COLNETT, Captain James

A Voyage to the South Atlantic and round Cape Horn into the Pacific...

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for the Author London, 1798. Quarto, with frontispiece portrait, six folding maps and three plates;a few repaired marginal tears; a fine and very large copy with generous margins, in a handsome period-style binding of polished tree calf, flat spine gilt in compartments. First edition and very scarce: an important voyage to the Pacific and the Northwest Coast of America. Colnett had been a midshipman on Cook's second voyage, and here 'frequently discusses his former commander in the course of this narrative of his own voyage of 1793-94' (Hill).

Colnett had a long and important naval career, but is best remembered for his role at the centre of the Nootka Sound Controversy in 1789, which he discusses in this work. It was Colnett who informed the Spanish commander that he had come to take possession of Nootka and to found a British colony; his ships were impounded, and he was not only imprisoned but even placed in the stocks. The subsequent uproar on his return to England almost culminated in war with Spain.

The main part of his account details his voyage around South America on the Rattler, including visiting the Galapagos Islands, Chile and reaching as far as the Gulf of California. The lengthy preface describes his previous activities in the Pacific, during which he made two voyages to China with furs from the Northwest Coast, and figured largely in the dispute between England and Spain.

At the very start of the voyage he had a friendly meeting with Governor Phillip at Rio de Janeiro, on his homeward passage from Botany Bay. Colnett later had a more substantial contact with New South Wales, commanding the 1802 voyage of the Glatton, bringing some four hundred convicts to Australia.

Colnett did not visit Hawaii on this voyage, but he had on his earlier voyage as master of the Prince of Wales in 1787-88, making him one of the earliest visitors to the islands. He discusses this earlier voyage in the preface here and makes occasional other references to events in Hawaii.
Borba de Moraes, pp. 165-66; Cowan, p. 52; Hill, 338; Judd, 40; Wagner, I, pp. 207 etc.

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