The journal, handwritten by
James Cook, consists of one volume of 753 pages bound in oak and pigskin. The journal documents one of the first English voyages to the
Pacific Ocean, departing from
Plymouth on 26 August 1768. The voyage circumnavigated the globe with three main objectives, to observe and record the transit of Venus from Tahiti on 3 June 1769; to record natural history; and a secret mission to search for the Great South Land. Cook's last entry in the journal on 12 July 1771 records anchored in
the Downs, an anchorage for ships off the east coast of
Kent, near the port of
Deal. ==History of the logbook and journal==