Much of the strategy behind James Cook’s first voyage was based on the work of Alexander Darlymple. Darlymple catalogued and translated many Spanish documents during the British occupation of Manila, and key information that Darlymple found was exploited during Cook’s voyage.

As soon as that key information was exploited it was no longer necessary to keep it secret. In 1770, when Cook was finishing up his first voyage, Darlymple released his book – An Historical collection of the several voyages and discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean.

In the preface of the book is this rather interesting paragraph. Darlymple refers to another book by Charles de Brosses;

M. DE Brosses has, in his table of voyages made a very judicious arrangement under the three heads of MAGELANICA, AUSTRAL-ASIA, and POLYNESIA; by this means we see at once the situation, as well as time of the several discoveries : his translator has only given, in his table of contents, a general list of the voyages, without distinguishing into what quarter they were made; although the different heads have often no affinity. As M. DE Brosses’ table is a very valuable compendium of chronological discoveries to the south, I have taken the liberty to insert it, with the authors he refers to; I have added such voyages as he has omitted, and the authorities which have escaped his research : distinguishing them by an asterisk*. I have inserted another head of partition, Australia, comprehending the discoveries at a distance from America to the eastward.

Charles de Brosses coined the term Polynesia to mean most of the islands in the Pacific. Later that meaning was shrunk to a smaller sub-region in the Pacific. Magelanica was the area around south America. Austral-asia was Australia and New Zealand, lying on the edge of the Spanish lake (the Pacific Ocean).

Darlymple has suggested using the term “Australia” for discoveries “at a distance from America to the eastward”. Darlymple writes about the need to distinguish which quarter of the world new discoveries are in. Quarter meaning the earth split into 4 by the Equator and the Treaty of Tordesillas and Treaty of Saragossa. He must be referring to “the eastward” as in – the far east and south quarter of the world. In other words, west of Guinea and in the southern hemisphere, including the Indian ocean, but not including the Spanish lake/Pacific Ocean. Exactly where New Holland is.

Darlymple has taken Brosses’s concept of Austal-asia, renamed it Australia, and tried to shift it’s meaning to refer to the south and Portuguese east quarter of the world.

In a chart that sets the scene at the start of the book, Darlymple uses the term “New Holland” for what we know as Australia. Darlymple uses the terms “Terra del Espiritu Santos” or “Manicola” to refer to the pacific islands discovered by Quiros.

In Darlymple’s literal translations of Quiros’s memorials, he consistently uses the spelling Australia – as in “Australia del Espirito Santo”. I went and found the original memorials that Darlymple has translated.

In the memorial known as the 8th, in the first few paragraphs the Spanish original says “Austral incognita“, but on page 160 of Darymple’s book where he translates it (page 262 on this electronic version) he has changed this to “Australia incognita”.

Another example from another memorial (on page 245 of Darymple’s book, the Sixth memorial), Austrialia is now Australia.

This might not have been Darlymple’s error, as he may have used indirect sources.

But what is interesting about his book is that Darlymple uniformly uses the spelling “Australia”, and not the literal Austrialia or Austral. He was called out by Spanish writers for this.

He has used this spelling as both referring to a specific quarter of the world, and in translations of Quiros’s memorials describing Quiros’s discovered land. Darlymple might not know whether or not Quiros’s land actually lies in that specific quarter of the world. That question is what Cook’s first and second voyages were set out to determine. Cook was sent out instead of Darlymple, but the two voyages were Darlymple’s idea.

Speculative charts by the French (eg. Brosses and Bellin charts below, look at the north Queensland coast) show Quiros’s land as connected to New Holland.

Cook’s first voyage went up the east coast of Australia. He made a very short landfall at Yarrabah near Cairns. The bay in question from the direction Cook approached would have resembled the map of Quiros’s land made by Prado y Tovar. The position of Fitzroy Island in relation to the bay resembles Sakau in relation to Big Bay in Espiritu Santo in Vanuatu. Sakau is on Prado Y Tovar’s chart.

Cook made an excursion here at Yarrabah to look for fresh water in a mangrove swamp. He was probably expecting the large River Jordan as named by Quiros. But it was not, so he moved along.

It was shortly after this brief excursion that Cook allegedly smashed his ship on a reef and went into the Endeavour River at Cooktown. This site does not match Prado Y Tovar’s chart well, but it matches Quiros’s description of the bay with two rivers at latitude 15 degrees. Cook was clever to throw some cannons overboard to “reduce weight”. These cannons are in lieu of leaving inscriptions and markings, they prove he was there. The cannons were later found by an American expedition in the 70’s. Cook got everyone else to play along – no doubt Banks and others writing journals would have been on non-disclosure agreements as condition on being on this secret mission.

Something amusing – when Cook eventually departed the Endeavour River, he wrote;

Saturday, 4th. In the P.M., having pretty moderate weather, I order’d the Coasting Anchor and Cable to be laid without the barr, to be ready to warp out by, that we might not loose the least opportunity that might Offer; for laying in Port spends time to no purpose, consumes our Provisions, of which we are very Short in many Articles, and we have yet a long Passage to make to the East Indies through an unknown and perhaps dangerous Sea; these Circumstances consider’d, make me very Anxious of getting to Sea.

To paraphrase – We have to go because we are running out of supplies. Not – Hurrah! we finally got the ship ready and are leaving at our first opportunity.

Read the proceeding days of journal entries. Nothing happens. It sounds like they are waiting around for no reason. They spent 51 days in the bay and river fixing the ship. Yet just before that, at the reef in just a few days they managed good-enough emergency repairs to sail-on to the river. Two days to do a difficult repair of plugging a hole while at sea, then 51 days being the first Europeans to enjoy a tropical North Queensland holiday.

The overly-lengthy 51 day stay was simply to be there longer than Torres. Torres was in the bay at Espiritu Santo for 50 days. They were waiting around, they were not repairing.

Cook’s tropical holiday in Cooktown, along with Darlymple’s new proposed geographic region both served to conflate Quiros’s Australia with New Holland. This excursion up the east coast of New Holland was predetermined. The idea of renaming New Holland to Australia is older than Flinders – it was set in motion by Darlymple before Cook even left on his first voyage.