Captain Cook's Voyages of Discovery Book

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THIRD VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY TO THE PACIFIC OCEAN, AND FOR EXPLORING THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE In H.m. Ships "resolution," 462 Tons, And "discovery," 300 Tons, In The Years 1776-7-8-9-80. In the preceding voyage, the question respecting the existence of a southern continent was for the time set at rest, but the practicability of a northern passage to the Pacific Ocean was still an object of so vast importance to England as to excite an earnest desire for the most diligent investigation. It had long been a favourite scheme with the most celebrated navigators, and with the learned men of the day, to discover a shorter and more commodious course to the Oriental regions than by the Cape of Good Hope. This had been attempted in various directions for two centuries and upwards, but the completion of this favourite object was as distant as ever, and the problem of a junction of the two great oceans, the Atlantic and Pacific, by the northern shores of America, was left to be solved in our own time by the several voyages and discoveries of Sir Edward Parry, Ross, Sir John Franklin, Collinson, M'Clure, Sir Leopold M'Clintocfc, Dease, Simpson, Back, Richardson, and Rae? Franklin being now proved, beyond all doubt, to be the first discoverer of a north-west passage. For the conduct of such an enterprise, it was evident that great skill, perseverance, and abilities, were required; and though, by the universal voice of mankind, Captain Cook was the best qualified, no one could venture to solicit him on the subject. The services he had already rendered to his country, the labours he had sustained, and the dangers he had encountered, were so many and so various, thatit was deemed unreasonable to urge him to engage in fresh perils. As an honourable testimony, however, to his merit and...Read More