Guide to the journals of Captain James Cook

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M1580-M1582

National Library of Australia View Catalogue Record

Created: 2018

Online Items

Part of holograph log of Lieutenant James Cook on HMS Endeavour (51 folios), 18 February 1770 - 23 September 1770 (File Add MS 27885)

The log begins when the Endeavour was passing Banks Peninsula on the South Island of New Zealand and records the voyage round the southern and western coasts, the departure from New Zealand, the sighting of New Holland (23 April), the exploration of the eastern coast, the time spent at Botany Bay (28 April – 6 May) and Endeavour River (17 June – 5 August), and the voyage through Torres Strait to the west coast of New Guinea, Timor and Savu in the East Indies...

Holograph journal of Captain James Cook on HMS Resolution (320 ff.), 28 November 1771 - 10 November 1774 (File Add MS 27886)

The journal begins on 28 November 1771, when Cook received his commission to command HMS Drake, which shortly after was re-named HMS Resolution. There are no further entries until May 1772. HMS Resolution and Adventure left Plymouth on 13 July 1772 and the journal records the voyage to Cape Town, the southern Indian Ocean, Dusky Sound, New Zealand (March – May 1773), Queen Charlotte Sound, Tahiti (Aug. 1773), the Friendly Islands (Oct. 1773), the separation from the Adventure (Oct. 1773), Queen Charlotte Sound (Nov. 1773), the southern Pacific Ocean, Easter Island (March 1774), the Marquesas Islands (April 1774), Tahiti (April – May 1774), Huahine (May 1774), Savage Island (Niue) (June 1774), Tonga (June 1774), New Hebrides (July – Sept. 1774) and New Caledonia (Oct. 1774). The journal ends with the Resolution sailing south-east towards the Straits of Magellan...

Fair copy of log of Captain James Cook on HMS Resolution (142 ff.), 30 November 1771 - 10 November 1774 (File Add MS 27887)

This manuscript is a fair copy of the holograph log of Cook (Add. MS 27956), including the first part of the voyage which is missing in the holograph log. The period 30 November 1771 – 13 July 1772 takes up less than two pages. There are a few minor additions and corrections in Cook's hand. The log contains a number of drawings and charts of Madeira and the Cape Verde and Canary Islands: profiles of Porto Santo, a chart of 'Fonchall [Funchal] Bay', a chart of the island of Palma, profiles of St Iago [Jago], and a chart of Porto Praya (Praia). Pasted at the end of the volume are a number of sheets giving daily ships' positions and meteorological observations of various passages. The last, giving the route of the Adventure from New Zealand to the Cape of Good Hope, is in Cook's hand.

Part of holograph log of Captain James Cook on HMS Resolution (145 ff.), 16 October 1773 - 28 July 1775 (File Add MS 27956)

The log opens when the Resolution was sailing from Tonga to Queen Charlotte Sound in New Zealand continues to the end of the voyage. It appears that it was originally in two volumes. At the end of the volume are two leaves entitled 'Descriptions of bearings and harbours within Trinity Bay' [Newfoundland] and a few mathematical calculations.

Holograph journal of Captain James Cook on HMS Resolution (605 ff.), 10 February 1776 - 6 January 1779 (File Egerton MS 2177A)

The journal begins with Cook receiving his commission to command the Resolution and the preparations for the voyage. It records the departure from Plymouth (12 July 1776) and the voyage to Cape Town, Kerguelen, Adventure Bay, Van Diemen's Land (Jan. 1777), Queen Charlotte Sound (Feb. 1777), the Friendly Islands (May – July 17777), Tahiti (Aug. – Sept. 1777), Huahine (Oct. 1777), the Sandwich Islands [Hawaii] (Jan. –Feb. 1778), New Albion (March – Nov. 1778), Alaska, Arctic Ocean, Aleutian Islands, and the Sandwich Islands (Nov. 1778 – Jan. 1779). The last entry was written about five weeks before Cook was killed at Kealakekua Bay...

Fragments of holograph log of Captain James Cook on HMS Resolution (4 ff.), 28 November 1778 - 17 January 1779 (File Egerton MS 2177B)

The fragments, written on very large sheets of papers, is not in the usual tabular form, but the entries are very brief and mostly record winds, bearings and position. There are a few references to encounters with the Hawaiian Islanders. The log is accompanied by the original instructions from the Admiralty to Cook (6 July 1776), signed by Lord Sandwich, Lord Spencer and Palliser and extracts from the instructions to Lieutenant Richard Pickersgill, commander of the brig HMS Lyon (14 May 1776) and Lieut. Walter Young, commander of the brig Lyon (12 March 1777). In 1776 and 1777 the Lyon was sent to Baffin Bay in Canada to search for the north-west passage and possibly link up with Cook, but the expeditions were failures.

Journal of Captain James Cook on HMS Resolution, rewritten by John Douglas, volume 1 (358 ff.), February 1776 - 18 May 1784 (File Egerton MS 2178)

The journal is preceded by a lengthy introduction (ff. 1-63), including an extract from a letter (18 May 1784) of Henry Roberts, the master's mate on the Resolution. There is also a list of plates. Reverend John Douglas (1721-1807), later Bishop of Salisbury, edited Cook's journal of his third voyage, entitled Voyage to the Pacific Ocean (1784). While based on Cook's journal, Douglas made many changes, some minor, some substantial. The manuscript, which contains many deletions and marginal additions, appears to be the copy sent to the printer.

Journal of Captain James Cook on HMS Resolution, rewritten by John Douglas, volume 2 (325 ff.), July 1777 - 1780 (File Egerton MS 2179)

The volume is similar to the previous volume, although there are somewhat fewer deletions. It includes many marginal additions and inserted pages. At the end of the volume is a printed map (1780) by Thomas Kitchin of the discoveries made by Captain Cook and other navigators in the Pacific Ocean.


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