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The Bay and Harbour of Gaspey

James Cook · 1758

Cook's first engraved chart, made in 1758 during the Seven Years' War, marking the beginning of his career as a surveyor.

Cook's first engraved chart, showing the beginning of his surveying career.

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Hand-drawn 18th-century nautical chart titled 'The Bay and Harbour of Gaspey 1758'. It shows a coastline with a compass rose at center, many dotted rhumb lines radiating out, a scale of miles at lower right, and handwritten notes and soundings along the shore and shoals. Mountainous land is drawn along the top edge.
James Cook, The Bay and Harbour of Gaspey, 1758.

About this source

What it is

This is a hand-drawn nautical chart of the Bay and Harbour of Gaspey, made by James Cook in 1758. It shows the coastline with a compass rose, rhumb lines, soundings, and handwritten notes.

Why it matters

This was Cook's first engraved chart, produced during the Seven Years' War after he learned surveying methods from Samuel Holland. It marks the start of the surveying skills that would later make him one of the most accurate mapmakers of his era, long before his famous Pacific voyages.

Look closer

  • What details on the chart show the skill needed to make an accurate 18th-century map?
  • Why would accurate charts of a harbour matter during wartime?
  • What might this early chart suggest about how Cook's later career developed?

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