[A view of Endeavour River, on the coast…

Rare c.18th engraving of the first printed view of any part of the Australian east coast and the first of Queensland.

The first and earliest engraving depicting Cook’s ship, the Endeavour, careened at Endeavour River, Cooktown, Queensland. Additionally this the best engraving to depict the Endeavour.

This first issue was issued without a title, only later versions copied from this engraving have a printed titles.

The Endeavour, a converted collier, was chosen by Cook because of it’s flat-bottomed design, which allowed it to sail in shallow waters and to be beached for loading and unloading. Here it is shown careened for repairs near present day Cooktown, Queensland. On Cook’s seminal chart of the east coast he gives the name Labyrinth, to the maze of reefs now called the Great Barrier Reef.

‘In the morning of the 17th, though the wind was still fresh, we ventured to weigh, and push in for the harbour; but in doing this we twice run the ship aground.. In the morning of Monday the 18th, a stage was made from the ship to the shore, which was so bold that she floated at twenty feet distance.’ Cook, Journals I, 3, 556-7.

‘The next morning we went early to work, and by four o’clock in the afternoon had got out all the coals, cast the moorings loose, and warped the ship a little higher up the harbour to a place, which I thought most convenient for laying her ashore in order to stop the leak. …At eight o’clock, it being high-water, I hauled her bow ashore; but kept her stern afloat, because I was afraid if neiping her; it was however necessary to lay the whole of her as near the ground as possible.’ Thursday 21, June 1770. Cook, Journals I, 3, 559.

 From: Hawkesworth, John; Account of the voyages undertaken by the order of His present Majesty for making discoveries in the southern hemisphere