BC Cook
“DEPENDING on your point of view, Captain James Cook of England (1728-1779) was either the best or the worst person that ever visited the Pacific Ocean.” With those words we opened the door into the world of the great explorer. In the last column we looked at the first of his three voyages. Now let’s look at his second.
The fact that there was a second voyage should impress us. Most of the famous explorers completed only one famous expedition and answered one great question. Da Gama and Diaz sailed down the coast of Africa, Drake sailed around the world, Columbus found North America (although he crossed the Atlantic three times before his death). Some explorers did not even finish one voyage. Magellan is famous for sailing around the world but he did no such thing. As all Filipinos know, he died in those islands after getting involved in a local dispute. Yet history gives him credit for being the first to circle the globe. Lucky break. Cook completed two historic voyages, answering hundreds of scientific and geographic questions along the way, and died during a historic third voyage. But let’s get back the second.
One great scientific question of the 1700s had to do with Terra Australis. Many people believed there must be a great southern continent that would balance out the world because there were so many landmasses north of the equator. Most people assumed it existed but no one knew its size or location. Magellan found the bottom of South America and other sailors found the southern tip of Africa. Cook mapped a large portion of Australia but not all, and he proved New Zealand was not connected to something larger. Therefore, if there was a continent it was either connected to Australia or it would be found in the South Pacific. Cook set out to either find it or prove it did not exist, which was his personal feeling.
Putting in at New Zealand, he then made huge sweeps of the South Pacific looking for any trace of the mysterious missing continent. He found none but he traveled even further south, reaching the 71st latitude, a record for that time and for a long time after.
The trip was not wasted. Cook proved there was no great southern continent other than Australia, which everyone already knew about. He proved that there was a mass of ice at the South Pole but he was not sure what was under it. Future generations would determine that another landmass was there, but still not enough to “balance out” the continents of the northern hemisphere. Sailing back through the island groups of the Pacific, he solidified his theory that all Pacific islanders were related and that their ancient ancestors came from Asia. This was proved in recent times by DNA analysis.
Returning home a second time, Cook was hailed as a hero, was promoted and given a comfortable job to finish out his working years. But the sea called. Only a few months after his return talk swirled of another voyage of exploration to chart the northern Pacific and find the fabled Northwest Passage, a waterway linking the Pacific with the Atlantic. Cook volunteered for the job and the stage was set for his most dramatic voyage and one that would cost his life.
Dr. BC Cook taught history for 30 years and is a director and Pacific historian at Sealark Exploration (sealarkexploration.org). He currently lives in Hawaii.
