"Captain Cook's Resolution and Adventure near Antarctica, 1773"

Artist's Proof

Edition of 36

Image size: 9 3/4 x 15 inches (25 x38 cm) 

Paper size: 12 x 16 1/2 inches (30 x 42 cm)

(As Artist's Proofs, the prints are numbered using Roman Numerals, e.g. I/XXXVI)

Captain James Cook has been described as the greatest navigator of his age. As a naval officer, whilst taking no part in battles, he nevertheless put names on areas of the globe which until then had been empty and unknown and thereby he made an unparalleled contribution to his country.

In two tiny ships Resolution and Adventure over a period of two and a half years he completely circumnavigated Antarctica traveling more than 60,000 miles (97,000km). The aim was to discover if, to the south of the known world, there was an undiscovered habitable land mass After innumerable attempts to penetrate the frozen seas and huge walls of ice had failed, Cook believed that no such land existed, unless it were at the Pole itself.
We see the ships early in 1773 when, near what is now called Enderby Land, they slowly edged along the ice probing for a gap which would take them further south, sometimes using a ship's boat to explore a channel in the hope that they would find clear water beyond. The artist has attempted to convey something of the isolation and awe felt by Cook and his fellows. One can imagine every sound echoing in the vast stillness and how insignificant each man must, at times, have felt.