| | In August 1768, James Cook and Joseph Banks set out from Deptford Yards, Britain, on Cook’s First Pacific Voyage. In April 1769, they reached Tahiti. This site is devoted to the journals that Cook and Banks kept during their explorations of the island. It combines an extensive collection of their journals with maps of their voyage and historical documents relating to the voyage, including John Hawkesworth’s “Particular Description of the Island (of Tahiti),” and two Royal Society of London documents on geographical observations. The “Journals” section contains the bulk of the site’s material. It presents a comparison of Bank’s and Cook’s journals, and Hawkesworth’s 1773 account drawn from these journals for each day from April 13, 1769, to July 16, 1769. The “Maps” section is small, but presents six of Hawkesworth’s original maps tracking the Endeavour voyages. Note that this site is only a prototype of the final edition of the journals and that it is currently expanding. In spring and summer 2003, more of Cook’s, Bank’s, and Hawkesworth’s materials will be made accessible and an images section will be created.
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