Captain Cook's final voyage : the untold story from the journals of James Burney and Henry Roberts

Burney, James 1750-1821 (author.). Roberts, Henry 1757-1796 (author.). Barnett, James K., 1947- (editor.).

Summary: "Maritime historian and researcher James K. Barnett transcribed two extraordinary but little-known journals from celebrated mariner Captain James Cook's third exploratory expedition. Two young officers from the voyage offer remarkable eyewitness accounts at the time of initial European contact, the first reasonably accurate maps of North America's west coast, the earliest comprehensive report from the Bering Sea ice pack, and the dramatic story of Cook's death at Kealakekua Bay. Particularly astonishing for accounts of landings along Hawaii, Vancouver Island, and Alaska, both journals have languished in Australian archives for over a century. Barnett adds context and commentary to complete the story. Commissioned by the British Admiralty, Cook set sail in July 1776 to confirm the outline of North America's Pacific coastline and to search for the elusive Northwest Passage. .

Record details

ISBN: 9780874223576
ISBN: 0874223571
Physical Description: print
xvii, 323 pages : color illustrations, maps ; 26 cm
Publisher: Pullman, Washington : Washington State University Press, 2017
Copyright: ©2017.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Formatted Contents Note:

The voyage begins, June-December 1776 -- Tasmania and New Zealand, January-February 1777 -- Cook Islands, March-April 1777 -- Tonga, April-August 1777 -- Tahiti, August-December 1777 -- Finding Hawai'i, December 1777-February 1778 -- Nootka Sound, February-April 1778 -- Prince William Sound and Cook Inlet, May-June 1778 -- Finding Arctic ice, June-August 1778 -- Return to Unalaska, September-October 1778 -- In Hawaiian waters, November 1778-January 1779 -- Kealakekua Bay, January-February 1779 -- Return to Kealakekua Bay, February 1779 -- Leaving Hawai'i, February-March 1779 -- Reaching Avacha Bay, March-June 1779 -- Confronting Arctic ice, June-July 1779 -- Return To Kamchatka and England, July-November 1779.