Journal of the H.M.S. Endeavour, 1768-1771

\n\nJames Cook was born in 1728 in Yorkshire. Apprenticed to a coal shipper in\nWhitby he began to learn the skills of sound navigation and accurate charting.\nIn 1755 he joined the Royal Navy and steadily advanced. In North America he\ntook part in the siege of Quebec City, and began coastal surveys of Nova\nScotia and Newfoundland. In 1768 Cook was promoted to become commander of\nEndeavour Bark sent to Tahiti to observe the transit of Venus. The Admiralty\nin asecret instructionsa asked Cook to find the mythical southern continent.\nIn 1769 Cook circumnavigated New Zealand, charted its coast and took formal\npossession for England. On 19 April 1770 Cook sighted another coastline.\nSailing north Cook landed at Botany Bay. And charted 5000 miles of coastline\nwith great accuracy. Cook took formal possession of New South Wales for\nEngland. In 1772 Cook led a second expedition to confirm the great south land.\nIn 1777, Cookas third voyage explored the Pacific coasts of North America and\nSiberia. Cook was killed on 14 February 1779 in the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii).\n\nThis dataset contains transcripts of Cookas journal with corresponding links\nto the digitised pages. Where possible, location information has been\nextracted. For further information please see the aRead mea file within the\ndataset. Data has been sourced from [South Seas](http://southseas.nla.gov.au/)\nand the [Manuscripts collection](http://nla.gov.au/nla.ms-ms1) of the National\nLibrary of Australia.\n\n