ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a complete transcript of the handwritten journal kept by William Robert Broughton on his voyage to the North Pacific, together with letters and the journal of his journey across Mexico. Aiming to complete the work left unfinished by James Cook's third voyage, Broughton surveyed the coasts of Japan, the Kurile Islands, Sakhalin and Korea, despite being wrecked on an uncharted reef off the Ryukyu Islands in the middle of the mission. The island of Hawaii was sighted on 1 January 1796, but on approaching land the trade wind was lost. Nevertheless several canoes came alongside, with pigs and vegetables. On the 2nd a vessel was sighted under sail to the NW, which the natives informed William Robert Broughton was an English brig. Broughton spent seven weeks in the Hawaiian Islands, presumably to avoid arriving at Nootka during the depth of winter.
