The ample accessions to geography, by the discovery of many islands within the tropic in the Pacific Ocean, in the course of this voyage, which was carried on with singular perseverance between three and four years, have been already stated to the reader. But the general search now made throughout the whole southern hemisphere, as being the principal object in view, hath been reserved for this separate article. Here, indeed, we are not to take notice of lands that have been discovered, but of seas sailed through, where lands had been supposed to exist. In tracing the route of the Resolution and Adventure throughout the South Atlantic, the South Indian, and the South Pacific Oceans that environ the globe, and combining it with the route of the Endeavour, we receive what may be called ocular demonstration, that Captain Cook, in his persevering researches, sailed over many an extensive continent, which, though supposed to have been seen by former navigators, at the approach of his ships, sunk into the bosom of the ocean, and, “like the baseless fabric of a vision, left not a wreck behind.”[[26]] It has been urged, that the existence of a southern continent is necessary to preserve an equilibrium between the two hemispheres. But however plausible this theory may seem at first sight, experience has abundantly detected its fallacy. In consequence of Captain Cook’s voyage, now under consideration, we have a thorough knowledge of the state of the southern hemisphere, and can pronounce with certainty, that the equilibrium of the globe is effectually preserved, though the proportion of sea actually sailed through, leaves no sufficient space for the corresponding mass of land, which, on speculative arguments, had been maintained to be necessary.[[36]]
If former navigators have added more land to the known globe than Captain Cook, to him, at least, was reserved the honour of being foremost in disclosing to us the extent of sea that covers its surface.
His own summary view of the transactions of this voyage, will be a proper conclusion to these remarks: “I had now made the circuit of the Southern Ocean in a high latitude, and traversed it in such a manner as to leave not the least room for there being a continent, unless near the pole, and out of the reach of navigation. By twice visiting the Tropical Sea, I had not only settled the situation of some old discoveries, but made there many new ones, and left, I conceive, very little to be done, even in that part. Thus I flatter myself, that the intention of the voyage has, in every respect, been fully answered; the southern hemisphere sufficiently explored; and a final end put to the searching after a southern continent, which has, at times, engrossed the attention of some of the Maritime Powers for near two centuries past, and been a favourite theory amongst the geographers of all ages.”[[37]]
Thus far, therefore, the voyages to disclose new tracks of navigation, and to reform old defects in geography, appear to have been prosecuted with a satisfactory share of success. A perusal of the foregoing summary of what had been done, will enable every one to judge what was still wanting to complete the great plan of discovery. The southern hemisphere had, indeed, been repeatedly visited, and its utmost accessible extremities been surveyed. But much uncertainty, and, of course, great variety of opinion, subsisted, as to the navigable extremities of our own hemisphere; particularly, as to the existence, or, at least, as to the practicability of a northern passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, either by sailing eastward, round Asia, or westward, round North America.
It was obvious, that if such a passage could be effected, voyages to Japan and China, and, indeed, to the East Indies in general, would be much shortened; and consequently become more profitable, than by making the tedious circuit of the Cape of Good Hope. Accordingly, it became a favourite object of the English to effectuate this above two centuries ago; and (to say nothing of Cabot’s original attempt, in 1497, which ended in the discovery of Newfoundland, and the Labradore coast) from Frobisher’s first voyage to find a western passage, in 1576, to those of James and of Fox, in 1631, repeated trials had been made by our enterprising adventurers. But though farther knowledge of the northern extent of America was obtained in the course of these voyages by the discovery of Hudson’s and Baffin’s Bays, the wished-for passage, on that side, into the Pacific Ocean, was still unattained. Our countrymen, and the Dutch, were equally unsuccessful, in various attempts, to find this passage in an eastern direction. Wood’s failure, in 1676, seems to have closed the long list of unfortunate northern expeditions in that century; and the discovery, if not absolutely despaired of, by having been so often missed, ceased, for many years, to be sought for.
Mr. Dobbs, a warm advocate for the probability of a north-west passage through Hudson’s Bay, in our own time, once more recalled the attention of this country to that undertaking; and, by his active zeal and persevering solicitation, renewed the spirit of discovery. But it was renewed in vain. For Captain Middleton, sent out by Government in 1741, and Captains Smith and Moore, by a private society, in 1746, though encouraged by an act of parliament passed in the preceding year, that annexed a reward of twenty thousand pounds to the discovery of a passage, returned from Hudson’s Bay with reports of their proceedings that left the accomplishment of this favourite object at as great a distance as ever.
When researches of this kind, no longer left to the solicitations of an individual, or to the subscriptions of private adventurers, became cherished by the Royal attention, in the present reign, and warmly promoted by the Minister at the head of the naval department, it was impossible, while so much was done toward exploring the remotest corners of the southern hemisphere, that the northern passage should not be attempted. Accordingly, while Captain Cook was prosecuting his voyage toward the south pole, in 1773, Lord Mulgrave sailed with two ships, to determine how far navigation was practicable toward the north pole. And though his Lordship met with the same insuperable bar to his progress, which former navigators had experienced[[38]], the hopes of opening a communication between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, by a northerly course, were not abandoned; and a voyage for that purpose was ordered to be undertaken.
The operations proposed to be pursued were so new, so extensive, and so various, that the skill and experience of Captain Cook, it was thought, would be requisite to conduct them. Without being liable to any charge of want of zeal for the public service, he might have passed the rest of his days in the command to which he had been appointed in Greenwich Hospital, there to enjoy the fame he had dearly earned in two circumnavigations of the world. But he cheerfully relinquished this honourable station at home; and, happy that the Earl of Sandwich had not cast his eye upon any other commander, engaged in the conduct of the expedition, the history of which is presented to the public in these volumes; an expedition that would expose him to the toils and perils of a third circumnavigation, by a track hitherto unattempted. Every former navigator round the globe had made his passage home to Europe by the Cape of Good Hope; the arduous task was now assigned to Captain Cook, of attempting it, by reaching the high northern latitudes between Asia and America. So that the usual plan of discovery was reversed; and, instead of a passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, one from the latter into the former was to be tried. For it was wisely foreseen, that whatever openings or inlets there might be on the east side of America, which lie in a direction which could give any hopes of a passage, the ultimate success of it would still depend upon there being an open sea between the west side of that continent, and the extremities of Asia. Captain Cook, therefore, was ordered to proceed into the Pacific Ocean, through the chain of his new islands in the southern tropic, and having crossed the equator into its northern parts, then to hold such a course as might probably fix many interesting points in geography, and produce intermediate discoveries, in his progress northward to the principal scene of his operations.
But the plan of the voyage, and the various objects it embraced, will best appear from the instructions under which Captain Cook sailed; and the insertion of them here will convey such authentic information, as may enable the reader to judge with precision how far they have been carried into execution.