| In 1772 Cook set out once more with two ships, the Resolution and the Adventure. |
Cook's first voyage had been successful indeed, he had circum-navigated New Zealand, explored and charted the east coast of New Holland and confirmed the existence of Torres Strait.
But he hadn't yet discovered Terra Australis and still hadn't proved that Van Diemen's Land was not joined to New Holland.
Knowing the French existence in the area, he seriously wanted to get back to his explorations as soon as possible.
His orders were to search for the southern continent, sailing via the Cape of Good Hope, and, if the natives agreed, to take possession of it for the King.
He was to approach as near to the south pole as possible and to circumnavigate the world in the high latitudes, coming northward only for rest and refreshment.
In the course of this voyage Cook crossed the South Pacific in all directions and satisfied himself that if the southern continent existed, it was situated "so far to the south as to be wholly inaccessible on the account of ice".
During this voyage Furneaux in the Adventure made a survey of part of Tasmania but he too failed to determine whether or not it was joined to the mainland.
Cook's third voyage was to discover whether there was a navigable passage around the north of North America, a "north-west passage."
He was to go to the Pacific, by way of Cape of Good Hope and examine en route some islands found by the French Explorers Bouvet de Lozier and Yves Joseph de Kerguelin-Tremarec in their search for Gonneville Land, a French mythical land supposed to have been discovered towards the end of the 16th century by de Gonneville.
On this voyage Cook visited Van Diemen's Land, made a plan of Adventure Bay, and corrected Furneaux's chart in some minor details.
It was while engaged on this voyage that Cook met his death at Hawaii in February 1779.
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