The
second voyage of James Cook 1772–1775, commissioned by the British government with advice from the
Royal Society, was designed to
circumnavigate the globe as far south as possible to finally determine whether there was any great southern landmass, or
Terra Australis. On his
first voyage, Cook had demonstrated by circumnavigating
New Zealand that it was not attached to a larger landmass to the south, and he charted almost the entire eastern coastline of
Australia, yet Terra Australis was believed to lie further south.
Alexander Dalrymple and others of the Royal Society still believed that this massive southern continent should exist. After a delay brought about by the botanist
Joseph Banks' unreasonable demands, the ships
Resolution and
Adventure were fitted for the voyage and set sail for the
Antarctic in July 1772.