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Cook's third voyage - an account by the assistant surgeon of the expedition

ELLIS, William.
An authentic narrative of a voyage performed by Captain Cook and Captain Clerke, in his majesty's ships Resolution and Discovery, during the years 1776, 1777, 1778, 1779 and 1780; in search of a North-West passage between the continents of Asia and America. Including a faithful account of all their discoveries, and the unfortunate death of Captain Cook.

With one folding engraved chart showing the tracks and discoveries in the Pacific Ocean made by Captain Cook and Captain Clerke and 21 full-page engraved plates showing natives from the Sandwich Islands, views of islands, natives in canoes, a Kamtschatka travelling in the winter and many more.

Second edition. London, G. Robinson, J. Sewell and J. Debrett, 1783. 2 vols. 8vo. Contemporary calf. With one folding engraved chart showing the tracks and discoveries in the Pacific Ocean made by Captain Cook and Captain Clerke and 21 full-page engraved plates showing natives from the Sandwich Islands, views of islands, natives in canoes, a Kamtschatka travelling in the winter and many more. (12), 358, (1); (4), 347, (4) pp.

Second edition of William Ellis's voyage as assistant surgeon on Captain Cook (1728-1779) and Captain Clerke's third voyage. On this third voyage the main goals were to investigate the coasts of the North Pacific. The ship Resolution sailed from Plymouth in July 1776, followed by the Discovery in August 1776 and met again at the Cape of Good Hope. From there they left together on the 30th November of the same year, sailing past the Prince Edward Islands to Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania). From Tasmania they sailed towards New Zealand and continued to travel northwards, discovering the Raratonga and the Cook Islands. They landed at Tahiti, where the whole crew rested for four months in preparation for the voyage north.
After sailing past Christmas Island for the first time, Cook and Clerke landed on the outer western islands of the Hawaiian Group and named them the Sandwich Islands. They left the islands and headed towards North America, Vancouver before returning to Hawaii. Cook and his men sailed along the coasts of Maui and Hawaii. On the island Hawaii the relationship with the natives deteriorated, resulting in the death of Captain Cook. This happened after they had gone ashore to seek out the natives who had stolen one of the longboats belonging to the Discovery. Cook received a blow from behind and was overpowered. From that moment on Captain Clerke was in command and the ships moved on to Petropavlovsk (in Kamschatka) and stayed there until the ships were fully restocked by the Russian commander.
Just after they left Petropavlovsk, Captain Clerke died of tuberculosis and two new captains were put in command, Captain King on the Discovery and Captain Gore on the Resolution. They sailed back to Petropavlosk and buried Clerke before the long voyage home. The first edition of Ellis's work was published two years before the official narrative. Clerke commended Ellis in his last letter written on his death bed to Sir Joseph Banks (1743-1820), a naturalist and patron of science who also joined Cook on his third voyage, but Ellis disappointed Banks by publishing his account of the voyage in contravention of Admiralty instructions to surrender all journals and logs. It appears that, needing money, Ellis sold his narrative to a bookseller for fifty guineas. Banks wrote to him, regretting his imprudence. Ellis's first edition account (1782) of Cook's death preceded Samwell's Narrative by four years (1786).
The fine plates illustrating the first and second edition are among the earliest published on the Hawaiian Islands, Alaska, and the Northwest.
The text of the second edition is closely reset from the first edition, with no noticeable textual alterations. There are several misprints in pagination in volume 1 and none in volume 2. All the engraved plates are the same as in the first edition.

Good set.- (Rebacked; first quire in first vol. loosening; contents of vol. 2 misbound).

Sabin 22333; Hill p. 95 & 265; Beddie 1600; Howego, Encycl. of exploration to 1800, C133 & C175; Forbes, Hawaiian Nat. Bibliogr. 41 & 49; Lada-Mocarski 39; Judd, Voyages to Hawaii 59; Kroepelien 400; O'Reilly & Reitman 428.

Related Subjects: America, North Asia Australia & New Zealand Cartography Cook Discovery & Exploration Exploration Hawaii Russia

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