He recommended that the attempt should be made in a
more southern latitude, and close along the northern coast of America, as
in that direction a better climate might be expected, and a longer season
by at least six weeks; and this recommendation, it is supposed, had its
weight with the admiralty in the instructions and discretionary powers
which they gave him.
We must now direct our attention to the southern polar regions. Geographers
and philosophers supposed that in this portion of the globe there must be
some continent or very large island, which would serve, as it were, to
counterbalance the immense tracts of land which, to the northward,
stretched not only as near the pole, as navigation had been able to
proceed, but also west and east, the whole breadth of Europe and Asia.
The second voyage of Captain Cook was planned and undertaken for the
express purpose of solving the question respecting the Terra Australis
which occupied the older maps. He sailed on this voyage in July 1772,
having under his command two ships, particularly well adapted and fitted up
for such a service, the Resolution and Adventure; he was accompanied by a
select band of officers, most of whom were not only skilful and experienced
navigators, but also scientific astronomers and geographers; there were
also two professed astronomers, two gentlemen who were well skilled in
every branch of natural history, and a landscape painter.
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