Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
soon as possible. Before he could complete his preparations the local
people turned hostile. They attacked one of the ship's boats, killed
the occupants and made a feast of them on the beach. The effect on
their shipmates' morale was devastating. Though
Adventure
put to
sea soon afterwards and set off in the wake of the
Resolution,
her
crew had no stomach for further wanderings in the high latitudes.
Early in the new year she set course for the Cape - and home.
Cook, meanwhile, spent the summer looking for continents.
Twice he penetrated above the Antarctic Circle. In between he re-
turned to 45° midway between New Zealand and South America. He
found nothing but ice, fog and discomfort. In the midst of all this,
he fell seriously ill. For weeks his strength ebbed but he drove him-
self on. Then he collapsed with violent intestinal pains and seemed
close to death. All the skills of the ship's surgeon were needed to see
the crisis through. It was well into March 1774 before the captain
was restored to anything approaching full vigour but, at least, the
cold latitudes now lay behind.
Resolution
had once more entered the
tropics and was running north-west before the trade winds.
Cook had now crossed the southern Pacific from east to west
and south to north. He had made the first accurate observations of
the Antarctic pack ice. He had made several substantial corrections
to the charts - better readings of longitude; a more comprehensive
survey of Polynesia. It was, in all conscience, a mammoth achieve-
ment for one voyage. His subordinates may well have thought that
enough was enough. They had endured great hardships and made
important discoveries. They had now lost their consort and even
their captain's health had broken under the strain. Surely it was time
to pick up the normal homeward route via Batavia. No. Cook still
had other plans. He visited the Marquesas, returned to Tahiti, vis-
ited Tonga again, then Fiji and New Hebrides. But instead of continu-
ing westwards, he made for New Zealand yet again by way of New
Caledonia and Norfolk Island. Scores more names were added to the
