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. 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. 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 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.
Rebacked, the first quire in the first volume is loosening, the contents of volume 2 are misbound. Overall in good condition. Beddie 1600; Forbes, Hawaiian Nat. Bibliogr. 41 & 49; Hill p. 95 & 265; Howego, Encycl. of exploration to 1800, C133 & C175; Judd, Voyages to Hawaii 59; Kroepelien 400; Lada-Mocarski 39; O'Reilly & Reitman 428; Sabin 22333.