Captain Cook's three voyages of discovery, which took place between 1768 and 1779, are among the most remarkable achievements in the history of exploration.During these long and arduous voyages Cook charted with astonishing accuracy vast areas of the Pacific Ocean from the coasts of New Zealand and Eastern Australia and the myriad islands of the South Pacific to the Arctic regions of America and Russia in the Bering Sea and beyond. The voyages also made a significant contribution towards solving some of the great puzzles and problems of cartography and navigation. With crews containing gifted sailors and navigators, as well as botanists, painters and scientists, Cook provides the link between the speculative, profit-hungry voyages of the Elizabethan seafarers and the scientific expeditions of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.