and a voyage for that purpofe, was ordered to be undertaken.
The operations propofed to be purfued, were fo new, fo
extenfive, and fo various, that the ikill and experience o f
Captain Cook, it was thought, would be requifite to conduct
them. Without being liable to any charge of want of zeal
for the public fervice, he might have pafled the reft o f his
days in the command to which he had been appointed in
Greenwich Hofpital, there to enjoy the fame he had dearly
earned in two circumnavigations of the world. But he
cheerfully relinquiihed this honourableftation at home; and,
happy that the Earl o f Sandwich had not caft his eye upon
any other Commander, engaged in the conduit of the expedition,
the hiftory of which is prefented to the Public in
thefe Volumes; an expedition that would expofe him to
the toils and perils o f a third circumnavigation, by a track
hitherto unattempted. Every former navigator round the
globe had made his paflage home to Europe by the Cape
o f Good Hope; the arduous talk, was now affigned to Captain
Cook, o f attempting it, by reaching the high Northern
latitudes between Afia and America. So that the ufual plan
o f difcovery was reverfed; and, inftead o f a paflage from
the Atlantic to the Pacific, one from the latter into the
former was to be tried. For it was wifely forefeen, that
whatever openings or inlets there might be on the Eaft fide
o f America, which lie in a direction which could give any
hopes of a paflage, the ultimate fuccefs of it would ftili depend
upon there being an open fea between the Weft fide of
that continent, and the extremities of Afia. Captain Cook,
therefore, was ordered to proceed into the Pacific Ocean
through the chain of his new iflands in the Southern tropic,
7 and
to hold fuch a courfe as might probably fix many intereft-
ing points in geography, and produce intermediate difco-
veries, in his progrefs Northward to the principal fcene o f
his operations.
But the plan o f the voyage, and the various objedts it
embraced, will beft appear from the Inftrudlions under
which Captain Cook failed ; and the infection o f them here,
will convey fuch authentic information, as may enable the
Reader to judge with precifion how far they have been c a r ried
into execution.-
the C o m m i s s io n e r s f o r executing the- Office o f Lord
High Admiral o f G r e a t ' B r i t a i n 1 and I r e l a n d , & c .
SECRET INSTRUCTIONS for Captain J a m e s
C o o k , Commander o f his Majefty’s Sloop the
R e s o l u t i o n .
W fH E R E A S the E a r lo f' Sandwich has fignified to us his Majefty’s.1
pleafiure, that an attempt Jhould he made to find out a Northern pafifage-
by fea from the Pacific to the-Atlantic Ocean-, and whereas we have inpur
finance- thereof, caufed his Majefty’s- Jloops Refiolution and Difcovery to be
fitted, m all refipeils, proper to proceed upon a voyage-for the purpofe
above-mentioned, and, from the experience we have had'of your abilities and:-
good conduit in your late voyages, have-'thought fit to intruft you with the conduit
^ the prefient intended voyage, and with that view appointed you to com- -
mand the firft mentionedjlocp; and direiled Captain Clerke, -who commands the
other, to follow your orders for his further proceedings; Toti are hereby:re-'
imred and direiled-to proceed with the /aid two Jloops direillyto the Cape of
Good Hope, unlefis you Jhalljudge- it necejfary to ftop at Madeira, the Cape de
Verd or Canary Iflands, to take in wine for the ufie of their companies; in
which cafe you are at liberty .to do Jo, taking care to remain there no longer
than may be necejfary for that purpofe *
On