<P> The voyage was commissioned by King George III and commanded by Lieutenant James Cook , a junior naval officer with good skills in cartography and mathematics . Departing from Plymouth - Dock ( Devonport ) in August 1768 , the expedition crossed the Atlantic , rounded Cape Horn and reached Tahiti in time to observe the transit of Venus . Cook then set sail into the largely uncharted ocean to the south , stopping at the Pacific islands of Huahine , Borabora and Raiatea to claim them for Great Britain , and unsuccessfully attempting to land at Rurutu . In September 1769 the expedition reached New Zealand , being the second Europeans to visit there , following the first European discovery by Abel Tasman 127 years earlier . Cook and his crew spent the following six months charting the New Zealand coast , before resuming their voyage westward across open sea . In April 1770 they became the first Europeans to reach the east coast of Australia , making landfall at Point Hicks , and then proceeding to Botany Bay . </P>
<P> The voyage was commissioned by King George III and commanded by Lieutenant James Cook , a junior naval officer with good skills in cartography and mathematics . Departing from Plymouth - Dock ( Devonport ) in August 1768 , the expedition crossed the Atlantic , rounded Cape Horn and reached Tahiti in time to observe the transit of Venus . Cook then set sail into the largely uncharted ocean to the south , stopping at the Pacific islands of Huahine , Borabora and Raiatea to claim them for Great Britain , and unsuccessfully attempting to land at Rurutu . In September 1769 the expedition reached New Zealand , being the second Europeans to visit there , following the first European discovery by Abel Tasman 127 years earlier . Cook and his crew spent the following six months charting the New Zealand coast , before resuming their voyage westward across open sea . In April 1770 they became the first Europeans to reach the east coast of Australia , making landfall at Point Hicks , and then proceeding to Botany Bay . </P>
who was the british naval officer that claimed the eastern coast of australia for great britain
who was the british naval officer that claimed the eastern coast of australia for great britain
Lieutenant James Cook
Lieutenant James Cook