Cook, James, and James King: [Douglas, John, editor]:

$30,000 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

A VOYAGE TO THE PACIFIC OCEAN, FOR MAKING DISCOVERIES IN THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE. PERFORMED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF CAPTAINS COOK, CLERKE, AND GORE, IN HIS MAJESTY'S SHIPS THE RESOLUTION AND ... A lovely set of the first edition of Cook's Third Voyage, with a note of presentation in the atlas volume by Captain James King: "Thomas Venables The gift of Captain King." King was the author of the third text volume in the set and the preparer of Cook's journals that comprise the first two text volumes. Venables was probably a member of an ancient Cheshire landowning family, later involved in early Australian settlement. King began Cook's final expedition as the expedition's astronomer and as a lieutenant on the Resolution, but by the end of the expedition had been promoted to command of the Discovery and second-in-command. "At the time of Cook's death at Hawaii (14 February 1779) King was on shore in charge of the observatory. He had with him only a few men, but was reinforced by some of a boat's crew who had been rowing off the mouth of the bay before the disturbance with the Hawaiians began. This brought the number of the party up to twenty-four, and fortifying themselves in a neighbouring heiau, or open-air temple, they succeeded in repelling the attack of the Hawaiians until they were relieved, two hours later, by the ships' boats" - DNB."Cook's third voyage was organized to seek the Northwest Passage and to return [the islander] Omai to Tahiti. Officers of the crew included Wil

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