Chart of part of the South Sea shewing the Tracts & Discoveries made by...Dolphin... & Tamer... 1765, Dolphin... & Swallow... 1767, and Endeavour... 1769

This chart of the South Sea shows discoveries made by the frigates Dolphin under the command of Captain Samuel Wallis (1728-1795) and Captain John Byron (1723-1786) and the Captain Cook's first Endeavor voyage. Byron was chosen to command an expedition to circumnavigate the globe and search for a north-west passage. Byron's mention of signs of a southern continent encouraged the immediate preparation of another expedition to the Pacific. Wallis took command of the Dolphin (back from Byron's circumnavigation) and had as his objective to search for the great continent 'Terra Australis Incognita.'

Captain James Cook (1728-1779) made three separate voyages to the Pacific (with the ships Endeavour, Resolution, Adventure, and Discovery) and did more than any other voyager to explore the Pacific and Southern Ocean. Cook not only encountered Pacific cultures for the first time, but also assembled the first large-scale collections of Pacific objects to be brought back to Europe. He was killed in Hawaii in 1779.

Mounted in album with PAI3938-PAI3989, PAI3991-PAI4076.; Page 46.

Object Details

ID: PAI3990
Type: Print
Display location: Not on display
Creator: Whitchurch, William
Places: Pacific Ocean
Vessels: Endeavour (1764); Tamer
Date made: 1765-9
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London
Measurements: Sheet: 378 x 690 mm; Plate: 370 x 670 mm
Parts: Atlas to Cook's Voyages Vol I 1773-1777. (Illustrations are from Hawkesworth's 'Voyages to the Southern Hemisphere', all volumes, and Cook [ed. Douglas] 'A Voyage towards the South Pole... ' [1773-75], page 70 onwards) (Album)