VANCOUVER, George.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean, and Round the World; First edition of this celebrated circumnavigation, "one of the most important voyages for the history and cartography of the north-west coat [of the United States] in general and of Alaska in particular" (Lada-Mocarski)."Vancouver, who had served on Captain Cook's second and third voyages, was made commander of a grand-scale expedition... This voyage became one of the most important ever made in the interests of geographical knowledge" (Hill). Vancouver sailed by way of the Cape of Good Hope to Australia, where he discovered King George's Sound and Cape Hood, then to New Zealand, and Hawaii. On the northwest coast of America he surveyed the coast of California, visiting San Francisco, San Diego, and other Spanish settlements in Alta California before investigating the Strait of Juan de Fuca. He discovered the Strait of Georgia, circumnavigated Vancouver Island, and disproved the existence of any passage between the Pacific and Hudson Bay.In view of the difficulties he confronted, Vancouver's survey was remarkably accurate and "for the greater part of the nineteenth century his atlas was the only reliable authority for navigating the remoter parts of British Columbia and Alaska... Of all the men who served under Cook, Vancouver was the only one whose work as a hydrographic surveyor placed him in the same class as his mentor" (ODNB). He died before he could finish his account, which was completed by his brot

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