| Pacific Voyages |  |
The primary aim of the third expedition to find the elusive Northwest Passage was unsuccessful. Nevertheless, like all of Cook's voyages, the third expedition was successful in the pursuit of scientific discovery. The crew made a number of new charts, gathered botanical and ethnographic specimens, and made illustrations of their discoveries.
Cook was a pioneer in European charting of the Pacific. Although the majority of the charts and maps made by Cook were drawn up during his first and second voyages, Cook's third voyage also resulted in many new maps and charts. Under the command of Cook and subsequently Clerke and Gore the expedition was able to chart large expanses of the Pacific and the Arctic coasts of America and Russia.
Of particular interest is the chart of Kealakekua Bay where Cook died. The Macmillan Brown Library holds a copy of this chart within a portfolio edited by R.A. Skelton in 1955 (Charts and Views Drawn by Cook and His Officers and reproduced from the Original Manuscript, R A Skelton Ed., Cambridge University Press 1955).
The chart of Kealakekua Bay is unsigned but it is widely reputed to have been drawn by William Bayley, the astronomer on board the Discovery. The site of Cook's death is marked.
Another object of interest within the Macmillan Brown Collection is the New Zealand section of Bank's Florilegium. Scientists Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander were primarily responsible for creating the Florilegium collection during Cook's earlier voyages. These volumes consist of several hundred beautiful line engravings drawn from botanical specimens by Sydney Parkinson, after the work of Banks and Solander. They represent one of the most comprehensive collections of their age and are of great artistic and scientific merit.
In addition to the publications on Cook's voyages to the Pacific in the University Library Collection, we also hold a number of original prints relating specifically to the third expedition. There are 25 prints based on the drawings and observations of John Webber (1751-1793), who was the official artist on board the Resolution. In fact, Cook's voyages were the first European expeditions to employ professional artists to record what they saw and discovered. The detailed visual record includes images of people, their clothing, their habitations, and their customs.
There are also four engravings by Francis Jukes (1746-1812) and John Cleveley the Younger (1747-1786), purportedly from drawings by James Cleveley. James Cleveley served as carpenter aboard the Resolution on Cook’s third voyage. The prints include "View of Moorea" 1787, "View of Charlotte Sound" 1788 and "View of Huahine" 1787, as well as the representation of Cook’s death.
