances in the small village of Marton in | | | | as Possession Island, declaring the entire explored |
| Yorkshire. At the age of seventeen he became | | | | coastline as British. They returned to England via |
| apprenticed to a firm of Whitby coal shippers, he | | | | the Cape of Good Hope landing on 12 July 1771. |
| spent several years on colliers sailing between | | | | Cook was promoted from Master to Commander |
| Tyne and London mastering his craft; while at | | | | and was once again commissioned by the Royal |
| night studying algebra, geometry, trigonometry, | | | | Society to search for the mythical Terra Australis. |
| navigation and astronomy. On completion of his | | | | His first voyage had proved that New Zealand |
| apprenticeship he began working on trading ships | | | | was not connected to a larger landmass and |
| on the Baltic Sea. He worked his way through the | | | | although he had charted the eastern coast of |
| ranks, eventually being offered command of his | | | | Australia, it was not considered to be what they |
| own vessel in the merchant navy, however, quite | | | | were looking for, as it was thought to lie much |
| amazingly he turned it down, opting instead to | | | | further south. He took two Whitby colliers for his |
| volunteer in the Royal Navy as an Able Seaman. | | | | second voyage, Resolution and Adventure, the |
| Cook quickly rose through the ranks obtaining the | | | | expedition circumnavigated the globe at a very |
| rank of Master which was the highest | | | | high southern latitude. Cook almost encountered |
| non-commissioned rank achievable. It was as a | | | | the mainland of Antarctica but turned northwards |
| Master that he produced his highly valuable maps | | | | back towards Tahiti. Cook’s third and last |
| during the Siege of Quebec that first brought him | | | | voyage was to find the North-West Passage, |
| to the attention of the British Admiralty. During | | | | believed to link the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans. |
| the early 1760s, he surveyed the jagged coastline | | | | Once again he took the Resolution and another |
| of Newfoundland gaining a mastery of the skill of | | | | Whitby collier named Discovery. The expedition |
| practical surveying under the most adverse | | | | made landfalls at South Africa, Tasmania, New |
| conditions. His appointment as Captain of the | | | | Zealand, Tahiti, Canada, Alaska and the Hawaiian |
| major expedition into the South Seas was a | | | | Islands. Sadly however, Cook became involved in |
| remarkable achievement, as very few men ever | | | | a confrontation with a party of Hawaiian islanders |
| managed to rise from seaman to commander | | | | in which he was stabbed to death on 14 February |
| and in addition, such high class appointments were | | | | 1779. His voyages paved the way for British |
| usually ridden with bribery and corruption and | | | | colonisation of New Zealand and Australia and the |
| granted to those with influence. Cook chose a | | | | advances in surveying and mapping that were |
| Whitby built collier named the Endeavour, the type | | | | garnered, reinforced the Royal Navy’s place |
| of ship that he knew so well. It was stoutly built, | | | | as the naval superpower of the time. |
| well capable of withstanding the pounding sea, | | | | |