In 1768 Captain James Cook left Plymouth for his voyage of discovery as Captain final voyage.
Captain Cook made many discoveries, mapped many new lands and made new scientific discoveries. He first took to sea at the age of 18 after joining the British merchant navy then in 1755 during the Seven Years War, aged 27, he joined the Royal Navy.
When the Royal Society wanted to travel to Tahiti to witness the Transit of Venus against the face of the Sun it was Cook who was chosen to take them. Commissioned by King George III and taking members of the Royal Society, Cook captained the HMS Endeavour which left Portsmouth on the 26th of August 1768. This was known as Cooks first Voyage and on the 3rd and 4th of June 1769 the crew witnessed the transit of Venus. It was also widely believed that there must be very large land mass in the South to balance the huge land mass in the north of the world. This Great Southern Continent, or Terra Australis Incognita, had been searched for by several explorers since the 1600’s. After observing the Venus Transit in Tahiti it was believed that this great southern continent may be south of their position but nothing could be found. Cook sailed west to New Zealand and spent several months charting the coastline (New Zealand was previously discovered by Abel Tasman in 1642). Cook then sailed west to Australia. Australia is thought to have been first sighted by Portuguese explorers in 1520 but the first recorded landing was in 1606 by the Dutch who believed it to be New Guinea. They made several journeys to Australia mapping part of the West and North of the country but it was Captain Cook who was the first European to map the habitable East coast of Australia. He landed in an area he originally called Stingray Bay but after the great botanist, Joseph Banks, from the Royal Society made many discoveries there it was renamed Botany Bay.
Cook discovered and mapped many new islands in the Pacific and on his third Voyage of Discovery to the pacific cook discovered the island of Hawaii.
On the 18th of January 1778 Captain Cook and his crew were the first Europeans to discover the Hawaiian Islands and they were initially welcomed by the natives that were fascinated by them. One year later Captain Cook returned to the islands with his crew but this time they docked at Kealakekua Bay, a site sacred to the Hawaiians, and were revered by the natives as gods. Enjoying being treated like gods, Cook and his crew took advantage of the native’s hospitality. But when a crew member died the Hawaiian’s realised that the visitors were just mortal men and became angered, attacking the Captain and his crew. Cook and his crew escaped on their ship but got caught by storms, forcing them to return. The Hawaiian’s met them with flying rocks and they mobbed the battered crew, some managed to escape but Cook was killed on the 14th of February 1779.
