Captain James Cook begins his third voyage.

Captain James Cook’s third voyage (1776–1779) was primarily aimed at discovering the elusive Northwest Passage, a potential sea route linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through the Arctic. Commissioned by the British Admiralty, Cook commanded the HMS Resolution while Captain Charles Clerke led the companion ship, HMS Discovery. Departing from Plymouth, England, Cook first sailed to the South Pacific to return the Polynesian Omai to Tahiti—a diplomatic move intended to maintain Britain’s goodwill among islanders. Afterward, the expedition turned northward to explore the largely uncharted North Pacific, with a specific goal: finding a navigable route across the top of North America.

In 1778, Cook became the first European to make formal contact with the Hawaiian Islands, which he named the “Sandwich Islands” in honor of the Earl of Sandwich. He and his crew were warmly received by the Hawaiians, possibly due to their arrival coinciding with local religious festivals. After resupplying, Cook sailed northeast to the coast of present-day Oregon and up into Alaska and the Bering Strait, meticulously mapping vast stretches of coastline. However, his attempts to find the Northwest Passage were blocked by thick pack ice, forcing him to retreat southward.

Cook returned to Hawaii in 1779, where initial relations remained friendly. But after a series of misunderstandings and escalating tensions, Cook’s efforts to detain a local chief as leverage for a stolen boat backfired. On February 14, 1779, he was killed during a skirmish at Kealakekua Bay. Captain Clerke, despite suffering from tuberculosis, continued the voyage north once more before dying at sea, after which Lieutenant John Gore took command and returned the ships to England in 1780. Although the Northwest Passage remained undiscovered, Cook’s third voyage significantly advanced European understanding of the Pacific and Arctic regions, cementing his legacy as one of history’s most influential explorers.