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This series includes accounts, by eye-witnesses and contemporaries, of voyages by Europeans to the Americas, Asia, Australasia and the Pacific during the colonial period. Driven by the military and commercial interests of powers including Britain, France and The Netherlands, particularly the East India Companies, these expeditions brought back a wealth of information on climate, natural resources, topography, and distant civilisations. Their detailed observations provide fascinating historical data for climatologists, ecologists and anthropologists, and the accounts of the mariners' experiences on their long and dangerous voyages are full of human interest.

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112 results in Cambridge Library Collection - Maritime Exploration

Page 5 of 6

A Voyage to the South Atlantic and Round Cape Horn into the Pacific Ocean
  • For the Purpose of Extending the Spermaceti Whale Fisheries, and Other Objects of Commerce
  • James Colnett
  • Published online:
    05 May 2013
    Print publication:
    07 June 2012
    First published in:
    1798
  • British naval officer James Colnett (1753–1806) served on many voyages during his career. He was a midshipman on Captain Cook's second voyage, and in 1774, he was first to sight New Caledonia, which led to Cook naming Cape Colnett after him. Later in his career, he was in command of the fur-trading expedition that resulted in the Nootka Crisis and near-war between Spain and England. In this book, first published in 1798, Colnett gives an account of the voyage he commanded to the Antarctic in 1793. The expedition's success at charting suitable places for ships to anchor was instrumental to the development of the whaling industry in the area. This book contains accounts and maps of the islands and coastlands visited during the expedition. Among the islands visited were the Galapagos Islands, and Charles Darwin is known to have had a copy of this book on HMS Beagle.

A Memoir of Sebastian Cabot
  • With a Review of the History of Maritime Discovery
  • Richard Biddle
  • Published online:
    05 May 2013
    Print publication:
    28 June 2012
    First published in:
    1831
  • Richard Biddle (1796–1847), an American politician and lawyer, published this work on the life of the explorer and cartographer, Sebastian Cabot (c.1481–1557), anonymously in 1831. He was responding to widespread criticisms of Cabot - allegedly an unscrupulous character who played the governments of England and Spain to his own ends. The work includes notes on Sebastian's discoveries on the North American continent along with his father, John, and his search for the North-West Passage. As a governor of the Muscovy Company, Cabot initiated the expansion of English trade to Russia and the East. Cabot's own accounts of his journeys have been lost; therefore, Biddle's research is derived from other sources, particularly the writings of Richard Hakylut (c.1552–1616). This study was recognised at the time as the best review of the history of maritime discovery in the period treated, and prompted further research into the Cabot legacies.

The Life of Captain James Cook
  • Andrew Kippis
  • Published online:
    05 February 2013
    Print publication:
    02 February 2012
    First published in:
    1788
  • The dissenting minister Andrew Kippis (1725–95) was a Member of the Society of Antiquaries and of the Royal Society. With this work of 1788, he was the first biographer of Captain James Cook (1728–79), although several of Cook's colleagues, including Johann Reinhold Forster in 1778 and David Samwell in 1786, had previously published memoirs of their service with him. Believing that 'his public transactions ... are the grand objects to which the attention of his biographer must be directed', Kippis draws on the official Admiralty accounts of Cook's voyages and focuses on his professional life. The book was criticised at the time for failing to convey Cook's personality and motivation, stressing his achievements without putting them in context. However, it remained the only biography for forty years, and shaped public perception of Cook as a brilliant navigator and commander, a fearless explorer and an exemplary British hero.

Narrative of a Voyage to the Southern Atlantic Ocean, in the Years 1828, 29, 30, Performed in HM Sloop Chanticleer
  • Under the Command of the Late Captain Henry Foster
  • Volume 2
  • W. H. B. Webster
  • Published online:
    05 December 2012
    Print publication:
    29 December 2011
    First published in:
    1834
  • W. H. B. Webster (1793–1875) studied medicine and surgery in London, and in 1815 signed up to serve in the Royal Navy as an assistant surgeon. Because it was peacetime, however, he did not secure a position until 1828, when he was posted as ship's surgeon on the South Atlantic scientific mission of HMS Chanticleer under Captain Henry Foster (1796–1831), a Fellow of the Royal Society with extensive experience of surveying expeditions. Published in 1834, this is Webster's two-volume account of the Chanticleer voyage, the objectives of which included work on longitudes, and carrying out gravity pendulum experiments at various latitudes to attempt more accurate calculation of the shape of the earth. Volume 2 describes Central America and Panama, where, after successfully completing longitude measurements using rockets, Captain Foster tragically drowned. The second half of the volume summarises the scientific observations made during the voyage, and contains the cumulative index.

The Life of Captain Matthew Flinders, R.N.
  • Ernest Scott
  • Published online:
    05 December 2012
    Print publication:
    29 December 2011
    First published in:
    1914
  • Matthew Flinders (1774–1814) joined the Royal Navy at fifteen, later claiming to have been inspired by Robinson Crusoe. He served under William Bligh, and charted the Bass Strait in 1798. In 1801 he was commissioned to chart 'New Holland', and so became the first to circumnavigate the island he referred to as Australia. After being shipwrecked on the Barrier Reef and imprisoned for six years on Mauritius on suspicion of spying, he returned to England in 1810 and began work on A Voyage to Terra Australis. He died the day after his book and maps were published. This biography, published in 1914 to mark the centenary of his death, was the first comprehensive study of this central figure of Australian maritime exploration. The leading Australian historian Ernest Scott (1868–1939) based his account on material held in private collections in France as well as on documents deposited in Australian libraries.

Narrative of a Voyage to the Southern Atlantic Ocean, in the Years 1828, 29, 30, Performed in HM Sloop Chanticleer
  • Under the Command of the Late Captain Henry Foster
  • Volume 1
  • W. H. B. Webster
  • Published online:
    05 December 2012
    Print publication:
    29 December 2011
    First published in:
    1834
  • W. H. B. Webster (1793–1875) studied medicine and surgery in London, and in 1815 signed up to serve in the Royal Navy as an assistant surgeon. Because it was peacetime, however, he did not secure a position until 1828, when he was posted as ship's surgeon on the South Atlantic scientific mission of HMS Chanticleer under Captain Henry Foster (1796–1831), a Fellow of the Royal Society with extensive experience of surveying expeditions. Published in 1834, this is Webster's two-volume account of the Chanticleer voyage, the objectives of which included work on longitudes, and carrying out gravity pendulum experiments at various latitudes to attempt more accurate calculation of the shape of the earth. Volume 1 covers the first two years of the voyage, and records Webster's impressions of South America, South Shetland (including some of the earliest scientific experiments in the Antarctic), South Africa, St Helena and Ascension Island.

The Narrative of a Voyage of Discovery, Performed in His Majesty's Vessel the Lady Nelson … in the Years 1800, 1801, and 1802, to New South Wales
  • James Grant
  • Published online:
    05 October 2012
    Print publication:
    24 November 2011
    First published in:
    1803
  • In 1800–2 the naval officer James Grant (1772–1833) sailed to Australia on board the Lady Nelson, a surveying ship that was the first in England to be built on the sliding-keel principle. In this 1803 publication, Grant assesses the merits of the design and documents various teething problems experienced during the voyage from England to Australia. He describes his stay at Cape Town, and his favourable impression of the living standard of the deported convicts at Sydney, which he found better than that of poor people in England. Grant records his experiences on the coast of New South Wales, his encounters with the Aborigines there, and the presence of coal deposits on the Hunter River, and even reports that the cabra grub is 'no bad apology for a better meal'. He also describes his return journey via Cape Horn, during which he was becalmed in the South Atlantic.

Narrative of the Voyage of HMS Samarang, during the Years 1843–46
  • Employed Surveying the Islands of the Eastern Archipelago
  • Volume 1
  • Edward Belcher
  • Appendix by Arthur Adams
  • Published online:
    05 April 2012
    Print publication:
    30 June 2011
    First published in:
    1848
  • Sir Edward Belcher (1799–1877) was a British naval officer who served as surveyor on several long voyages in the Atlantic and Pacific. Published in 1848, this two-volume account, interspersed with charts and illustrations, was the second of his journals to appear in print, and appealed to Victorian readers' enthusiasm for books on exploration, natural history, ethnology and adventure. Volume 1 combines reports on navigation and encounters with pirates with vivid descriptions of coral reefs, villages and temples. It describes the topography and inhabitants of exotic locations including Borneo, Manila, Singapore and Korea, and visits to sultans, rajahs and governors. It also documents the expedition's gathering of practical and strategic information on subjects including reliable water supplies, the goldmines of Sarawak and the quality of coal available for naval steamships.

Narrative of the Voyage of HMS Samarang, during the Years 1843–46
  • Employed Surveying the Islands of the Eastern Archipelago
  • Volume 2
  • Edward Belcher
  • Appendix by Arthur Adams
  • Published online:
    05 March 2012
    Print publication:
    30 June 2011
    First published in:
    1848
  • Sir Edward Belcher (1799–1877) was a British naval officer who served as surveyor on several long voyages in the Atlantic and Pacific. Published in 1848, this two-volume account, interspersed with charts and illustrations, was the second of his journals to appear in print, and appealed to Victorian readers' enthusiasm for books on exploration, natural history, ethnology and adventure. In Volume 2, Belcher recounts dramatic episodes on his return journey to England from Japan via Hong Kong and Mauritius. This volume incorporates an engaging, and sometimes alarming, commentary on flora and fauna provided by the ship's surgeon, Arthur Adams, in which readers are introduced to spectacular species of spiders, fish and snakes, as well as sensational descriptions of shrunken heads. It also includes a 30-page vocabulary chart, introduced by Ernest Adams, listing English words and their equivalents in Spanish and ten Asian languages.

A Voyage round the World, Performed by Order of His Most Christian Majesty, in the Years 1766–1769
  • Louis de Bougainville
  • Translated by John Reinhold Forster
  • Published online:
    05 March 2012
    Print publication:
    25 August 2011
    First published in:
    1772
  • This is an English translation from 1772 of the famous Voyage Autour du Monde (1771) by Louis de Bougainville (1729–1811), French admiral and explorer. The contemporary fascination with global circumnavigation created demand for this translation by John Reinhold Forster (1729–98), which includes many annotations and comments from the translator himself on de Bougainville's observations. Describing all of de Bougainville's adventures on the voyage (which took place between 1766 and 1769) as well as his descriptions of local flora and fauna, the gripping tale includes such interesting passages as the unmasking of the botanist's valet as a woman (the first known to have circumnavigated the globe); de Bougainville's famous descriptions of Tahitian society; and graphic descriptions of the discomforts and perils of sea voyaging in the eighteenth century. It includes a copy of the original eighteenth-century plot of the route, and several plates representing original sketches from the trip.

Narrative of the Surveying Voyage of HMS Fly
  • During the Years 1842–1846
  • Volume 2
  • Joseph Beete Jukes
  • Published online:
    05 March 2012
    Print publication:
    11 May 2011
    First published in:
    1847
  • Joseph Beete Jukes (1811–1869) was a geologist who studied at St John's College, Cambridge under Adam Sedgwick (1785–1873) and, after many field expeditions in England, was appointed to a survey of Newfoundland in 1839. In 1841 he joined the H.M.S. Fly as a naturalist for an upcoming expedition to chart the coasts of Australia and New Guinea. He also made some inland investigations on Java before returning to England in 1846. The following year he published this two-volume account of his journey. Blackwood's Magazine described Jukes' work as 'scientific without being abstruse, and picturesque without being extravagant, [Jukes] has made his volumes a striking and graceful addition to our knowledge of countries highly interesting in themselves'. Volume 2 focuses mainly on Java, where Jukes visited sugar and coffee plantations and industrial sites. The appendixes contain vocabulary lists for several indigenous languages, and notes on marine life and snakes.

A Voyage round the World, Performed in the Years 1785, 1786, 1787, and 1788, by the Boussole and Astrolabe
  • Volume 2
  • Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse
  • Edited by L. A. Millet-Mureau
  • Published online:
    05 March 2012
    Print publication:
    02 June 2011
    First published in:
    1799
  • Jean François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse (1741–88) was a French explorer appointed by Louis XVI to lead an expedition to explore the Pacific Ocean, which ended in disaster when in 1788 the ships left Botany Bay in Australia on course for the islands of Oceania, and were never heard from again. However, La Pérouse had sent back via a British ship letters, journals and charts which form the basis of these detailed volumes (first published in English translation in 1799), providing a fascinating account of the journey and the discoveries of the expedition. They provide valuable insights into the social and political context of contemporary scientific naval expeditions. Volume 2 contains a description of the remainder of the voyage to Botany Bay, navigational tables showing the route of the expedition and ethnological notes concerning the indigenous inhabitants of California and Easter Island.

A Voyage round the World, Performed in the Years 1785, 1786, 1787, and 1788, by the Boussole and Astrolabe
  • Volume 1
  • Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse
  • Edited by L. A. Millet-Mureau
  • Published online:
    05 March 2012
    Print publication:
    02 June 2011
    First published in:
    1799
  • Jean François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse (1741–88) was a French explorer appointed by Louis XVI to lead an expedition to explore the Pacific Ocean, which ended in disaster when in 1788 the ships left Botany Bay in Australia on course for the islands of Oceania, and were never heard from again. However, La Pérouse had sent back via a British ship letters, journals and charts which form the basis of these detailed volumes (first published in English translation in 1799), providing a fascinating account of the journey and the discoveries of the expedition. They provide valuable insights into the social and political context of contemporary scientific naval expeditions. Volume 1 contains a short biography of La Pérouse, copies of documents concerning the planning and provision of the expedition and a description of the voyage across the Pacific Ocean as far as Korea.

Crozet's Voyage to Tasmania, New Zealand, the Ladrone Islands, and the Philippines in the Years 1771–1772
  • Julien Marie Crozet
  • Edited and translated by H. Ling Roth
  • Preface by James R. Boosé
  • Published online:
    05 March 2012
    Print publication:
    03 May 2011
    First published in:
    1891
  • Published in 1891, Henry Roth's translation of Crozet's narrative provided the first English account of the infamous French expedition to the South Pacific. The ship left France in 1771 under the command of Marion De Fresne (1724–1772). After exploring Tasmania (the first Europeans to do so), De Fresne's party set out for New Zealand, arriving shortly after Captain Cook. Crozet (1728–1782), took over command of the expedition when De Fresne and twenty-six crew members were killed and allegedly eaten by local Maori in the Bay of Islands. While much of the book is concerned with the exploration of New Zealand, Roth's translation begins with the origins of the expedition, the journey through the Pacific islands, and Tasmania and the discovery of people there, ending with descriptions of Guam and Manila. The work also includes a preface and discussion of the literature of New Zealand by James R. Boosé.

Journal of a Cruise among the Islands of the Western Pacific
  • Including the Feejees and Others Inhabited by the Polynesian Negro Races, in Her Majesty's Ship Havannah
  • John Elphinstone Erskine
  • Published online:
    05 December 2011
    Print publication:
    02 May 2011
    First published in:
    1853
  • John Elphinstone Erskine (1805–87) was a naval officer who served as a naval commander during the Crimean War, as well as patrolling the West Indies and the Mediterranean. He also wrote several well-received accounts of voyages around the Pacific. As a Liberal MP later in life, he was an outspoken campaigner for the rights of Pacific islanders. This 1853 book is a genial narration of his visits to islands such as Fiji and Samoa. Written in a lyrical and affectionate style, the account covers the culture, religion and health of the native populations. Subjects discussed include local religion, cannibalism, gender relations and tribal wars. Rich with descriptive detail and paying special attention to the welfare of the local people and their varied encounters with white explorers, the text also includes the moving and detailed journal of an Englishman, John Jackson, who was stranded on Fiji for two years.

A Voyage Round the World, in the Gorgon Man of War; Captain John Parker
  • Mary Ann Parker
  • Published online:
    05 December 2011
    Print publication:
    09 September 2010
    First published in:
    1795
  • In 1791, Mary Ann Parker accompanied her husband, Captain John Parker, on a voyage to deliver supplies to New South Wales. A Voyage Round the World, in the Gorgon Man of War (1795) records their travels past the Cape of Good Hope to New South Wales and back, offering valuable insights into late eighteenth-century colonialism, trade, and slavery, as well as the social worlds of Europeans who made careers in the business of empire. Written on subscription following the death of her husband, Parker's travelogue also offers poignant witness to the conditions for women's authorship at the close of the eighteenth century. As she assures her readers, 'nothing but the greatest distress could ever have induced her to solicit beneficence in the manner she has done, for the advantage of her family'. Engaging and observant, Parker's book is an important addition to the canon of early women's travel writing.

A Voyage in the 'Sunbeam'
  • Our Home on the Ocean for Eleven Months
  • Annie Brassey
  • Published online:
    05 November 2011
    Print publication:
    28 October 2010
    First published in:
    1878
  • Annie, Lady Brassey (1839–1887) was an English travel writer and philanthropist best known for her vivid accounts of ocean journeys undertaken with her family. Her husband was a Civil Lord of the Admiralty who made many ocean voyages by steam yacht to test this new technology. Annie Brassey's description of these travels led to her becoming a best-selling author. This volume, first published in 1878, contains her lively and detailed account of her family's circumnavigation in the Sunbeam, the first circumnavigation of the world by a steam yacht. Written in the form of a diary and based on letters sent to her father, this volume mixes exotic descriptions with lively accounts of domestic life on board, and was immensely popular. The book illustrates the attitudes of middle-class Victorians to exotic locations and cultures. For more information on this author, see http://orlando.cambridge.org/public/svPeople?person_id=brasan

Observations Made During a Voyage Round the World
  • On Physical Geography, Natural History, and Ethnic Philosophy
  • John Reinhold Forster
  • Published online:
    07 October 2011
    Print publication:
    02 June 2011
    First published in:
    1778
  • John Reinhold Forster (1729–98), a scientific writer and translator of German origin, took part in Cook's second Pacific voyage, from 1772 to 1775, and published this study, which records his examinations of 'nature in its greatest extent; the earth, the sea, the air, the organic and animated creation', in 1778. He drew upon the ideas of 'the most ingenious men of the age' in constructing his observations on natural history and navigation. The first half of the book addresses the physical aspects of the world: earth and land, oceans, global changes and flora and fauna. The second half focuses on the anthropological origins of the people of the southern seas. The book was originally written as a popular travel narrative, and it remains an important publication which will appeal to readers interested in historical geography, zoology, ethnology, astronomy and travel writing.

Narrative of a Voyage to the Pacific and Beering's Strait
  • To Co-operate with the Polar Expeditions: Performed in His Majesty's Ship Blossom, under the Command of Captain F. W. Beechey in the Years 1825, 26, 27, 28
  • Volume 1
  • Frederick William Beechey
  • Published online:
    07 October 2011
    Print publication:
    01 May 2011
    First published in:
    1831
  • Frederick William Beechey (1796–1856), naval officer and hydrographer, was born into a family of artists, joined the Navy at a young age and went on to travel the world to survey coastlines and oceans. He published several accounts of his expeditions to destinations including the Arctic and Africa. This two-volume work, first published in 1831, describes his voyage as commander of the Blossom in 1825–1828. The ship's mission was to support the exploration of the North-West Passage by travelling eastwards via the Bering Strait to meet the explorers Sir John Franklin and Sir Edward Parry who were travelling west from the North Atlantic. Volume 1 records Beechey's outward journey via Cape Horn, his visits to Pitcairn Island, where he met the last surviving Bounty mutineer and documented his story (retold in Chapters 3 and 4), Tahiti, and Hawai'i, and his first season exploring the Bering Strait.

A Chronological History of the Discoveries in the South Sea or Pacific Ocean
  • Volume 2, From the Year 1579, to the Year 1620
  • James Burney
  • Published online:
    07 October 2011
    Print publication:
    09 December 2010
    First published in:
    1806
  • Captain James Burney (1750–1821), the son of the musicologist Dr Charles Burney and brother of the novelist Fanny Burney, was a well-travelled sailor, best known for this monumental compilation of voyages of discovery in the Pacific Ocean. After joining the navy in 1764, he sailed on Cook's second voyage between 1772 and 1774, and was also present on the ill-fated third voyage. He retired from the navy in 1784 and turned to writing works on exploration. These volumes, published between 1803 and 1817, and regarded as the standard work on the subject for much of the nineteenth century, contain collected accounts of European voyages of discovery in the Pacific Ocean between 1492 and 1764. Burney provides summaries of Spanish, Dutch and English accounts, which include descriptions of voyages to China, Micronesia and Australia. Volume 2 covers voyages between 1579 and 1620, including that of Sir Richard Hawkins.

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