![Sample our Geography journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5937/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Geography.jpg"})
Abstract
This research explores how the eighteenth-century Pacific environment shaped James Cook’s first voyage into the South Seas. Although a multitude of different investigations and numerous biographies on Cook examine this exploration, there is limited analysis of its environmental dimension. This study offers a new perspective on this famous voyage – in terms of cultural and technological impediments – from the Island of Tahiti to Aotearoa New Zealand, and to the Eastern Coast of Australia. Through a reading of expedition accounts that focus on environmental elements, it is possible to shed new light on the failure to discover the Southern Continent, uncover mistakes in observations about new territories, and understand conflicts with Indigenous people. The aim of this article is to widen the discussion about eighteenth-century European explorers by highlighting the impact of rain, winds, heat, and waters on human will and actions.
Ce travail de recherche explore comment l’environnement du Pacifique au dix-huitième siècle a influencé le premier voyage de James Cook aux Mers du Sud. Bien qu’une multitude de différentes investigations et de nombreuses biographies de Cook examinent cette exploration, il y a peu d’analyse de sa dimension environnementale. Cette étude offre une nouvelle perspective sur ce voyage célèbre de l’île de Tahiti à Aotearoa Nouvelle Zélande, et à la côte est de l’Australie. Grâce à une lecture des récits d’expédition qui se concentrent sur les éléments environnementaux, il est possible d’éclairer l’échec de la tentative de découvrir le Continent du Sud, de révéler des erreurs dans les observations sur les nouveaux territoires, et de comprendre les conflits avec les peuples indigènes. Le but de cet article est d’élargir la discussion des explorateurs du dix-huitième siècle en soulignant l’effet de la pluie, des vents, de la chaleur, et des eaux sur la volonté et les actions humaines.
Esta investigación explora cómo el primer viaje de James Cook a los mares del sur fue conformado por el entorno natural del Pacífico del siglo XVIII. Aunque multitud de investigaciones diferentes y numerosas biografías de Cook han examinado esta exploración, su dimensión medioambiental ha sido poco analizada. Este estudio ofrece una nueva perspectiva sobre este famoso viaje desde la Isla de Tahití a Aotearoa Nueva Zelanda, y a la Costa Oriental de Australia. A través de la lectura de relatos de la expedición que se centran en elementos medioambientales, es posible arrojar nueva luz sobre el fracaso en descubrir el Continente Austral, descubrir errores en observaciones sobre nuevos territorios y entender conflictos con los pueblos Indígenas. El objetivo de este artículo es ampliar la discusión sobre los exploradores europeos del siglo XVIII destacando el impacto de la lluvia, los vientos, el calor y las aguas en la voluntad y las acciones humanas.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Paul Carter, The Road to Botany Bay: An Exploration of Landscape and History (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1987), p. 9.
2 Jonh Cawte Beaglehole, The Exploration of the Pacific (London: A. & C. Black, 1934), p. 274.
3 Ibid, p. 277.
4 Glyndwr Williams, “As befits our age, there are no more heroes’: reassessing Captain Cook,” in Captain Cook: Explorations and Reassessments, ed. Glyndwr Williams (Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2004), pp. 230–45.
5 Williams, “As befits our age,” 234–7; and John Cawte Beaglehole, ed., The Voyage of the Endeavour 1768–1771 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1968).
6 Jane Samson, “Exploring the Pacific World,” in Reinterpreting exploration: The West in the World, ed. Dane Kennedy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), pp. 154–71.
7 See Samson, “Exploring,” pp. 154–7; Anne Salmond, The Trial of the Cannibal Dog. Captain Cook in the South Seas, (London: Penguin, 2003); K. R. Howe, The Quest for Origins: Who First Discovered and Settled New Zealand and the Pacific Islands? (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 2003); Greg Dening, Islands and Beaches. Discourse on a Silent Land. Marquesas 1774–1880, (Hawaii: University of Hawai»i Press, 1980); and Gananath Obeyesekere, The Apotheosis of Captain Cook: European mythmaking in the Pacific, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997).
8 See Nicholas Thomas, Cook: the Extraordinary Voyages of Captain James Cook (New York: Walker Books, 2003); John Gascoigne, Captain Cook: Voyager between Worlds, (London: Hambledon Continuum, 2007); Dan O’Sullivan, In Search of Captain Cook: Exploring the Man Through his Own Words (London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2008); Maria Nugent, Captain Cook was here (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009); and Frank Mc Lynn, Captain Cook: Master of the Seas (Yale: Yale University Press, 2011).
9 Samson, “Exploring,” p.166.
10 Ibid.
11 “Journal of H.M.S Endeavour 1768–1771,” accessed May 13, 2021,
12 Anne Salmon, Two Worlds: First meeting between Māori and Europeans, 1642–1772 (Auckland, Penguin, 1992), pp. 112–3.
13 “The Blue Humanities,” John R. Gillis, The Blue Humanities, accessed June 30, 2023, https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2013/mayjune/feature/the-blue-humanities. Williams, “As befits our age,” p. 244. Philip J. Stern, “Exploration and Enlightenment,” in Reinterpreting exploration: The West in the World, ed. Dane Kennedy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), pp. 54–79.
14 Salmond, The Trial, p. 34; Howe, The Quest, p. 70.
15 “Journal of H.M.S Endeavour 1768–1771.”
16 Beaglehole, The Voyage, p. 75.
17 Miles Ogborn, Global Lives: Britain and the World, 1551–1800, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008), pp. 316–7; Salmond, Two Worlds, pp. 45–60. David Igler, “The Questions they asked: Joseph Banks and naturalists in the Pacific Ocean,” Journal for Maritime Research 21 (July 2019), pp. 63–75.
18 J. C. Beaglehole, ed., The Endeavour Journal of Joseph Banks, 1768–1771, vol. 1 (Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1962), p. 252.
19 “Journal of H.M.S Endeavour 1768–1771.” It is necessary to remember that Cook’s voyage was an official mission to gather vital information for further explorations in the region. All the details concerning weather conditions and food supplies passed to other explorers. Cook’s attention for these may not always have been the response to an imminent need, but also to the duty to improve existing knowledge. Glyndwr Williams, The Great South Sea: English voyages and encounters, 1570–1750 (Milton Keynes: Lightning Source, 1997), p. 257.
20 Salmond, The Trial, p. 93.
21 Sujit Sivasundaram, Waves Across the South: A New History of Revolution and Empire (London: William Collins, 2020), p. 51.
22 “Journal of H.M.S Endeavour 1768–1771.”
23 Ibid.
24 Part of this passage is present in Orton’s copy of the journal. “James Cook - A Journal of the proceedings of His Majesty’s Bark Endeavour on a voyage round the world, by Lieutenant James Cook, Commander, commencing the 25th of May 1768–23 Oct. 1770,” accessed May 13, 2021,
https://digital.sl.nsw.gov.au/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=FL1162652&embedded=true&toolbar=false. The rest has been probably added by Wharton in his edition. “Captain Cook’s Journal During the First Voyage Round the World,” accessed May 13, 2021,
25 Beaglehole, The Endeavour Journal of Joseph Banks, vol. 1, p. 393.
26 Sue Shephard, Pickled, Potted, and Canned: The Story of Food Preserving (London: Headline Book Publishing, 2000), p. 226.
27 On 8 October 1769, Banks wrote: “‘This morn the land very near us makes in many white cliffs like chalk; the hills are in general clothd with trees, in the valleys some appear to be very large; the whole of the appearance not so fruitfull as we could wish [author’s italics]’” The last line seems to light another aspect of the exploration. In fact, all the men on the Endeavour were also concerned by the possibility to find a good harbor in a land capable of providing food supplies for the voyage. Beaglehole, The Endeavour Journal of Joseph Banks, vol. 1, p. 399.
28 “Journal of H.M.S Endeavour 1768–1771.”
29 In this passage, Banks seems to attribute human characteristics to the natural phenomenon. Beaglehole, The Endeavour Journal of Joseph Banks, vol. 1, p. 397.
30 Beaglehole, The Endeavour Journal of Joseph Banks, vol. 1, p. 399.
31 “Journal of H.M.S Endeavour 1768–1771.”
32 Aotearoa was the original Māori name for the land. New Zealand was the English version of “Nova Zeelandia,” given by the Dutch cartographer, Joan Blaeu, to the land discovered by Able Tasman in 1642. Cook recorded in his chart Māori names for the two major islands – “Eaheinomauwe” for the North Island and “Toai Poonamoo” for the South Island. Here, Aotearoa is used beside the English’s, or alone, to acknowledge the Māori heritage of the country. Te Ara – The Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, accessed on November 2, 2022, Naming the country and the main islands – TeAra Encyclopedia of New Zealand.
33 On 17 October 1769, Cook wrote: “Seeing no likelyhood of meeting with a harbor and the face of the Country Vissibly altering for the worse I thought that the standing farther to the South would not be attended with any Valuable discovery, but would be loosing of time which might be better employ’d and with a greater probabillity of Success in examining the Coast to the Northward; with this View at 1 p.m. we tacked and stood to the Northward having the wind at west a fresh breeze … ” “Journal of H.M.S Endeavour 1768–1771.”
34 Richard Hough, Captain James Cook, (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1994), p. 132.
35 Anne Salmond, Two Worlds: First meeting between Māori and Europeans, 1642–1772 (Hawaiʻi: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 1992), p. 24.
36 Te Ara – The Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, accessed May 26, 2022, Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand – Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand.
37 “Journal of H.M.S Endeavour 1768–1771.”
38 On the same occasion Banks discovered a natural rock arch, which he described as “the most magnificent surprize I have ever met with … ” Beaglehole, The Endeavour Journal of Joseph Banks, vol. 1, p. 419.
39 On 4 November 1769, “Journal of H.M.S Endeavour 1768–1771.”
40 On 11 November 1769, “Journal of H.M.S Endeavour 1768–1771.” “Captain Cook’s journal.”
41 “Journal of H.M.S Endeavour 1768–1771.” On 16 December 1769, the Endeavour was driven out to sea by strong westerlies, while the French vessel St. Jean Baptiste, commanded by de Surville, was caught in the same storm. Surville was sailing along the North Cape of New Zealand in the same days, but the two European ships were unaware of one another’s existence, while dealing with the gale. Salmond, The Trial, p. 139.
42 “A chart of New Zealand by James Cook,” accessed May 31, 2022.
https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/a-chart-of-new-zeland-by-james-cook
43 “Journal of H.M.S Endeavour 1768–1771.”
44 “A chart of New Zealand.” Hough, James Cook, pp. 131–2.
45 “Journal of H.M.S Endeavour 1768–1771.”
46 Beaglehole was right in writing: “the legacy of the bad weather in the south was the possibility that what is in fact Steward Island might be a peninsula.” Beaglehole, The Exploration, 295. During the exploration of the southern coast of Australia, the British explorer Matthew Flinders faced the same environmental issues when on 21 March 1802 he wrote: “No smokes or any certain marks of main land or of island, appearing upon the southern land, we can only conjecture as to its connexion.” “Matthew Flinders: Journal on HMS ‘Investigator,’ vol. 1, 1801–1802,” accessed November 2, 2022. Adlib Internet Server 5 | Details (nsw.gov.au)
47 “Journal of H.M.S Endeavour 1768–1771.”
48 Ibid.
49 Ibid.
50 Salmond, Two Worlds, pp. 111–17.
51 Bronwen Douglas, ‘Terra Australis to Oceania. Racial Geography in the ‘Fifth part of the World,” The Journal of Pacific History, 45 (September 2010), pp. 179–210.
52 Williams, The Great South Sea, p. 272.
53 J.C. Beaglehole, ed., The Voyage of the Endeavour 1768–1771, p. cclxxxii.
54 On 1 March 1769, Cook wrote “that we have had no Current that hath affected the Ship Since we came into these Seas, this must be a great sign that we have been near no land of any extent because near land are generally found Currents … ” “Journal of H.M.S Endeavour 1768–1771.”
55 “Journal of H.M.S Endeavour 1768–1771.” This meeting was even reported by Banks and the botanical artist Sydney Parkinson in their accounts, which narrated of similar considerations about the damages inflicted to the ship by the blowing weather met in New Zealand. Ray Parkin, H.M. Bark Endeavour: Her Place in Australian History (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2006), pp. 147–9.
56 National Library of Australia, Secret Instructions, accessed November 4, 2022, Secret Instructions | National Library of Australia (nla.gov.au).
57 Beaglehole, The Endeavour Journal of Joseph Banks, vol. 1, p. 187.
58 “Journal of H.M.S Endeavour 1768–1771.”
59 Salmond, The Trial, p. 61.
60 Beaglehole, The Endeavour Journal of Joseph Banks, vol. 1, p. 471.
61 “Journal of H.M.S Endeavour 1768–1771.”
62 The later introduction of steam-powered boats will even change the terms of the relationship between humans and the natural environment. Michael F. Robinson, “Science and Exploration,” in Reinterpreting exploration: the West in the World, ed. Dane Kennedy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), pp. 21–37.
63 Beaglehole, The Endeavour Journal of Joseph Banks, vol I, 473, n 3. In 1803 Banks wrote, “Cook might have met with reproof for sacrificing a day’s fair wind to the accommodation of the Naturalists. Captain Flinders will meet with thanks and praise”. However, Banks did not support Flinders’s recommendation to the British to rename the combined New Holland and New South West landmass as Australia. Flinders ultimately retained the Latin name, Terra Australis, for the title of his book but added in a note the term he preferred. Ryan Barker, “Terra Australis Jam Cognita: Matthew Flinders and Exploration’s Constructed Environment,” Journal of the Southern Association for the History of Medicine and Science 4, no.1 (March 2022), pp. 1–18. National Museum of Australia, Flinders circumnavigates Australia, accessed November 2, 2022, Flinders circumnavigates Australia | National Museum of Australia (nma.gov.au)
64 Daneil Simpson, “Ethnographic collecting and the despotism of Joseph Banks,” Journal for Maritime Research 21, nos.1–2 (January 2020), pp. 77–95.
65 During the exploration of Queen Charlotte Sound, on 30 January 1770 Cook questioned the old Māori chief Topaa about the existence of a Continent in the south, but the information obtained seemed to reinforce his opinion that New Zealand was made of two large islands. Banks, instead, though doubtful sometime, held his belief until the end of the circumnavigation. “Journal of H.M.S Endeavour 1768–1771.”
66 “Journal of H.M.S Endeavour 1768–1771.”
67 Hough, James Cook, pp. 142–56.
68 “Wind Roses for Selected Locations in Australia,” Australian Government, Bureau of Meteorology, accessed June 11, 2022, http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/averages/wind/selection_map.shtml.
69 Josephine Flood, Archaeology of the Dreamtime. The Story of Prehistoric Australia and its People (Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1995), p. 265.
70 Beaglehole, The Journal of Joseph Banks, p. 49.
71 “Journal of H.M.S Endeavour 1768–1771.”
72 “A chart of New South Wales,” accessed June 1, 2021.
https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-232572777/view. Carter, The Road to Botany Bay, p. 32.
73 On 21 May 1770, “Journal of H.M.S Endeavour 1768–1771.”
74 Carter, The Road to Botany Bay, xxiv.
75 Hough, James Cook, p. 149. “Journal of H.M.S Endeavour 1768–1771.”
76 On 12 June, “Journal of H.M.S Endeavour 1768–1771.”
77 Ibid.
78 Hough, James Cook, 147–50. Salmond, The Trial, p.157.
79 On 22 June, when the Europeans inspected the hull, they were relieved to find that a large piece of coral rock, together with other debris, stuck in the hole created during the impact, preventing most of the water from entering the vessel. “Journal of H.M.S Endeavour 1768–1771.”
80 In turn, the Endeavour changed the Pacific ecosystem, as it embodied parasites, seeds, and small organisms in its hull, or on board. Salmond, Two Worlds, 103. Jeffrey Bolster, “Opportunities in Marine Environmental History,” Environmental History 11, no. 3 (July 2006), pp. 567–597.
81 “Journal of H.M.S Endeavour 1768–1771.”
82 Beaglehole, The voyage of the Endeavour, p. 353.
83 Beaglehole, The Endeavour Journal of Joseph Banks, pp. 88–9.
84 Ibid.
85 Ibid, p. 90.
86 Carter, The Road to Botany Bay, p. 25.
87 Hough, James Cook, p. 154.
88 “Journal of H.M.S Endeavour 1768–1771.” “A chart of New South Wales.” “Captain Cook’s journal.” Hough, James Cook, pp. 155–6.
89 These are stone temples dedicated to the ancestors built opposite to the gaps in the coral reef. Peter Bellwood, The Polynesians. Prehistory of an Island People (London: Thames and Hudson, 1987), pp. 78–84.
90 Salmond, The Trial, p. 35.
91 Bellwood, The Polynesians, pp. 78–84.
92 Salmond, The Trial, p. 40.
93 Richard Hough, Captain James Cook, (London, 1994), pp. 34–44. Bronwen Douglas, “Terra Australis to Oceania. Racial Geography in the “Fifth Part of the World,”’ The Journal of Pacific History 45, no. 2 (2010), pp. 179–210. Sunne Juterczenka, “Joseph Banks and the meaning of maritime exploration in eighteenth-century Europe,” Journal for Maritime Research 21, nos. 1–2 (2019), pp. 45–62.
94 Beaglehole, The Voyage, pp. 514–5.
95 Part of the Endeavour’s crew was made of sailors that had participated to the Dolphin expedition. One of them was Lieutenant Gore, who guided Cook during the visit to the island. Upon their arrival, the Tahitians called the British taio (friend). Salmond, The Trial, pp. 64–5.
96 Beaglehole, The Voyage, pp. 75–6.
97 O’Sullivan, Captain Cook, p. 142.
98 “Journal of H.M.S Endeavour 1768–1771.”
99 In Beaglehole, The Voyage, p. 552.
100 Ibid.
101 Mary Louise Pratt, Imperial eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation (London: Routledge, 1992), p. 81.
102 Salmond, The Trail, pp. 49, 70.
103 Cook named this place Point Venus in his chart of Tahiti.
104 Salmond, The Trail, pp. 49, 70.
105 “Journal of H.M.S Endeavour 1768–1771.”
106 Salmond, The Trial, p. 455.
107 “Journal of H.M.S Endeavour 1768–1771.” Salmond, The Trial, p. 78.
108 “Journal of H.M.S Endeavour 1768–1771.”
109 Ibid, on 11 July 1769.
110 Wallis fired with cannons against the Indigenous who had attached his men, killing many locals. Salmond, Two Worlds, pp. 114–5.
111 Salmon, The Trial, p. 101.
112 “Journal of H.M.S Endeavour 1768–1771.”
113 Ibid.
114 Pratt, Imperial Eyes, p. 43.
115 Quoted in Salmond, The Trial, p. 8.
116 Salmond, Two Worlds, 127; Beaglehole, The Voyage, p. 535.
117 It must be said, however, that the dates related to this episode (echo of what happened previously in Tahiti) are too late to apply to Cook’s arrival. Salmond, The Trial, p. 460, n. 16.
118 Salmond, Two Worlds, pp. 123–4; Salmond, The Trial, pp. 113–5.
119 Ibid.
120 “Journal of H.M.S Endeavour 1768–1771.” Salmond, Two Worlds, pp. 123–4; Salmond, The Trial, pp. 113–5; and Joan Metge, The Maoris of New Zealand: Rautahi (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1976), p. 5.
121 Ibid.
122 Although Cook’s work was paradigmatic for subsequent expeditions, the Arctic Sea still claimed Franklin’s ships in 1845–46, ending the era of seaborne exploration. Dane Kennedy, The Last Blank Spaces: Exploring Africa and Australia (Harvard: Harvard University Press, 2013), p. 32.
123 Pratt, Imperial Eyes, p. 32; Sujit Sivasundaram, “Appropriation to Supremacy: Ideas of the ‘Native’ in the Rise of British Imperial Heritage,” in From plunder to preservation: Britain and the Heritage of Empire, c. 1800–1940, eds. A. Swenson and P. Mandler (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), pp. 149–170.
124 Banks named some Tahitians, Hercules, Mars, Lycurgus, Ajax, Epicurus, based on their appearance. Howe, The Quest, p. 29; and Beaglehole, The Endeavour Journal of Joseph Banks, p. 264.
125 Dorinda Outram, “On Being Perseus: New Knowledge, Dislocation, and Enlightenment Exploration,” in Geography and Enlightenment, eds. D. Livingstone and C. Withers (Chicago: Chicago University press, 1999), p. 282.
126 The instructions also asserted: “If you discover the Continent abovementioned either in your Run to the Southward or to the Westward as above directed, You are to employ yourself diligently in exploring as great an Extent of the Coast as you can carefully observing the true situation thereof both in Latitude and Longitude, the Variation of the Needle; bearings of Head Lands Height direction and Course of the Tides and Currents, Depths and Soundings of the Sea, Shoals, Rocks &ca and also surveying and making Charts, and taking Views of Such Bays, Harbours and Parts of the Coasts as may be useful to Navigation. You are also carefully to observe the Nature of the Soil, and the Products thereof; the Beasts and Fowls that inhabit or frequent it, the Fishes that are to be found in the Rivers or upon the Coast and in what Plenty and in Case you find any Mines, Minerals, or valuable Stones you are to bring home Specimens of each, as also such Specimens of the Seeds of the Trees, Fruits and and Grains as you may be able to collect, and Transmit them to our Secretary that We may cause proper Examination and Experiments to be made of them. You are likewise to observe the Genius, Temper, Disposition and Number of the Natives, if there be any and endeavor by all proper means to cultivate a Friendship and Alliance with them, making them presents of such Trifles as they may Value inviting them to Traffick, and Shewing them every kind of Civility and Regard; taking Care however not to suffer yourself to be surprized by them, but to be always upon your guard against any Accidents. You are also with the Consent of the Natives to take Possession of Convenient Situations in the Country in the Name of the King of Great Britain: Or: if you find the Country uninhabited take Possession for his Majesty by setting up Proper Marks and Inscriptions, as first discoverers and possessors.” National Library of Australia, Secret Instructions.
127 Pratt, Imperial Eyes, p. 64.
128 Salmond, The Trial, p. 118.
129 Salmond, Two Worlds, pp. 24–44.
130 Salmond, The Trial, pp. 120–1. “Journal of H.M.S Endeavour 1768–1771.”
131 Beaglehole, The Voyage, p. 575.
132 On 13 October 1769, “Journal of H.M.S Endeavour 1768–1771.”
133 Salmond, Two Worlds, p. 146.
134 Pratt, Imperial Eyes, p. 75; and J.C. Beaglehole, The Life of Captain James Cook, (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1974), p. 698.
135 Flood, Archaeology of the Dreamtime, p. 27.
136 Ibid, p. 273.
137 Salmond, The Trial, p. 155.
138 “Journal of H.M.S Endeavour 1768–1771.” Nugent, Captain Cook, p. 19.
139 “Journal of H.M.S Endeavour 1768–1771.”
140 Let’s remember the second set of instruction quoted above: “But if you shall fail of discovering the Continent beforemention’d, you will with upon falling in with New Zeland carefully observe the Latitude and Longitude in which that Land is situated and explore as much of the Coast as the Condition of the Bark, the health of her Crew, and the State of your Provisions will admit of having always great Attention to reserve as much of the latter as will enable you to reach some known Port where you may procure a Sufficiency to carry You to England either round the Cape of Good Hope, or Cape Horn as from Circumstances you may judge the Most Eligible way of returning home.” National Library of Australia, Secret Instructions.
141 Nugent, Captain Cook, p. 137.
142 When in 1779 Banks was examined by the House of Commons about a place which was suitable to establish a convict colony, he answered to send them to Botany Bay. Hough, James Cook, p. 142.
143 Salmond, The Trial, p.157.
144 On 19 July 1770, “Journal of H.M.S Endeavour 1768–1771.”
145 Ibid, on 10 July 1770.
146 “Journal of H.M.S Endeavour 1768–1771.”
147 Flood, Archaeology of the Dreamtime, p. 262.
148 Carter, The Road to Botany Bay, p. 21.
149 Williams, The Great South Sea, p. 257. Indeed, much of the knowledge at disposal of British explorers, like Cook, came from previous Spanish endeavors in the region; the Pacific was also called “Spanish Lake.” However, the Spaniards often failed to publicize their achievements. Rainer F. Buschmann, Edward L. Slack, and James B. Tueller, Navigating the Spanish Lake: The Pacific in the Iberian World, 1521–1898 (Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2016), pp. 37–62.
150 Steven Mentz, “Toward a Blue Cultural Studies: The Sea, Maritime Culture, and Early Modern English Literature,” Literature Compass 6 (September 2009), pp. 997–1013.
151 Kate Fullagar, “State of the Field Review Essay. Remembering Cook, Again: The State of a Mixed-Media Field,” Australian Historical Studies 52 (October 2021), pp. 1–21.
152 Ibid, p. 20.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Valerio Massimo Donati
Valerio Massimo Donati earned a degree in History at Universita Degli Studi di Milano, Italy, in 2014; Valerio’s thesis, “I navaroli pavesi al servizio ducale durante la signoria di Filippo Maria Visconti” (The Navaroli from Pavia in the ducal service during the lordship of Filippo Maria Visconti), was published in the journal Archivio Storico Lombardo (2016). In 2021, Valerio graduated from the University of Reading, UK; Valerio’s thesis, “‘Weather, people, ship’, a new examination of Cook’s journal of the First Voyage into the Pacific,” provides the groundwork for Valerio’s article that appears in the present issue of Terrae Incognitae. [email protected]