A vocabulary of the language at King Georges Sound

from the log and journal of HMS Resolution, 1778
Manuscript
Bequest of Sir William Dixson, 1952
DLMS 98

Cook’s third and final voyage was an attempt to locate the North-West Passage, an ice-free sea route which linked the Atlantic to the Pacific. After a year among the islands of the South Pacific, the expedition sailed north to explore the northwest coast of America to the Arctic Circle. On this part of the voyage, he spent a month in Nootka Sound, also called King George’s Sound, in what is now the Canadian province of British Columbia. While there, he traded with the indigenous Nuu-chah-nulth people, and it is their language which King records in this journal.

James King served as second lieutenant on this voyage. The journal entries pre-date Cook’s death in Hawaii in 1779.