Cook Strait, New Zealand. Cook/Benard, Carte du Detroit de Cook dans la Nle. Zelande, 1774 (circa). Black & White. In 1768 Capt. James Cook sailed from England on his first round-the-world voyage, and after a year and a half sailing around Cape Horn to the Pacific Ocean, he sighted New Zealand's north island. On January 15, 1770 Cook's ship the Endeavour sailed into a deep water inlet surrounded by thick wooded hills, and anchored in a snug harbor where the ships was to be repaired, scraped, and caulked. After surveying the harbor, Cook declared it Queen Charlotte Sound and took possession of it in the name of the Crown. Upon climbing a high hill above the harbor, Cook saw that he was standing at the entrance to a strait, not a bight as Abel Tasman has assumed during his voyage of 1642. On February 7th, the Endeavour set sail through the strait to which Cook gave his own name. This fine sketch was brought back to London by Cook after the voyage, and shows Queen Charlotte Sound, Admiralty Bay, and Partie de Tavai Poe Nammoo on the south side of the strait. The north side of the strait is labeled Partie de Eaheino Mauwe, where the city of Wellington is now situated. Engraved by Benard and published in a French edition of Hawkesworth's "Voyages Around the World Undertaken by the Order of His Present Majesty..."

LITERATURE: Sabin #30943.

A nice impression, issued folding on a bright, sturdy sheet with a cross medallion watermark and toning along the top edge of the sheet. Grade: A

10.7 x 10.8 in