Chart of Wallis's Islands

This chart of a small island in the South Pacific near Tonga was published in John Hawkesworth's 1773 account of the journeys of Captain James Cook, John Byron, and Joseph Banks on behalf of the Admirality.

The frigate Dolphin was under the command of Captain John Byron 1723-1786) and then Captain Samuel Wallis (1728-1795) 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 on page with PAI3997, and in album with PAI3938-PAI3997, PAI3999-PAI4076.; Page 52.

Object Details

ID: PAI3998
Type: Print
Display location: Not on display
Date made: circa 1773
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London
Measurements: Sheet: 232 x 210 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)