River Thames and Mercury Bay, New Zealand. Bay of Islands in New Zealand. Tolaga Bay in New Zealand.

Rare c.18th engraved map of the north-east coast of New Zealand’s North Island, River Thames, Mercury Bay, Tolaga Bay and the Bay of Islands, visited by Cook 22 October to 6 December 1769.

From the official British Admiralty sanctioned edition of the accounts of Cook’s second voyage. This is the first and most superior issue of Cook’s engravings.

Cook visited Tolaga Bay 22-30 October 1769 and replenished the ships water and fire wood. 

Sailing north, Cook found a large bay whose shores were lined with lush cultivated areas, and which he named Bay of Plenty. Anchoring on the west side of the Bay, Cook and an astronomer, Charles Green, who had accompanied the expedition, went ashore to observe the transit of Mercury across the Sun, and so Cook named the bay, Mercury Bay,  3 – 15 November 1769.

Cook then entered Firth of Thames on 20 November, 1769 and explored the area until 25th.

From Firth of Thames, Cook sailed to the Bay of Islands 30th November, 1769 and explored until 6 December.

From there, the Endeavour continued its north-westerly course along the coast until a river was sighted and Cook went ashore in what is now Firth of Thames.

River Thames and Mercury Bay. References; David (Hakluyt Society)1.216A, ill.p.214

Bay of Islands. References; David (Hakluyt Society)1.226A, ill.p.222

Tolaga Bay. References; David (Hakluyt Society)1.196A, ill.p.196

From Hawkesworth, An Account of the Voyages undertaken by the order of His Present Majesty for making Discoveries in the Southern Hemisphere…

First voyage: 1768-1771 Ship: HMS Endeavour  Rank: Lieutenant

Cook was chosen to lead an expedition to the South Seas to observe the transit of Venus, in preference to the Royal Society’s recommendation of Alexander Dalrymple. The Admiralty wisely chose Cook and promoted him from master to lieutenant and gave him command of the HMS Endeavour, a 368 tons converted collier. He sailed from Plymouth on 26 August 1768 with a complement of ninety-four, including Joseph Banks. They reached Tahiti on 13 April 1769 and made their observations and charted the islands.

Cook had also been given secret instructions just prior to his departure, to determine the existence of a southern continent which instructed him to sail to the portion of the north-west coast of the south island of New Zealand that had been discovered by Abel Tasman in December 1742. In August 1769, he charted the islands of New Zealand.

Further following his instructions Cook sailed westward towards the Southern Continent; ‘We sailed Westward until we fall in with the E coast of New Holland’. At 6 p.m. on 19 April 1770 Lieutenant Hicks sighted the south-east coast of Australia which was named after him. Cook then proceeded north, charting the coast and seeking a harbour where the Endeavour’s fouled bottom could be scraped. On 29 April he landed at ‘Stingray Bay’, where Banks and his naturalists collected so many botanical specimens that the anchorage was renamed ‘Botany Bay’. After a week they sailed again and landing at Bustard Bay (Seventeen Seventy, QLD) on May 1770. Further north Cook found himself in the treacherous waters of the Barrier Reef and on the 11th June the ship struck fast on a coral reef at high tide. Ballast, guns and decayed stores were thrown overboard and after three days she was beached and careened for repairs in the Endeavour River. Repairs and gales delayed them for seven weeks but, after rounding and naming Cape York, on 22 August at Possession Island, and took possession of the whole eastern coast, later adding the name, New South Wales, in his journal. Satisfied that New Guinea and New Holland were separate islands, he sailed for Batavia, arriving on 11 October. Repairs and refitting delayed his departure until 26 December, reaching England 13 July 1771.