The great Pacific Ocean, 1772

First printed map of Australia’s east coastline

My Voyage around the World

This is the first printed map to include Cook’s discoveries on Endeavour, 1768–1771. It was engraved in early 1772. No other copy exists in Australia and there is only one other in the world.

The chart was prepared for Joseph Banks and it is not clear why he arranged this. There is no evidence that it was ever formally published; rather, copies were made for Banks’s private use probably as a kind of prospectus for the proposed second voyage to the Southern Ocean.

Surprisingly, though, Cook’s major discovery that New Zealand was not part of a great southern landmass and his successful charting of the east coast of the Australian mainland are not features of this chart but, instead, a largely empty Pacific Ocean.

Banks had revelled in the botanical voyage of a lifetime on Endeavour and now had a burning ambition to undertake a second voyage. One theory is that, by visually demonstrating how much more there was to discover, this map bolstered his arguments. The Admiralty did mount a second voyage, again selecting Cook as leader. Banks demanded extensive alterations to the ship, to accommodate his entourage, to the extent that it almost toppled over. The Admiralty put its foot down and Banks went off in a huff.
The great Pacific Ocean, 1772

 

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