1774 Cook Nautical Map of the New Zealand's Cook Strait

French Edition of the First Chart of New Zealand's Cook Strait.

This is the 1774 first French edition of James Cook's landmark chart of Cook Strait, one of the most consequential maps produced from his first voyage to the Pacific (1768 - 1771). When Cook sailed through the passage between New Zealand's North and South Islands in 1770, he resolved a fundamental geographical question left unanswered since Abel Tasman's 1642 encounter with New Zealand: the two great landmasses were separated by a navigable strait. Centered on the passage that would bear Cook's name and the superb natural harbor of Queen Charlotte Sound (Totaranui), this chart records the exploration that transformed European understanding of New Zealand's geography.

A Closer Look

The chart covers Cook Strait from the southern North Island, labeled Partie d'Eahei Nomauwe, to the northern coast of the South Island, Partie de Tavai Poenammoo. Cook Strait dominates the center, while Queen Charlotte Sound - Canal de la Reine Charlotte - penetrates deeply into the South Island's intricate coastline. The map identifies Admiralty Bay, Cape Stephens, Cape Jackson, Cape Koamaroo, Cape Terawitte, Cloudy Bay, and numerous smaller islands, bays, and coastal features.

Queen Charlotte Sound receives a particularly detailed treatment. Cook's Endeavour entered the sound in January 1770, where the crew anchored, repaired and maintained the ship, replenished supplies, and explored the surrounding country. The chart records soundings, rocks, anchorages, islands, and the sound's complex channels, while pictorial mountains and vegetation suggest the rugged, heavily wooded landscape Cook and his men encountered.

The chart's importance extends beyond its nautical detail. Tasman encountered New Zealand in 1642 but never determined whether the waters between the North and South Islands formed a strait or merely a deep bay. From high ground overlooking Queen Charlotte Sound, Cook recognized evidence of an open passage; subsequent exploration confirmed it. When Endeavour sailed through Cook Strait in February 1770, Cook established that the two principal islands were separate landmasses and fundamentally revised European understanding of New Zealand.

The chart also illustrates the extraordinary thoroughness of Cook's first survey of New Zealand. Rather than simply making landfall and recording a few coastal points, Cook spent months circumnavigating and charting the islands. His surveys provided the foundation for European cartography of New Zealand for decades, making maps like this among the defining cartographic documents of Pacific exploration.

Cook's First Voyage and New Zealand

Cook's first Pacific voyage began in 1768, when he sailed aboard HMS Endeavor on an expedition officially charged with observing the 1769 Transit of Venus from Tahiti. After completing that mission, Cook opened sealed Admiralty instructions directing him to search the South Pacific for the conjectural southern continent, Terra Australis Incognita.

Cook reached New Zealand in October 1769. Over the following months he systematically explored its coastline, ultimately circumnavigating both principal islands. His surveys confirmed that New Zealand was not part of a vast southern continent and established the islands' essential outlines with remarkable accuracy.

Cook Strait was among the voyage's most important geographical discoveries. By proving the passage's existence, Cook both corrected the incomplete geography inherited from Tasman and showed that what Europeans had known as New Zealand comprised two principal islands. This chart focuses on the waters where that realization became geographical fact.

Publication History and Census

This map was engraved by Robert Bénard for the 1774 first French edition of John Hawkesworth's Relation des voyages entrepris par ordre de Sa Majesté britannique, actuellement regnante; pour faire des découvertes dans l'hémisphere méridional, published in Paris by Saillant et Nyon and Panckoucke. Bénard was among the foremost French engravers of the period and is particularly well known for his extensive work on Diderot and d'Alembert's Encyclopédie.

The chart derives from Cook's original survey. It follows the English engraving published with Hawkesworth's 1773 An Account of the Voyages Undertaken... for Making Discoveries in the Southern Hemisphere. The present Bénard engraving introduced Cook's revolutionary mapping of New Zealand to a French readership at a moment when European interest in Pacific exploration was intense.

Hawkesworth's account is well represented institutionally, although separately cataloged examples of its individual maps are considerably less common.

Cartographers

Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 - 14 February 1779) is a seminal figure in the history of cartography for which we can offer only a cursory treatment here. Cook began sailing as a teenager in the British Merchant Navy before joining the Royal Navy in 1755. He was posted in America for a time where he worked Samuel Holland, William Bligh, and others in the mapping of the St. Lawrence River and Newfoundland. In 1766 Cook was commissioned to explore the Pacific and given a Captaincy with command of the Endeavour. What followed were three historic voyages of discovery, the highlights of which include the first European contact with eastern Australia, the discovery of the Hawaiian Islands (among many other Polynesian groups), the first circumnavigation of New Zealand, some of the first sightings of Antarctica, the first accurate mapping of the Pacific Northwest, and ultimately his own untimely death at the hands of angry Hawaiians in 1779. The influence of Cook work on the mapping and exploration of the Pacific cannot be understated.   Further Details...

John Hawkesworth (c. 1715 - November 16, 1773) was an English born writer and editor born London. Hawkesworth, who is said to have been self educated, succeeded Samuel Johnson as the parliamentary debate compiler for "Gentleman's Magazine". He was a deeply religious and moral map who brilliant defense of morality earned him an LL. D degree from the Archbishop of Canterbury. Hawkesworth went on to publish a series of scholarly books and essays including a 12 volume edition of Jonathan Swift's work. In 1772 Hawkesworth was commissioned by the Admiralty to compile and edit James Cook's journals. The resultant work An Account of the Voyages undertaken ... for making discoveries in the Southern Hemisphere was one of the first ethnographic account of the South Seas and was widely published in England and abroad. Though highly influential, Hawkesworth's work received heavy criticism from scholars who claim that he liberally altered much of the text in the name of morality.   Further Details...

Robert Bénard (1734 - c. 1785) was a French engraver. Born in Paris, Bénard is best known for supplying a significant number of plates (at least 1,800) for the Encyclopédie published by Diderot and Alembert. He also is remembered for his work with the Académie des Sciences, most notably the Descriptions des Arts et Métiers   Further Details...

Source

Hawkesworth, J., Relation des voyages entrepris par ordre de Sa Majeste britannique, actuellement regnante; pour faire des decouvertes dans l'hemisphere meridional..., (Paris: Chez Saillant et Nyon... Chez Panckoucke, Hotel de Thou) 1774.    

Condition

Very good. Filled wormholes at centerfold not affecting printed image, else excellent with full margins.

References

OCLC 535498480.