Early Mapping of the Pacific by Thomas Suarez

Author:Thomas Suarez
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781462906970
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing

Fig. 129. The southern Tonga Islands as mapped by James Cook on his second voyage, published in 1777. [Lahaina Printsellers, Ltd]

Next they embarked upon the first of two southern sweeps through the central and eastern Pacific in search of the austral continent. Just as the Resolution cleared the Cook Strait, one of her chronometers gave out, though the one built on Harrison's design continued to be reliable. They gently zig-zagged east through 133° W longitude, but not having found any continent Cook turned north, skirted the Tuamotus, and reached Tahiti.

Since many of the crew were sick and in urgent need of fresh food and rest, Cook first anchored in closer Vaitepiha Bay rather than Matavai Bay. He found the island beset by internal warring— his own presence figured into the indigenous politics, as did the effects of intervening European voyages, notably one out of Peru. Spain was alarmed at the discovery of a fruitful island in what it still considered its private ocean, and indeed the plethora of undetermined south Pacific Spanish landfalls on charts has been used to "prove" earlier Spanish discovery of Tahiti.

Supplies in Vaitepiha being disappointing, Matavai became their destination after a week, and after that the neighboring islands of Huahine and Raiatea. Cook noted an error on his earlier chart's delineation of Raiatea and corrected it.

In order to "avoid the tracks of former Navigators" and to investigate islands discovered by Tasman over a century earlier, Cook sailed west for Tonga. Ironically, a principal impetus in Cook's actions was a book written by the man who, had history played itself out at a different moment, would have led these expeditions rather than Cook, and the man whose dreams of an attractive southern continent Cook was presently debunking— Alexander Dalrymple. Dalrymple's Historical Collection of Voyages provided Cook a record of the voyages of Quiros and Tasman, among others, along with Dalrymple's own opinions as to the locations and identities of various discoveries.

Sailing generally west, after a week he sighted Maupiti, the westernmost of the Society group. On September 23, an island was discovered in about the spot where Dalrymple's volume placed an island Quiros had named La Dezena, but Cook, probably correctly, doubted Dalrymple's interpretation. This was Hervey Island, part of the group now named for Cook. A week later, an island was sighted which was correctly identified as the Middelburg ('Eua) of Tasman, and the following day, sailing just south of it, Tasman's Amsterdam (Tongatapu).

The Tonga Islands were discovered relatively early. The northernmost extreme of the Tongas had been seen by Le Maire in 1616. Tasman had enjoyed his visit to the southern isles in 1643, and Wallis skirted the archipelago on the north in 1767. Cook now began the formal mapping of the archipelago. The map he produced (Fig. 129) was rougher than his other efforts, even Tongatapu and 'Eua being depicted rudimentarily. But Tonga was more of a challenge than Tahiti and less of a priority than New Zealand.

'Eua was the first of the group Cook visited.

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