THE FIRST VOYAGE
One of the world's true greats was Captain James Cook, son of an English farmer whose daring explorations and brilliant intellectual achievement make his memory part of the history of nearly every continent on earth. Sailing from Plymouth, England on May 27, 1768 on his ship the "Endeavour", he rounded Cape Horn and Sailed West to Tahiti, where he completed his first mission, the observation of the transit of the planet Venus between the earth and the sun on June 3, 1769.
Leaving Tahiti he opened his secret orders and started his second mission, "You are to proceed to the southward... until you arrive in the latitude of 40°, unless you sooner fall in with (the Southern Continent)... failing that, proceed Westward to New Zealand and learn whether it is part of the unknown Southern Continent..."
Upon reaching latitude 40° 20' South and finding no land, he proceeded Westward to New Zealand and to Austrailia, where he took possession of the entire East coast for England. Leaving Australia, he proceeded to Batavia (Java) then around the Cape of Good Hope to return to England where he was acclaimed by the public, and King George III on July 18, 1771.