The Resolution

Cook circled Antarctica, but ice surrounded it and prevented him from sighting land. The existence of the continent remained unproven until 1840.

In 1773 and 1774, Cook became the first European to visit a number of Pacific islands, including the Cook Islands and New Caledonia.

In 1774 James Cook's expedition visited Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy. Later his assistant, Charles Clark, was buried here. He got sick in the open sea and died. But before death, he desired to be buried " in this wonderful land, " as he had said about Kamchatka. His grave now is situated in the center of the town. Cook arrived back in England in July 1775 and was promoted to captain.

The final voyage. In July 1776, Cook set out with two ships, the Resolution and the Discovery, to look for the Northwest Passage, a possible northern sea route between Europe and Asia. Cook first sailed to New Zealand and other Pacific islands.

In January 1778, he became the first known European to reach the Hawaiian Islands. Cook named them the Sandwich Islands for the Earl of Sandwich, Britain's chief naval minister.

Later in 1778, Cook sailed to the northwest coast of North America. He was the first European to land on Vancouver Island in British Columbia.

Cook then continued up the coast, sailed through Bering Strait, and entered the Arctic Ocean. But walls of ice blocked the expedition, and so Cook headed back to the Sandwich Islands in August.

In February 1779, an islander stole a boat from the Discovery at Kealakekua Bay. Cook tried to investigate the theft but was stabbed to death in a fight with islanders on February 14. The expedition returned to England in October 1780.