Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 10.djvu/204

Rh La Per- ouse. Bligh. Austra- ntzation. u 190 G E O (i It A P ll Y [PIKOGRESS OF DISCOVERY. in 1776, and Cook again took the route by the Cape of ' continued the work of Cook from Ram Head, and explored Good Hope. In 1777 he was at the Friendly group, and on January 18, 1778, he discovered the Sandwich Islands. He then proceeded to the North American coast, and. after a stay of a month in Nootka Sound, he proceeded north- wards, ﬁxed the position of the western extremity of America, and surveyed Behring Strait. On August 17, 1778, he I Captain Matthew Fliinlers. the strait which bears his name, and in 1798 he and Flinders were surveying the east coast of Van l)iemen’s Land. The planting of a colony at Port Jackson led to the despatch of an expedition to complete the exploration of the Australian coasts. The command was given to was stopped by the ice in 70° 41' N., and named the I vessel called the “Investigator,” and sailed from England farthest visible point on the American shore Icy Cape. then visited the Asiatic shore and discovered Cape North, bearing up on August 29 when he was in the 180th degree of longitude. ‘teturning to the Sandwich Islands, Captain Cook was murdered by the natives of Hawaii. On Febru- ary II, 1779, his second, Captain Clerke, took the com- mand, and proceeding to Petropaulowski in the following summer, he again examined the edge of the ice, but only got to 70° 33' N. The ships returned to England in October 1780. In 178.3 the French Government ﬁtted out a very carefully-prepared expedition of discovery at Brest, which was placed under the command of La Perouse, an accom- plished and experienced oﬂicer. After touching ht Con- cepcion in Chili, and at Easter Island, La Perouse proceeded to the Sandwich Islands, and thence to the coast of California, of which he has given a very interesting account. He then went across the Paciﬁc to Macao, and in July 1787 he proceeded to explore the Gulf of Tartary and the shores of Saghalien, remaining some time at Castries Bay, so named after the French minister of marine. Thence he went to the Kurile Islands and Kamchatka, and sailed from the far north down a meridian to the Navigator and Friendly Islands. He was in Botany Bay in January 1788 ; and sailing thence, the explorer, his ship, and crew were never seen again. Their fate was long uncertain. In September 1791 Captain ])’Entreeasteaux sailed from Brest with two vessels, to seek for tidings. He visited the New Hebrides, Santa Cruz, New Caledonia, and Salomon Islands, aml made careful though rough surveys of the Louisiade Archipelago, islands north of New Britain, and part of New Guinea. D’Entrecasteaux died on board his ship on July 20, 1793, without ascertaining the fate of La Perouse. It was Captain Peter Dillon who at length ascertained, in 1828, that the ships of La Perouse were wrecked on the island of Vanikoro during a hurricane. The work of Captain Cook bore fruit in many ways. IIis master, Captain Bligh, was sent in the “Bounty” to convey breadfruit plants from Tahiti to the West Indies. He reached Tahiti in October 1788, and in April 1789 a mutiny broke out, and he, with several ofﬁcers and men, was thrust into an open boat in mid-ocean. During the remarkable voyage he then made to Timor, Captain Bligh passed amongst the northern islands of the New Hebrides, which he named the Banks Group, and made several run- ning surveys. He reached England in March 1790. The “Pandora,” under Captain Edwards, was sentout in search of the “Bounty,” a11d discovered the islands of Cherry and Mitre, east of the Santa Cruz group, but she was eventually lost on a reef in Torres Strait. In 1796-97 Captain Wilson, in the missionary ship “Duff,” discovered the Gambier and other islands, and rediscovered the islands known to and seen by Quiros, but since called the Duﬂ” Group. Another result of Captain Cook’s work was the colonization of Australia. On January 18, 1788, Admiral 11«"-!10010- Phillip and Captain Hunter arrived in Botany Bay in the Supply” and “Sirius,” followed by six transports, and established a colony at Port Jackson. Surveys were then undertaken in several directions. In 1795 and 1796 M. Flinders and G. Bass were engaged on exploring work in a small boat called the “ Tom Thumb.” In 1797 Bass, who had been a surgeon, made an expedition southwards, I-le I on July 18, 1801. Commencing fron1 King Ge0rge’s Sound, Captain Flinders discovered and made a preliminary survey of all the south coast of Australia to Bass Strait, and the east coast from the barrier reef to Torres Strait, as well as the east coast of the Gulf of Carpcntaria. Flinders met the French expedition under Baudin a1i(lFi'ey'ci1iet with the two ships “ Géographe ” and “ Naturalistc,” which was en- gaged upon the same work. He was taken prisoner by the French_in 1804 and detained until 1810, so that his work did not appear before 1814. Yet another out-come of Captain Cook’s work was the Van- voyage of George Vancouver, who had served as a midshio- WIIWI man in Cook’s second and third voyages. The Spaniards under Quadra had commenced a survey of north—western America and occupied Nootka Sound, which their Govern- ment eventually agreed to surrender. Captain Vancouver was sent out to receive the cession, and to survey the coast from Cape Mendocino northwards. lie commanded the old “ Discovery,” and was at work during the seasons of 179;’, 1793, and 1794, wintering at the Sandwich Islands. le- turning home in 1795, he completed his narrative and very valuable series of charts, and died in 1798. The 18th century saw the Arctic coast of North America H udsc reached at two points, as well as the first scientiﬁc attempt ]_3“)’ 0' to reach the North Pole. The Hudson’s Bay Company had 1"my' been incorporated in 1670, and its servants soon extended their operations over a wide area to the north and west of Canada. In 1741 Captain Christopher Middleton was ordered to solve the question of a passage from Hudson’s Bay to the westward. Leaving Fort Churchill in July 1742 he stood northwards and discovered the Wager River and Repulse Bay, bearing up again on August 9. He was followed by Captain IV. Moor in 17-16, and Captain Coats in 1751, who examined the Wager Inlet up to the end. On November 6, 1769, Samuel Hearne was sent by the Hudson’s Bay Company to discover the sea on the north side of America, but was obliged to return. On February 23, 1770, he set out again from Fort Prince of Wales; but, after great hardships, he was again forced to return to the fort. He started once more on December 7,1771, and at length reached the Coppermine River, which he surveyed to its mouth, but his observations are very unreliable. With the same object of reaching the sea, Alexander Mackenzie, with a party of Canadians, set out from Fort Chepewyan on June 3, 1789, and descended a river which bears the explorer’s name. His account of the journey is even more unsatisfactory than that of Hearne. In February 1773 the Royal Society submitted a proposal Polar! to the king for an expedition to try how far navigation l’_1°‘""' was possible towards the Pole. The “Racehorse” and “Carcass” bombs were selected as best adapted for the service, and Captains Phipps and Lutwidge were appointed to command them. The expedition sailed on June 2, 1773, and sighted the coast of Spitzbergen 011 the 28th. Captain Phipps stood into every opening he could find in the ice, but was invariably stopped by a solid barrier. He ex- amined a line extending over twenty degrees of longitude, and found no opening in the heavy polar pack in any direc- tion. After a very careful and persevering examination of the ice, the expedition returned to England in September. The highest latitude reached was 80"_ 48’ N. But the most important Arctic work in the 18th century Was performed He was furnished with a Fviud