On This Day
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British Captain James Cook, aboard HMS Endeavour, first lands in Australia at Botany Bay

HMS Endeavour was a Royal Navy research vessel that Lieutenant James Cook commanded to Tahiti, New Zealand and Australia on his first voyage of discovery from 1768 to 1771. She was launched in 1764…

HMS Endeavour was a Royal Navy research vessel that Lieutenant James Cook commanded to Tahiti, New Zealand and Australia on his first voyage of discovery from 1768 to 1771.

She was launched in 1764 as the collier Earl of Pembroke, with the Navy purchasing her in 1768 for a scientific mission to the Pacific Ocean and to explore the seas for the surmised Terra Australis Incognita or "unknown southern land". Commissioned as His Majesty's Bark Endeavour, she departed Plymouth in August 1768, rounded Cape Horn and reached Tahiti in time to observe the 1769 transit of Venus across the Sun. She then set sail into the largely uncharted ocean to the south, stopping at the islands of Huahine, Bora Bora, and Raiatea west of Tahiti to allow Cook to claim them for Great Britain.

Historical Significance

HMS Endeavour was a Royal Navy research vessel that Lieutenant James Cook commanded to Tahiti, New Zealand and Australia on his first voyage of discovery from 1768 to 1771.

Key People

James Cook

explorer and naval officer

British explorer and naval officer

–

Joseph Banks

naturalist and botanist

English naturalist and botanist

–

Events Before

  1. Augustus FitzRoy, English Duke of Grafton divorces the Duchess of Grafton, (formerly Hon. Anne Liddell) by an Act of Par

    Augustus FitzRoy, English Duke of Grafton divorces the Duchess of Grafton, (formerly Hon. Anne Liddell) by an Act of Parliament

  2. Captain James Cook lands in New Zealand for the first time near present-day Gisborne on the East Coast of the North Isla

    Captain James Cook lands in New Zealand for the first time near present-day Gisborne on the East Coast of the North Island. A misunderstanding, possibly over a ceremonial challenge, causes the English to shoot and kill Ngāti Oneone leader Te Maro. [1]

  3. Louis-Antoine de Bougainville's expedition of two ships completes first French circumnavigation of the world arriving i

    Louis-Antoine de Bougainville's expedition of two ships completes first French circumnavigation of the world arriving in Saint-Malo, France (also carried 1st woman to circumnavigate the world, Jeanne Baré) [1]

  4. Madame du Barry becomes French King Louis XV's "official" mistress

    Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (French: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774.

  5. A transit of Venus is followed five hours later by a total solar eclipse, the shortest such interval in history

    A transit of Venus is followed five hours later by a total solar eclipse, the shortest such interval in history

Events After

  1. Political activist Thomas Paine (34) weds second wife Elizabeth Ollive

    Political activist Thomas Paine (34) weds second wife Elizabeth Ollive

  2. King of France Louis XVIII weds princess Maria Giuseppina of Savoy at the Palace of Versailles

    King of France Louis XVIII weds princess Maria Giuseppina of Savoy at the Palace of Versailles

  3. Prince Henry, Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn scandalously marries commoner and widower Anne Horton, displeasing Georg

    Prince Henry, Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn scandalously marries commoner and widower Anne Horton, displeasing George III, leading to the Royal Marriages Act of 1772

  4. Chemist Antione Lavoisier (28) marries Marie-Anne Paulze (13), the couple go on to make major discoveries in chemistry t

    Chemist Antione Lavoisier (28) marries Marie-Anne Paulze (13), the couple go on to make major discoveries in chemistry together

  5. Spain cedes the Falkland Islands to Britain

    The Falkland Islands, commonly referred to as The Falklands, is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What happened on April 28, 1770?
HMS Endeavour was a Royal Navy research vessel that Lieutenant James Cook commanded to Tahiti, New Zealand and Australia on his first voyage of discovery from 1768 to 1771. She was launched in 1764 as the collier Earl of Pembroke, with the Navy purchasing her in 1768 for a scientific mission to the Pacific Ocean and to explore the seas for the surmised Terra Australis Incognita or "unknown southern land". Commissioned as His Majesty's Bark Endeavour, she departed Plymouth in August 1768, rounded Cape Horn and reached Tahiti in time to observe the 1769 transit of Venus across the Sun.
Why is British Captain James Cook, aboard HMS Endeavour, first lands in Australia at... significant?
HMS Endeavour was a Royal Navy research vessel that Lieutenant James Cook commanded to Tahiti, New Zealand and Australia on his first voyage of discovery from 1768 to 1771.
Who was involved in British Captain James Cook, aboard HMS Endeavour, first lands in Australia at...?
Key figures include James Cook (explorer and naval officer), Joseph Banks (naturalist and botanist).

Explore More

April 28 in HistoryYear 1770