which country did james cook sailed for?
Kingdom of Great Britain
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 The plan was that the convoy sail north to rendezvous at Lord Howe Island , then set a course broadly parallel to the Great Barrier Reef with the aim of reaching the Dutch port of Batavia . From there the convoy would sail west through the Sunda Straits to the Cape of Good Hope , then north through the Atlantic to England . This route was comparatively well mapped – the first part largely mirroring that of James Cook in his first voyage in the Pacific from 1768 to 1771 , and the remainder from Batavia being the traditional route of Dutch East Indiamen returning to Europe . Shortland estimated the voyage would take the convoy between six and ten months . 

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 James Cook 's voyages of 1771 – 74 demonstrated conclusively the likely hostile nature of any hidden lands . This caused a shift of emphasis in the first half of the 19th century , away from trade and towards exploration and discovery . After the first overwintering on continental Antarctica in 1899 , the prospect of reaching the South Pole appeared realistic , and the race for the pole began . The British were pre @-@ eminent in this endeavour , which was characterised by the rivalry between Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration . Shackleton 's efforts fell short ; Scott reached the pole in January 1912 only to find that he had been beaten by the Norwegian Amundsen . 

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 During his voyage , Cook also visited New Zealand , first discovered by Dutch explorer Abel Tasman in 1642 , and claimed the North and South islands for the British crown in 1769 and 1770 respectively . Initially , interaction between the indigenous Māori population and Europeans was limited to the trading of goods . European settlement increased through the early decades of the 19th century , with numerous trading stations established , especially in the North . In 1839 , the New Zealand Company announced plans to buy large tracts of land and establish colonies in New Zealand . On 6 February 1840 , Captain William Hobson and around 40 Maori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi . This treaty is considered by many to be New Zealand 's founding document , but differing interpretations of the Maori and English versions of the text have meant that it continues to be a source of dispute . 

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 Bounty 's mission was to collect breadfruit plants from Tahiti , for transportation to the West Indies as a new source of food for the slave plantations . Bligh , a skilled navigator , had travelled to Tahiti in 1776 , as Captain James Cook 's sailing master during the explorer 's final voyage . Bounty was a small vessel , 91 feet ( 28 m ) in overall length , with a complement of 46 men crammed into limited accommodation . Heywood was one of several " young gentlemen " aboard ship who were mustered as able seamen but ate and slept with their social equals in the cockpit . His distant kinsman Fletcher Christian served as master 's mate on the voyage . Bligh 's orders were to enter the Pacific by rounding Cape Horn . After collecting sufficient breadfruit plants from the Tahitian islands he was to sail westward , through the Endeavour Strait and across the Indian Ocean . Entering the Atlantic he would continue on to the West Indies , incidentally completing a circumnavigation . 

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 The second of James Cook 's historic voyages , 1772 – 1775 , was primarily a search for the elusive Terra Australis Incognita that was still believed to lie somewhere in the unexplored latitudes below 40 ° S. Cook left England in September 1772 with two ships , HMS Resolution and HMS Adventure . After pausing at Cape Town , on 22 November the two ships sailed due south , but were driven to the east by heavy gales . They managed to edge further south , encountering their first pack ice on 10 December . This soon became a solid barrier , which tested Cook 's seamanship as he manoeuvered for a passage through . Eventually , he found open water , and was able to continue south ; on 17 January 1773 , the expedition reached the Antarctic Circle at 66 ° 20'S , the first ships to do so . Further progress was barred by ice , and the ships turned north @-@ eastwards and headed for New Zealand , which they reached on 26 March . 
