In the years from 1768 to 1779 James Cook sailed in three great voyages around the world. The story of these voyages is the story of the greatest single quest any man ever made to explore uncharted waters and to discover real lands in place of imaginary ones. He mapped all the coast of New Zealand and eastern Australia and claimed these lands for the British crown. He discovered innumerable islands in the Pacific and rediscovered others that mariners had once reached but couldn't find again. He circumnavigated the Antarctic and found ample reasons to believe there was a continent there. He discovered the Hawaiian Islands. He mapped the northwest coast of America and sailed into the Arctic Ocean in search of a passage east or west. - p. 8.