The map shows the three voyages of Captain James Cook. The first voyage is in red, the second voyage is in green and the third voyage is in blue. Following Cook’s death, the route his crew took is in the blue dashed line. (Credit: Andre Engels)

The second voyage of James Cook, from 1772 to 1775, commissioned by the British government with advice from the Royal Society, [1] was designed to circumnavigate the globe as far south as possible to finally determine whether there was any great southern landmass, or Terra Australis.

James Cook explored much of the Pacific Ocean, and became the first European to discover the Hawaiian Islands, already inhabited by Polynesians. Click on the world map to view an example of the explorer’s voyage. How to Use the Map.

As recorded by James Cook in A Voyage Towards the South Pole, and Round the World The Google map marks the voyage route plotted from coordinates recorded in Captain Cook's account of his second voyage from 1772-1775.

Jan 25, 2016 · Banks intended the map to highlight the achievements of the captain’s first voyage and promote Cook’s second expedition, illustrating regions yet to be explored including the Southern Ocean and polar regions.

First published in 1739, dated 1754 but bearing 1756 notes, this map is a good representation of the state of the myth of the Southern Continent in the decades before Cook’s second voyage.

Vancouver first joined Cook as an able seaman during the second voyage and was promoted to midshipman near the beginning of the third. Only three of his maps from the Cook voyages still exist, perhaps because his others went with him during his own voyage and were never returned.

His most important map is arguably Cook's 'Lost Chart,' a map of the north Atlantic published by William Faden containing more detailed information related to the Cook voyage as well as the first publication of Herne's discoveries along the Coppermine River.

The only manuscript maps drawn by Cook held in the Library are the 2 maps of Halifax Harbour, Nova Scotia, contained in MS 5. The map by James Burney of Van Diemen’s Land, contained in his 1773–74 journal, is the only manuscript map in the Library emanating from Cook’s three Pacific voyages.

Find out more about Captain James Cook's three epic voyages of discovery to the Pacific through original manuscripts, maps and rare printed images.