RIVIERE TAMISE ET BAYE MERCURE A LA NLE ZELANDE with insets of BAYE DES ISLES DANS LA NLE ZELANDE, and BAYE DE TOLAGA DANS LA NLE ZELANDE.

An interesting chart of The River Thames and Mercury Bay with insets of The Bay of Islands, and Tolaga Bay. Showing depth-soundings and anchorages. It is based on surveys brought back to England at the end of Capt. James Cook's first voyage to the Pacific and New Zealand which lasted 3 years from 1768-1771. In 1769 Cook's ship the ‘Endeavour’ sailed along the east coast of New Zealand's North Island, and anchored briefly in an inlet that Cook named Tolaga Bay, there he took supplies of wood and water. Continuing along the coast Cook found a large bay whose shores were lushly cultivated, and so he aptly named it Bay of Plenty. Anchoring on the west side of the Bay, Cook and an astronomer, Charles Green, who had accompanied the expedition, went ashore to observe the transit of Mercury across the Sun, and Cook named the region Mercury Bay. From there, the ‘Endeavour’ continued it's north-westerly course along the coast until a river was sighted. Cook went ashore in what is now Hauraki Gulf. The river reminded him so much of the Thames in London, that he named it the Thames River or River Tamise. From the French Edition of Cook's Voyages published 1774-1785.

Good condition, some offset.