Cook entering Nootka Sound.
1778

Watercolor 21" x 29"


James Cook’s third and final voyage brought him into the northern Pacific, with instructions to search for a western entrance to a passage to the Atlantic above 65º , and to roughly chart the western shores of North America up to that latitude. On March 6th. 1778 he made a landfall near Cape Foulweather on the Oregon coast. Foul weather is what they encountered, and working north they saw very little of the coast, and his chart has many blanks where they were forced out to sea. Cook did not see the entrance to Juan de Fuca Strait, although he knew they were in the vicinity. On the morning of March 29th. they were again approaching land, this time looking for a secure anchorage where they could make repairs to RESOLUTION and obtain water. Cook made for an indentation that promised shelter. By evening the wind became calm and both ships lowered boats to tow in, but enough of a breeze returned to enable them to make the anchorage under sail. Before the sun set they were greeted with traditional songs and the ceremonial scattering of eagle down by Nuu-chah-nulth canoes from Friendly Cove. They had found Nootka Sound, where Perez had stopped four years earlier.