progressed toward the Alaskan region where
Russian explorer Vitus Bering had perished
in1741. Eventually, Cook threaded his way
through the Aleutian Islands and sailed up the
western limits of the Alaskan mainland, pass-
ing through the Bering Strait at a point Cook
named Cape Prince of Wales (now the Seward
Peninsula), the closest point on the North
American mainland to Asia.
Carefully navigating through the ice-
strewn waters, Cook’s progress slowed to a
crawl. Finally, at 70° north, Cook faced a wall
ofice blockading the horizon. On August 29 he
explained his next move in his journal:
I did not think it consistent with prudence
to make any further attempts to find a pas-
sage this year in any direction, so little was
the prospect of succeeding. My direction
was now directed towards finding some
place where we could obtain wood and
water, and in considering how Ishould
spend the winter, so as to make some
improvement to geography and navigation
and at the same time be in a condition to
return to the North in further search of a
passage the ensuing summer.Cook never returned to Alaska as planned.
The Discoveryand the Resolutionwithdrew to
Unalaska Island in the Aleutians, where
repairs were made to the leaking vessels with
the help of Russian traders. Cook’s expedition
reached his Hawaiian winter sanctuary, but
he was killed there on February 14, 1779, in a
scuffle with inhabitants of the island of
Hawaii. Cook’s crews returned to the Bering
Strait the following summer, but their new
commander, Captain Charles Clerke, died of
illness without expanding upon Cook’s
efforts. Cook’s detailed journals were pub-
lished in London and became best sellers.
Perhaps the greatest effect of Cook’s last voy-
age, however, was the experience it provided
George Vancouver, a lieutenant on the Dis-
covery,whose contributions to understanding
the geography and people of the Pacific
Northwest would soon surpass those of his
late commander.THE COMTE
DE LA PÉROUSE
Much of Cook’s route was revisited during
the ill-fated world voyage of veteran French
naval officer and explorer Jean-François de
Galaup, comte de La Pérouse (or La Pérouse,
for short). In 1785 the French government dis-
patched La Pérouse to the Pacific Ocean to
search for the Northwest Passage. Hoping to
match Cook’s achievements, however, La
Pérouse was also ordered to explore the
northwest coast of North America, as well as
the coast of Asia and the South Seas. It was a
scientific expedition whose crew included
naturalists, artists, cartographers, an astrono-
mer, a physicist, and a mathematician.
La Pérouse’s expedition left France in
August 1785 and eventually made its way to
Alaska, sighting Mount St. Elias near the cur-
rent U.S.-Canadian border on June 24, 1786.Charting the Pacific Northwest B 161