Ancient Navigators: Captain James Cook Maps

In three voyages Cook sailed thousands of miles across largely uncharted areas of the globe. He mapped lands from New Zealand to Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean in greater detail and on a scale not previously achieved. As he progressed on his voyages of discovery he surveyed and named features, and recorded islands and coastlines on European maps for the first time. He displayed a combination of seamanship, superior surveying and cartographic skills, physical courage and an ability to lead men in adverse conditions. 

The routes of Captain James Cook's voyages. The first voyage is shown in red, second voyage in green, and third voyage in blue. The route of Cook's crew following his death is shown as a dashed blue line.

James Cook's 1775 chart of Newfoundland

James Cook's 1777 South-Up map of South Georgia

James Cook, English navigator, witnessing human sacrifice in Taihiti (Otaheite) c. 1773.jpg

Engraving from an 1815 edition of Cook's 'Voyages'

Ancient Navigators: Captain Cook

Captain James Cook is considered by many to be greatest explorer of all time. His accomplishments over three voyages, ranging from the Northwest Coast of North America to Antarctica, assured his place in nautical history. Indeed some of his charts were so accurate they were used until the 1990s.

But Cook’s discoveries might be better understood if we consider not what he found, but what didn’t. He was sent to the South Pacific by the Royal Society to observe the transit of Venus and local Terra Australius Incognita, land mass which was  thought by many to act as a counterweight to the northern hemisphere. Cook put the myth of the southern landmass to rest, and, on a later voyage, he called into question the existence of the North passage, a much sought after sea-lane that would give merchant ships a short cut between the Atlantic and Pacific.

More than any other explorer, Cook filled in the empty spaces that made so many nautical maps of his time more decorative than useful, and gave his contemporaries a sense of the world that we know today.   

Adventurer- Captain Cooks third ship