The Endeavour, commanded by Cook, ran aground on the Great Barrier Reef in North Queensland, Australia. The crew worked hard for days to lighten the ship, pump out water, and patch the leaks, finally refloating the vessel. This feat was also successful because the crew was fully staffed, and not decimated by scurvy as often happened in the past. Cook was, in fact, one of the first to adopt Dr. James Lind’s diet of oranges and lemons, as well as maintaining a high level of hygiene among his sailors. The vitamin C in oranges and lemons would allow Cook to rack up a series of successes: the discovery of the Hawaiian Islands, the Great Barrier Reef, the first circumnavigation of New Zealand, the first cartographic survey of the Northwest Pacific, and the first crossing of the Antarctic Circle.
