- ON 26 AUGUST 1768, The HMB Endeavour set sail from England’s Plymouth Harbour, under the command of Captain James Cook, an accomplished astronomer, navigator, and surveyor.
- The ship’s company of 94 men were instructed to make for Tahiti, where they would observe and record the transit of Venus across the face of the Sun.
- However, Cook also carried instructions from the Admiralty ordering him to explore the Southern Ocean in search of Terra Australis incognita – the unknown southern land.
- Cook’s first voyage succeeded in charting over 8000km of coastline throughout Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific. While some of these territories were already known to Europeans, the accuracy and extent of his maps were impressive for the time, according to Dr. David Andrew Roberts of the University of New England.
- David says Cook was “part of a great age of exploration…who became a national hero,” but “there has been a tendency to overplay his role in the establishment of Australia.”
“Like all explorers,” says David, “perhaps his greatest legacy is more symbolic than tangible.”
Source link : http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/blogs/on-this-day/2011/08/on-this-day-captain-james-cook-sets-sail/