HMS Resolution - Whitby Online

The second of Whitby's most notable ships also found fame as a vessel under the command of Captain Cook on his second and third voyages to the Pacific. Once again the ship was built at Whitby by Fishburn and was originally in service as the North Sea collier Marquis of Granby before being bought by the Royal Navy in 1771. She was originally named HMS Drake but political courtesy and not wanting to offend the Spanish resulted in the final name choice of HMS Resolution. After serious and costly refitting the Resolution finally set forth from Plymouth, with HMS Adventure at her side, on 13th July 1772 with a full compliment of 112 crew. January 17th 1773 saw her the first ship to sail across the Antarctic Circle, a trip she made a further two times.

The third of these crossings saw her reach the most southerly point thus achieved and disproved Alexander Dalrymple's proposed Terra Australis Incognita; a super southern continent. She returned to England in 1775 and was subsequently decommissioned only to be re commissioned the following year for Cook's next adventure. Under Cooks' command the Resolution crossed the Arctic Circle in August 1778, a crossing she later repeated, after Cook's untimely death, in July 1779 under the command of Charles Clerke. This final epic voyage eventually came to an end on her return to England on 4th October 1780.