Cook, James
Cook next commanded (1772–75) an expedition to the South Pacific of two ships, the Resolution and the Adventure. On this voyage he disproved the rumor of a great southern continent, explored the Antarctic Ocean and the New Hebrides, visited New Caledonia, and by the observance of strict diet and hygiene prevented scurvy, heretofore the scourge of long voyages. Cook sailed again in 1776; in 1778 he visited and named the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) and unsuccessfully searched the coast of NW North America for a Northwest Passage. On the return voyage he was killed by natives on the island of Hawaii. During the course of his journeys Cook visited about ten major Pacific island groups and more than 40 individual islands, also making first European contact with a wide variety of indigenous peoples.
See the definitive edition of his journals, ed. by J. C. Beaglehole (4 vol. and portfolio, repr. 1999); selections from his journals, ed. by A. G. Price (1958, repr. 1969); biographies by A. Villiers (1967), J. C. Beaglehole (1974), R. Hough (1995), and F. McLynn (2011); A. Moorehead, The Fatal Impact (1966); H. Zimmerman, The Third Voyage of Captain Cook (1988); L. Withey, Voyages of Discovery (1989); G. Obeyesekere, The Apotheosis of Captain Cook (1992); N. Thomas, Cook (2003); G. Blainey, Sea of Dangers (2009).
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