Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 2).djvu/235



English voyages of discovery, 1690-1779—Dampier—Anson—Byron—Wallis and Carteret—Captain Cook—His first voyage, in the Endeavour—Second voyage, in the Resolution—Third voyage—Friendly, Fiji, Sandwich, and other islands—His murder—Progress of the North American colonies—Commercial jealousy in the West Indies—Seven Years' War, 1756-1763—Its effect on the colonies—Unwise legislative measures—Effect of the new restrictions—Passing of the Stamp Act—Trade interrupted—Non-intercourse resolutions—Recourse to hostilities—Position of the colonists—Fisheries—Shipping of North American colonies, 1769—Early registry of ships not always to be depended on—Independence of United States acknowledged, May 24, 1784—Ireland secures various commercial concessions—Scotch shipping—Rate of seamen's wages—British Registry Act, Aug. 1, 1786—American Registry Act—Treaty between France and England, 1786—Slave trade and its profits—Trade between England and America and the West Indies re-opened.—Changes produced by the Navigation Laws consequent on the separation—New disputes—English Orders in council—Negotiations opened between Mr. Jay and Lord Grenville—Tonnage duties levied by them.

In a former portion of this work attention has been directed to the remarkable discoveries of Columbus, Vasco da Gama, Cabot, Drake, Chancellor, and others. It is now proposed to furnish a very brief sketch of a few of the voyages of discovery of a later period—expeditions of which England has an especial reason for being proud, in that they greatly extended the