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Code: 52424
Author: Cook, James
Publisher: Harrison & Co 1784
Date published: 1784
WITH ALL FAULTS. Long title: Chart of the N.W. Coast of America and N.E. coast of Asia. Explored by Capt. Cook, in the Years 1778 & 1779. the unshaded parts of the Coast of Asia are taken from a MS Chart received from the Russians. Overall size in off white fully conservation grade mount and back with decorative v grove : 51cms x 37.5cms ; 313mm x 198mm. One small hole in map, 1mm wide above Atako island else good condition. Marking the route taken by Captain Cook on his fateful third voyage of 1776-1779. It has been said that, in a single visit, Cook charted the majority of the North American northwest coastline on world maps for the first time, determined the extent of Alaska and closed the gaps in Russian (from the West) and Spanish (from the South) exploratory probes of the Northern limits of the Pacific. The Bering Strait proved to be impassable, although he made several attempts to sail through it. He became increasingly frustrated on this voyage, and perhaps began to suffer from a stomach ailment; it has been speculated that this led to irrational behaviour towards his crew, such as forcing them to eat walrus meat, which they found inedible From the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: The north-west coast of North America was sighted on 7 March and for the next six and a half months Cook carried out a running survey of some 4000 miles of its coast from Cape Blanco on the coast of Oregon to Icy Cape on the north coast of Alaska, where he was forced to turn back by an impenetrable wall of ice. A search for a route back to Europe north of Siberia also proved fruitless. During this cruise Cook became the first European to enter Nootka Sound on the north-west coast of Vancouver Island, where he remained for a month taking astronomical observations and cutting spars for use as spare masts and yardarms. Trade was carried out with the native Mowachaht for furs, mostly of the sea otter, which when sold later in China drew attention to the commercial potential of this trade. Cook's discoveries on this, his third voyage to the Pacific, finally put to rest confused notations of a Sea of the West as well as hopes for the discovery of a Arctic northwest passage. -