Mappemonde ou carte generale de l’Univers: sur une projection nouvelle d’une sphere ovale pour mieux entendre les distances entre l’Europe et Amerique, avec le tour du monde du Lieut. Cook et tous les decouvertes nouvelles ..

This large world map was one of the first to show the discoveries of the east coast of Australia and New Zealand by James Cook on his first voyage.

NOTE: The tracks of Cooks second voyage have been added in Manuscript.

Australia is shown awaiting  the discovery of Bass Strait by Bass and Flinders (1797) and the southern coast by Baudin and Flinders (1803). Following the great success of the published accounts of Cook`s first Earlier charting of Australia is shown with the Dutch discoveries of Hartog 1616, the van Leeuwin 1619, Nuyts 1627, de Wit 1628 and Tasman 1642-44. The Trial Islands near present-day Dampier, named after the English ship the Trial, which were incorrectly charted by Gerritsz after the false reports provided by Captain Brookes, are also noted (see below). On 30 July 1768, the Lords of the Admiralty signed Cook`s secret instructions for the voyage of the Endeavour . The instructions were in two parts, the second of which was sealed, only to be opened by Cook himself. The first task was to sail to Tahiti from where Cook and his crew were instructed to observe the Transit of Venus. The document included the request that ‘When this service is performed you are to put to Sea without loss of time, and carry into execution the Additional Instructions contained in the inclosed Sealed Packet`. The sealed instructions contained the Admiralty`s true reasons for supporting the voyage. In addition to observing the Transit of Venus, Cook was commanded to find the South Land, a ‘Land of great extent` that was thought to exist in the southern latitudes. The orders continued ‘You are to proceed… southward in order to make discovery of the Continent above-mentioned until you arrive in the latitude of 40°, unless you sooner fall in with it.’

TRIAL ISLANDS HISTORY / present Barrow Island, north west Western Australia.

On many early Dutch charts the Trial Islands are clearly marked, as their supposed discovery by Captain Brookes in 1622, placed them, directly in the path of VOC ships sailing to Batavia.

Their position caused great concern to Hessel Gerritsz who had been appointed the firs cartographer of the VOC in 1617 and quickly added the islands on Dutch charts. The island was named after Brookes ship the Trial, which had sailed for Java using the new sea route to the Indies pioneered by Brouwer in 1611. The Trial had struck unknown rocks on the night of 25th May 1622, and wrecked with only forty-six survivors including Captain Brookes. In his subsequent report to the VOC authorities in Batavia, Brookes stated that the rocks were well west of their true position in an attempt to avoid blame for his error. Soon after a Dutch ship, the Wapen van Hoorn, ran aground in a storm at the land of d’Eendracht but managed to sail after the storm abated. Concerned for the viability of their trade route, the VOC prioritised the accuracy of their charting of the region, with captains and pilots being required to record all shallows and reefs in the area. Due to their incorrect placement on the Gerritsz chart, the Trial Rocks remained a mystery for a further two hundred years until Phillip Parker King, sailing in the Mermaid, investigated their position in 1820 and finally confirmed that ‘there remains no doubt in my mind but that Barrow Island … are the same Tryal Rocks’.