Captain James Cook of the Endeavor

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Thirteen years later he was appointed commander of the HMS Endeavor. It was 1768, and he was to take members of the Royal Society on a trip to Tahiti to record the transit of Venus across the Sun, and to take on general exploration.

Portrait of Captain James Cook, R.N. (1728-1779), in Captain's Uniform

On this voyage, accompanied by his two dogs and a number of scientists for whom he paid the way, was explorer and botanist Joseph Banks.

Captain Cook was extremely successful in this voyage, and circumnavigated New Zealand, and was the most notable of the early explorers of Australia.

In Australia, he discovered many plant and animal species that were previously unknown in the European continent, and it was his first trip on the Endeavor that brought the world it’s first exposure to tea tree oil.

He carried on board a large supply of limes and sauerkraut, vitamin C was still unknown until 1932, because the limes helped in staving off scurvy. The Royal navy started to eventually have all it’s ships carry limes, thus the term to this day that the British navy personnel are known as “limeys”.

Captain Cook Takes Formal Possession of New South Wales

During the exploration of the South pacific, over 1000 new plant species were identified and catalogued over the course of three years. The numerous plant specimens found by Banks and Solander were behind the naming of Botany Bay, near the modern day Sydney, Australia.

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