Resolution and Discovery in Ship Cove, Nootka Sound, by John Webber, 1778
CH 5: 3rd Pacific Voyage
In Search of a Northwest Passage
The mission of Cook’s third voyage to the Pacific Ocean was to find, if it existed, a western outlet of the Northwest Passage. Given the fact that the Hudson Bay Company’s Samuel Hearne had made voyages overland from Hudson Bay that dispelled prospects of a Northwest Passage in those more southerly latitudes, all reasoning seemed to suggest a waterway somewhat higher. Russian charts suggested an opening in 65 degrees North latitude, and that is what Cook decided on, writing his own instructions.
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