18th century, both nations sent regular scientific missions to the region. The English explorers Tobias Furneaux, aboard in 1773, and James Cook, aboard in 1777, both described the shores of the Derwent as a suitable location for resupplying and watering their ships. One of Cook's Resolution crew in 1777, William Bligh, returned to the Derwent River for a second time in command of the on his fateful journey to Tahiti in 1788 that ended in mutiny by his crew. John Cox, aboard in 1789, closely followed Bligh. In the 1790s, the French and English continued to explore the area and chart parts of Tasmania's coast. William Bligh returned to the Derwent River in 1792, this time with the ships and , again en route to Tahiti. He had been ordered to complete his previous mission of obtaining breadfruit from Tahiti for the West Indian plantations, and remembered the Derwent's favourable position to stop en route. The following year, French explorers Bruni d'Entrecasteaux and Jean-Michel Huon de Kermadec, who were in command of and the sailed into the river and charted it more extensively in the course of their search for Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse. He named the river 'Riviere du Nord'. During the stopover, his expedition also established a vegetable garden at Recherche Bay for use by future expeditions. A few months later, the English captain, Sir John Hayes also sought shelter for his ships Duke of Clarence and Duchess of Bengal there. It was during this visit that Hayes named the river as the 'Derwent River', in honour of the River Derwent in Cumbria. The next visit to the Derwent River came from George Bass and Matthew Flinders in 1798 and 1799, when they circumnavigated Tasmania aboard the Norfolk, being the first Europeans to prove that Tasmania was an island. British interest in the island then waned for the next four years. 1803 British settlement Although several European explorers had navigated along the coast of Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) between the 1770s and 1790s, a strong English interest in the Derwent River only began with the return of English Royal Navy Captain William Bligh in 1792 aboard . He stopped briefly in Adventure Bay to take on fresh water before continuing his voyage. From 1792 until 1802, France and Great Britain had been embroiled against each other in the French Revolutionary Wars, and growing French