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The paper on Vancouver's longitudes, by Doe, in which Alex expressed an
interest, is now in the post to him.

In response to my question, Alex replied-

| George,
| These are the observation logs in question:
|
| 1. The original astronomical observations
| made in the course of a voyage....
| in the years MDCCLXXVI, MDCCLXXVII,..., MDCCLXXX,
| by Captain James Cooke, FRS...
| and Leutenant James King, and Mr. William Bayly.
|
| 2. The original astronomical observations
| made in the course of a voyage towards the South Pole
| and round the world...
| in the years MSCCLXXII ... MDCCLXXV,
| by William Wales FRS... and Mr William Bayly.

Well those cover, respectively, Cook's third and last voyage (1776 to 1780),
and his second (1772 to 1775).

But not his first (1768 to 1771), so where did the observations come from
(for example) for the map 9, that Alex referred to, which with other maps
resulted  from that first voyage?

Green, astronomer of Cook's first voyage, did not survive to write up his
observation log. As far as I know, the only detailed list of astronomical
observations which included that first voyage was written long afterwards,
in 1788, in a retrospective compilation by William Wales (who was not
himself on that first voyage) Its full(ish) title is "Astronomical
Observations, made in theVoyages which were Undertaken By Order of His
Present Majesty, for making Discoveries in the Southern Hemisphere... From
the Journals which were kept by the several Commanders, and from the Papers
of Mr Charles Green... London... 1788.

If Alex can lay hands on that Wales volume, I suggest he will have details
of all astronomical observations of that first voyage of which records still
remain. Many such observations are noted in Beaglehole's Cook Journals, vol
1, but I think he will find Wales' data is the most complete. I do not know
whether it has yet been digitised.

Alex has offered to send me copies of the .pdf files for his references 1
and 2 above, and indeed that would be kind, as I don't have them. However, I
am still, benightedly in the last century, on dialup rather than broadband,
so it depends on how many megabytes are involved. That's also the reason I
missed out on those 18th century historical volumes, while they were on
offer.

George.

contact George Huxtable at george@huxtable.u-net.com
or at +44 1865 820222 (from UK, 01865 820222)
or at 1 Sandy Lane, Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxon OX13 5HX, UK.


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