In this voyage I was accompanied by Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander; the first a gentleman of ample fortune; the other an accomplished disciple of Linnæus, and one of the librarians of the British Museum: both of them distinguished in the learned world for their extensive and accurate knowledge of natural history. These gentlemen, animated by the love of science, and by a desire to pursue their enquiries in the remote regions I was preparing to visit, desired permission to make the voyage with me. The Admiralty readily complied with a request that promised such advantage to the republic of letters. They accordingly embarked with me, and participated in all the dangers and sufferings of our tedious and fatiguing navigation. To illustrate this short abstract of the several discoveries made in the Southern Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans, before my departure on this second voyage, now laid before the public, I have delineated on the general chart hereunto annexed the tracks of most of the navigators, without which the abstract could not be so easily understood. The voyages of Messrs. de Surville, Kerguelen, and Marion, of which some account is given in the following work, did not come to my knowledge time enough to afford me any advantage; and as they have not been communicated to the world in a public way, I can say little about them, or about two other voyages which, I am told, have been made by the Spaniards; one to Easter island in the year 1769, and the other to Otaheite in 1773. Before I begin my narrative of the expedition intrusted to my care, it will be necessary to add here some account of its equipment, and of some other matters, equally interesting, connected with my subject. Soon after my return home in the Endeavour, it was resolved to equip two ships, to complete the discovery of the Southern Hemisphere. The nature of this voyage required ships of a particular construction, and the Endeavour being gone to Falkland Isles as a store-ship, the Navy-board was directed to purchase two such ships as were most suitable for this service. At this time various opinions were espoused by different people, touching the size and kind of vessels most proper for such a voyage. Some were for having large ships; and proposed those of forty guns, or East India Company’s ships. Others preferred large good sailing frigates, or three-decked ships, employed in the Jamaica trade, fitted with round-houses. But of all that was said and offered to the Admiralty’s consideration on this subject, as far as has come to my knowledge, what, in my opinion, was most to the purpose, was suggested by the Navy-board.