This is James Cook’s famous chart of Newfoundland completed in 1768 and here issued in the landmark “North American Atlas” by Thomas Jefferys.

Cook entered the Navy relatively late, in 1755 at age twenty seven although he had already spent nine years at sea serving on colliers and merchant ships on the Baltic Sea. He entered the Navy as an able seaman and saw action in the Seven Years War. In 1757, Cook passed his exams qualifying him as a ship’s Master and in 1758, he met Samuel Holland, later to become Surveyor General of North America in Canada and the two men collaborated in several surveys of the St. Lawrence River. These new surveys were immensely useful in the planning and execution of General Wolfe’s capture of the French fortress of Quebec.

 In 1763, he was made Master of H.M.S. Grenville and tasked to survey the coast of Newfoundland, an important task as the island was a crucial element of the Treaty of Paris which concluded the Seven Years War. A specific clause allowed French fishermen access to the rich cod shoals on particular parts of the seas around the island. The survey finished in 1767 and it was this achievement which convinced the Admiralty to send Cook on his first Pacific voyage of discovery. As stated on the map, Cook was assisted on his surveys by Lieut. Michael Lane, an officer training in surveying under Cook.

This example was issued by Thomas Jefferys in his “North American Atlas”, a seminal work in the geographical development and knowledge of North America.

Original colour. Upper margin extended with reinstatement of neatline. [CAN3084]