(formerly Raleigh, Marquis of Rockingham) Bark (3m).
L/B/D:
97.3 × 28.4 × 13.2 dph (39.7m × 8.7m × 4m). Tons:
336 tons. Hull:
wood. Comp.:
81. Built:
Fishburn, Whitby, Eng.; 1771.
Within a few months of his return from his first voyage to the South Seas in
HMS Endeavour, James Cook—newly promoted to Commander—was assigned to undertake a second voyage to determine the existence of a southern continent, or Terra Australis, long hypothesized by navigators and geographers. As this would entail an extensive survey of the southern ocean, he was given two ships,
Resolution, the flagship, and Adventure, which sailed under command of Commander Tobias Furneaux, a veteran of Captain Samuel Wallis's 1766-68 circumnavigation in
HMS Dolphin. Like Endeavour and Resolution, Adventure was originally a North Sea collier rigged as a bark; she was rerigged by the navy following her purchase in 1771.
The two ships departed from Plymouth on July 13, 1772, and remained in company for seven months, stopping at the Azores, Cape Verde Islands, and Cape Town. In November they departed Cape Town and sailed south. After cruising among the ice fields, the two ships crossed the Antarctic Circle on January 17, 1773, reaching as far south as 67°15S. On February 8 the two ships separated in a fog, and by prior arrangement Furneaux turned Adventure for New Zealand, about 4,200 miles away. They called first at Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania)—visited by Abel Tasman in
Heemskerck and Zeehaen in 1642—and charted the southern coast, although they failed to realize that it was an island and not part of New Holland (Australia). (Adventure Bay takes its name from the ship, and Cook named the Furneaux Islands northeast of Tasmania on his third expedition in Resolution and
Discovery.)
Adventure arrived in Queen Charlotte Sound, New Zealand, on May 7 and was joined ten days later by Resolution. The ships' crews traded with the Maori, whom Cook had visited in Endeavour in 1769-70. A month later they sailed for Tahiti; en route many of Adventure's crew became ill with scurvy and one died. The ships arrived at Tahiti on August 15 and remained there until September 7. Upon their departure, they embarked a man named Omai, of Huaheine, who returned in the Adventure to England and spent two years in London under the patronage of Sir Joseph Banks and Lord Sandwich. Sailing west, the ships called at Tonga (Friendly Islands) before shaping a course for Queen Charlotte Sound.
As they were sailing down the coast of New Zealand at the end of October, the two ships were separated in a storm. Adverse weather prevented Adventure's return to Queen Charlotte Sound until November 30, four days after Resolution had sailed. Furneaux decided to return to England alone, but on December 17, one day before their planned departure, ten of the ship's company were sent to gather fresh vegetables for the voyage and were killed in a fight with some Maoris. Five days later the remainder sailed due east, rounding Cape Horn on January 10, 1774, and anchoring on March 19 at Cape Town, where they stayed one month. After a voyage of two years and three days, Adventure anchored at Spithead on July 14. Though the voyage was not the success it might have been, Adventure had the distinction of being the first ship to circumnavigate the globe from west to east. The ship was subsequently taken over by the navy for use as a storeship in North America until 1783, when she was broken up.
Brock, "Cook's Endeavour and Other Ships." Cook, Journals of James Cook. McGowan, "Captain Cook's Ships."
