James Cook's third and final voyage (12 July 1776 – 4 October 1780) was a British attempt to discover the Northwest Passage between the Atlantic ocean and the Pacific coast of North America. The attempt failed and Cook was killed at Hawaii in a violent dispute with the local inhabitants.
The ostensible purpose of the voyage was to return Omai, a young man from Raiatea, to his homeland, but the British Admiralty used this as a cover for their plan to send Cook on a voyage to find the Northwest Passage, should it exist. HMS Resolution, to be commanded by Cook, and HMS Discovery, commanded by Charles Clerke, were prepared for the voyage which started from Plymouth in 1776.
After Omai was returned to his homeland, the ships sailed into the central Pacific where they encountered the hitherto unknown (to Europeans) Hawaiian Archipelago, before reaching the Pacific coast of North America. After exploring and charting the northwest coast of the continent, they passed through the Bering Strait into the Arctic Ocean where they were eventually blocked by pack ice. The vessels returned to the Pacific and called briefly at the Aleutians before Cook decided to return to the Hawaiian Islands for the winter.
At Kealakekua Bay, off the island of Hawaii, a number of quarrels broke out between the British and Hawaiians culminating in Cook's death in a violent exchange on 14 February 1779. The command of the expedition was assumed by Charles Clerke who again failed to find the Northwest Passage before his own death from tuberculosis. Under the command of John Gore the crews returned to London in October 1780.
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