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Petersburg 15/26 Dec. 1779
Dear Sir
In a letter sent by last post I desired Mr Banks to let you know of the unhappy fate of Captn Cook, the circumstances of which I related to him from a french extract I had then read. Since that time Sr James Harris did me the favour to let me look over the original Letters of Captn. Cook & Captn. Clarke, his Second in command, which have been delivered to him last week, & from these, I can now give you a more faultless & circumstantial account.
C.t Cook after having left the Cape of G. H. went to look after the new Islands lately discovered, to the South of the Cape, by the French under Kerguelin. He found them low uninhabited & destitute of either Tree or Shrub. A poor vegetation & some Turtle is all it affords. From thence he past by Van Dieman's land & New Zealand & pushed for Otaheitee. He found at his arrival there in August, that Since his last voyage the Spaniards had been there twice from Callas, & some of those that came first had stay'd on purpose on the Island, but had been gone with the Second comers Some time before the Captain's arrival, The Spaniards had left a Bull, a Ram, and some Poultry, but all males; thus Capn. Cook's leaving Several heads of domestic annimals there proved very acceptable. Omiah was left at Oahine in good health, & Several heads of cattle with him. Some more were distributed among the friendly & Society Islands. About the end of the year C Cook Sailed to the Northward. He discovered in Longitude 200° from your Merid. [meridian] of Greenwich, a little to the north of the Tropik, an Island, which he called T. Sandwich & near which more others seemed to lye scattered to the eastward. He made the coast of America in March, & having much suffered in masts & rigging by the heavy storms he met in the northern hemisphere, he entered a harbour, which he found a little to the north of that spot, where in Maps you will find the entry of Aguilas. Having renewed the Masts of the Resolution he Stood out to Sea, but met again with such continual Squalls, as made it impossible to observe any part of the coast till he came to anchor in a Bay which by its Longit. & Latitude coincides with Cape Elias, where Captn. Bering had a sight of America & lay some hours at Anchor. After some repairs in that Bay Cook steered along the Coast of America, of which he made a close Survey, & found many mistakes of former Maps, which all the way had frequently misled him. He arrived at last to the Streight which divide the two Continents, but his Letter gives neither Latitude nor Longit. Having past it he found the coast of America stretching to