navigator Gaetano in 1555; but their existence
had been kept a close secret by Spain at the time, and had long been
forgotten. Striking the west American coast in 44 deg. 55' N. on the 7th
of March following, he made an almost continuous survey of the same up
to Bering Straits and beyond, as far as 70 deg. 41', where he found the
passage barred by a wall, or rather continent, of ice, rising 12 ft.
above water, and stretching as far as the eye could reach. The farthest
point visible on the American shore (in the extreme north-west of
Alaska) he called Icy Cape. On his way towards Bering Straits he
discovered and named King George's ("Nootka") and Prince William's
Sound, as well as Cape Prince of Wales, the westernmost extremity of
North America, never yet seen by English navigators, but well known to
Russian explorers, who probably first sighted it in 1648; he also
penetrated into the bay afterwards known as Cook's Inlet or River, which
at first seemed to promise a passage to the Arctic Seas, to the
south-east of the Alaska peninsula. Cook next visited the Asiatic shores
of Bering Straits (the extreme north-east of Siberia); returning to
America, he explored Norton Sound, north of the Yukon; touched at
(Aleutian) Unalaska, where he met with some Russian-American settlers;
and thence made his way back to the Hawaiian group, which he had
christened after his friend and patron Lord Sandwich, then head of the
British admiralty (January 17th, 1779). Here he visited Maui and Hawaii
itself, whose size and importance he now first realized, and in one of
whose bays (Kealakekua) he met his death early in the morning of the
14th of February 1779. During the night of the 13th, one of the
"Discovery's" boats was stolen by the natives; and Cook, in order to
recover it, made trial of his favourite expedient of seizing the king's
person until reparation should be made. Having landed on the following
day with some marines, a scuffle ensued which compelled the party to
retreat to their boats. Cook was the last to retire; and as he was
nearing the shore he received a blow from behind which felled him to the
ground. He rose immediately, and vigorously resisted the crowds that
pressed upon him, but was soon overpowered.

Had Cook returned from his third voyage, there is ground for believing
King George would have made him a baronet. Distinguished honours were
paid to his memory, both at home and by foreign courts, and a pension
was settled