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C1777
Sketch of Van Diemen Land, Explored by Captn. Furn…
Mapmaker:
First edition, 1777 of the earliest British chart of Van Diemen’s land by Tobias Furneaux, from the official accounts of Cooks second voyage. They had set sail on July 1772, Cook on the Resolution and Furneaux on the Adventure. The ships were separated in … Read Full Description
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Full Title:
Sketch of Van Diemen Land, Explored by Captn. Furneaux in March 1773.
Date:
C1777
Mapmaker:
Condition:
Top corner with paper loss, reinstated, otherwise in good condition.
Technique:
Copper engraving.
Image Size:
143mm
x 228mm
Paper Size:
187mm
x 269mm
AUTHENTICITY
Genuine antique
dated:
1777
Description:
First edition, 1777 of the earliest British chart of Van Diemen’s land by Tobias Furneaux, from the official accounts of Cooks second voyage.
They had set sail on July 1772, Cook on the Resolution and Furneaux on the Adventure. The ships were separated in fog on 8 February 1773, consequently Furneaux made for the agreed rendezvous, at Queen Charlotte Sound, New Zealand. Enroute Furneaux directed his course for Van Diemen’s Land, sighting South West Cape on 9 March and becoming the first English vessel to retrace Tasman’s 1642 discoveries.
Sailing north on 15 March, Furneaux named St Patrick’s Head, St Helen’s Point, Bay of Fires and Eddystone Point, all on 17 March. Next day he noted ‘the land trenches away to the westward, which I believe forms a deep bay‘; it was, in fact, the entrance to Banks Strait. On this day islands were sighted, the land high and rocky, and the south-eastern point was named Cape Barren. He considered investigating whether a strait lay westward but decided to rejoin his commander and on 19 March the vessel ‘haul’d up for New Zealand’. Furneaux later declared that ‘it is my opinion that there is no strait between New Holland and Van Diemen’s Land’, a view he persuaded Cook to accept.
Adventure and Resolution were united in New Zealand in May 1773 and in August Furneaux re-visited Tahiti where the Tahitian Omai was taken on board. The vessels were again separated in October and Furneaux returned to England, arriving at Spithead in July 1774.
From, Cook, A Voyage Towards the South Pole, and Round the World, performed in His Majesty’s Ships the Resolution and Adventure, In the Years 1772, 1773, 1774, and 1775.
Tasmanian coastal features named by Furneaux:
Mutton Bird Isld.
9.3.1772. South West Cape. Descriptive of the type of birds seen in abundance here.
9.3.1773. Mewstone. Its location in relation to the rest of Tasmania.
9.3.1773. Prion Bay rocks there resembled.
9.3.1773. South East Cape. The bay is a breeding ground for the Antarctic prion (Pachyptila desolata) and Fairy prion (Pachyptila turtur).
9.3.1773. Swilly Islds. Its position.
11.3.1773. Eddystone Rock. After the home town of Furneaux, near Plymouth.
11. 3.1773. Adventure Bay. Resembled a lighthouse, which reminded Furneaux of Eddystone Lighthouse in England.
11.3.1773. Wineglass Bay. Named after HMS Adventure, which was anchored there. Named Storm Bay by Tasman, 1.12.1642, as he sheltered here during a storm on previous day. Map makers incorrectly marked present day Storm Bay as the place where Tasman sheltered and the name has been retained.
17.3.1773. St Patricks Head. Its shape.
17.3.1773. St Helens Pt / St Helens Isld. Discovered on St Patrick’s Day.
17.3.1773. Bay of Fires. Believed to be taken from St Helen’s, an uninhabited island in the Isles of Scilly. These islands, which form an archipelago off the south-westernmost tip of the United Kingdom, are near Furneaux’s birthplace, Swilly.
18.3.1773. Eddystone Point. Many fires seen along this shore.
18.3.1773. Lookout Heads. Resembled a lighthouse, which reminded Furneaux of Eddystone Lighthouse in England. Named Fleurieu Pt by Baudin, 28.2.1802, after Charles Claret de Fleurieu (1689-1755), French philosopher and publisher.
9.3.1773. Admiralty Channel. Used as a lookout.
9.3.1773. Cape Barren Island. After The British Admiralty, Furneaux’s employer.
9.3.1773. Cape Barren. The island upon which Cape Barren was located.
9.3.1773. Cone Pt. It appearance.
9.3.1773. Passage Isld. Furneaux. It appearance.
9.3.1773. Furneaux Group. Furneaux. its location in a passage.
9.3.1773. Long Pt. Cook. Its discoverer and expedition leader, Tobias Furneaux.
9.3.1773. Hummock Isld. Its shape.
9.3.1773. Endeavour Reef. Its shape. Captain Cook and William Bligh visited the area in March 1776 on James Cook’s third and final voyage of discovery in the Resolution and Discovery.
19.3.1773. Sister Islands (East and West) Two similar islands.s.
References:
Beddie, M. Bibliography of Captain James Cook, RN,FRS, Circumnavigator. Sydney 1970: 1336, p.252.
Tooley, R.V. The Mapping of Australia. London 1979 : 330.
Collections:
National Maritime Museum Greenwich: ID: PAI4073
David Rumsey Collection: List No: 3404.011
National Library Australia: Bib ID: 1825887
State Library New South Wales: Accession number 207.1990.3.a-kkk
James Cook (1728 - 1779)
Cook was the most important navigator of the Age of Enlightenment, a period that saw the mystery of the Southland resolved, the discovery of New Zealand, Hawaii, numerous Pacific Islands and confirmation that a Northwest Passage did not exist. Cook was born in Yorkshire, England, the son of a Scottish labourer and apprenticeship for three years under John Walker, a Quaker coal-shipper of Whitby. In 1755 Walker offered him a command, but instead Cook joined HMS Eagle and within a month was master's mate. After two years on the Channel service, he was promoted master of the Pembroke, and in 1758 crossed the Atlantic in her and took part in the siege of Louisburg and the survey of the St Lawrence River that led to the capture of Quebec. Returning to England in 1762 he married Elizabeth Batts (1742-1832?) of Shadwell, whom he was to rarely see in the ensuing years at sea. Cook then famously commanded three voyages that ended with his death on the island of Hawaii on 14 February 1779.
