Cook led three famous expeditions to the Pacific Ocean between 1768 & 1779. In voyages that ranged from the Antarctic circle to the Arctic Sea Cook charted Australia & the whole coast of New Zealand & brought back detailed descriptions of the natural history of the Pacific. Accounts based on Cooks journals were issued at the time but it was not until this century that the original journals were published in Beagleholes definitive edition. The Journals" tells the story of these voyages as Cook wanted it to be told radiating the ambition courage & skill which enabled him to carry out an unrivalled series of expeditions in dangerous waters."