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Second Voyage Of James Cook
The second voyage of James Cook, from 1772 to 1775, commissioned by the British government with advice from the Royal Society, was designed to circumnavigate the globe as far south as possible to finally determine whether there was any great southern landmass, or '' Terra Australis''. On his first voyage, Cook had demonstrated by circumnavigating New Zealand that it was not attached to a larger landmass to the south, and he charted almost the entire eastern coastline of mainland Australia, yet ''Terra Australis'' was believed to lie further south. Alexander Dalrymple and others of the Royal Society still believed that this massive southern continent should exist. After a delay brought about by the botanist Joseph Banks' unreasonable demands, the ships '' Resolution'' and ''Adventure'' were fitted for the voyage and set sail for the Antarctic in July 1772. On 17 January 1773, ''Resolution'' was the first ship to venture south of the Antarctic Circle, which she did twice more ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, recognising excellence in science, supporting outstanding science, providing scientific advice for policy, education and public engagement and fostering international and global co-operation. Founded on 28 November 1660, it was granted a royal charter by Charles II of England, King Charles II and is the oldest continuously existing scientific academy in the world. The society is governed by its Council, which is chaired by the society's president, according to a set of statutes and standing orders. The members of Council and the president are elected from and by its Fellows, the basic members of the society, who are themselves elected by existing Fellows. , there are about 1,700 fellows, allowed to use the postnominal title FRS (Fellow ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Society Islands
The Society Islands ( , officially ; ) are an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean that includes the major islands of Tahiti, Mo'orea, Moorea, Raiatea, Bora Bora and Huahine. Politically, they are part of French Polynesia, an overseas country of France, overseas country of the France, French Republic. Geographically, they form part of Polynesia. Name The term ''Society Islands'' was first used by Captain James Cook when he visited the Leeward Islands (Society Islands), Leeward Islands, a subgroup of six of the modern-day Society Islands, during his First voyage of James Cook, expedition to the south Pacific Ocean in 1769. It has been asserted that the name honors the Royal Society, the sponsor of his voyage, but this is disputed. Cook wrote in his journal: History Settlement The first Polynesians are understood to have arrived on these islands around 1000AD. Oral history origin The islanders explain their origins in terms of an oral tradition, orally transmitted sto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Society Of London
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, recognising excellence in science, supporting outstanding science, providing scientific advice for policy, education and public engagement and fostering international and global co-operation. Founded on 28 November 1660, it was granted a royal charter by King Charles II and is the oldest continuously existing scientific academy in the world. The society is governed by its Council, which is chaired by the society's president, according to a set of statutes and standing orders. The members of Council and the president are elected from and by its Fellows, the basic members of the society, who are themselves elected by existing Fellows. , there are about 1,700 fellows, allowed to use the postnominal title FRS (Fellow of the Royal Society) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Wales (astronomer)
William Wales (1734? – 29 December 1798) was a British mathematician and astronomer who sailed on Captain Cook's second voyage of discovery, then became Master of the Royal Mathematical School at Christ's Hospital and a Fellow of the Royal Society. Early life Wales was born around 1734 to John and Sarah Wales and was baptised in Warmfield (near the West Yorkshire town of Wakefield) that year. As a youth, according to the historian John Cawte Beaglehole, Wales travelled south in the company of a Mr Holroyd, who became a plumber in the service of George III. By the mid-1760s, Wales was contributing to '' The Ladies' Diary''. In 1765 he married Mary Green, sister of the astronomer Charles Green. In 1765, Wales was employed by the Astronomer Royal Nevil Maskelyne as a ''computer'', calculating ephemerides that could be used to establish the longitude of a ship, for Maskelyne's '' Nautical Almanac''. 1769 transit of Venus and wintering at Hudson Bay As part of the plans of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marine Chronometer
A marine chronometer is a precision timepiece that is carried on a ship and employed in the determination of the ship's position by celestial navigation. It is used to determine longitude by comparing Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), and the time at the current location found from observations of celestial bodies. When first developed in the 18th century, it was a major technical achievement, as accurate knowledge of the time over a long sea voyage was vital for effective navigation, lacking electronic or communications aids. The first true chronometer was the life work of one man, John Harrison, spanning 31 years of persistent experimentation and testing that revolutionized naval (and later aerial) navigation. The term ''wikt:chronometer, chronometer'' was coined from the Greek words () (meaning time) and (meaning measure). The 1713 book ''Physico-Theology'' by the English cleric and scientist William Derham includes one of the earliest theoretical descriptions of a marine chronome ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Larcum Kendall
Larcum Kendall (21 September 1719 in Charlbury, Oxfordshire – 22 November 1790 in London) was a watchmaker from Oxfordshire, who was active in London. Early life Kendall was born on 21 September 1719 in Charlbury. His father was a Mercery, mercer and linen draper named Moses Kendall, and his mother was Ann Larcum from Chepping Wycombe in Buckinghamshire; they married on 18 June 1718. The family were Quakers. The cottage where they lived is thought to be on the site of Charlbury's Amarelo bistro on Market Street. He had a brother, Moses. In 1735 Kendall was apprenticed to the London watchmaker John Jefferys (clockmaker), John Jeffreys. He was living with his parents in St Clement Danes at the time. Jeffreys created a pocket watch for John Harrison, who later used ideas from pocket watches in his John Harrison#H4, H4 marine chronometer, chronometer. Kendall set up his own business in 1742, working with Thomas Mudge (horologist), Thomas Mudge to make watches, working for t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South Georgia Island
South Georgia is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic Ocean that is part of the British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It lies around east of the Falkland Islands. Stretching in the east–west direction, South Georgia is around long and has a maximum width of . The terrain is mountainous, with the central ridge rising to at Mount Paget. The northern coast is indented with numerous bays and fjords, serving as harbor, harbours. Discovered by Europeans in 1675, South Georgia had no indigenous population due to its harsh climate and remoteness. Captain James Cook in made the first landing, survey and mapping of the island. On 17 January 1775, Cook claimed it a British possession, naming it "Isle of Georgia" after George III, King George III. Through its history of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, history, it served as a whaling and seal hunting base, with intermittent population scattere ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South Sandwich Islands
The South Sandwich Islands () are a chain of uninhabited volcanic islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. They are administered as part of the British Overseas Territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The chain lies in the sub-Antarctic region, about southeast of South Georgia and northeast from the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. The archipelago comprises 11 main islands forming an island arc running north–south, the largest being Montagu at . It is divided into four groups, from north to south: The Traversay, Candlemas and Central Islands ( Saunders, Montagu, and Bristol), and Southern Thule. The archipelago is prone to violent earthquakes. Over the previous century, nine M 7+ earthquakes have occurred here, the most recent being the M 8.1 in August 2021. None of these earthquakes are known to have caused fatalities due to their remote location. History The southern eight islands of the South Sandwich Islands were discovered by Captain ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palmerston Island
Palmerston Island is a coral atoll in the Cook Islands in the Pacific Ocean about northwest of Rarotonga. James Cook landed there on 16 June 1774. Overview Palmerston Island is one of a number of sandy islets on a continuous ring of coral reef enclosing a lagoon. The only inhabited islet is Home. The total land area of the islets is approximately . The coral reef covers about . The lagoon is some across, covering an area of . There are several small passages through the reef for boats, though there is no safe entry for large ships. At a latitude of 18 degrees south, Palmerston enjoys a tropical climate but is exposed to severe tropical cyclones. A particularly destructive series of storms occurred during the 1920s and 1930s. The atoll rim consists of a series of motu or islets. Clockwise from Home, these include: * Home * North Island * Tara i Tokerau * Marions Bank * Motu Ngangie * Lee To Us * Leicester * Small Cooks * Karakerake * Primrose * Toms * Cooks All the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island ( , ; ) is an States and territories of Australia, external territory of Australia located in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and New Caledonia, directly east of Australia's Evans Head, New South Wales, Evans Head and about from Lord Howe Island. Together with the neighbouring Phillip Island (Norfolk Island), Phillip Island and Nepean Island (Norfolk Island), Nepean Island, the three islands collectively form the Territory of Norfolk Island. At the 2021 Australian census, 2021 census, it had 2,188 inhabitants living on a total area of about . Its capital is Kingston, Norfolk Island, Kingston. East Polynesians were the first to settle Norfolk Island, but they had already departed when Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain settled it as part of its 1788 colonisation of Australia. The island served as a penal colony, convict penal settlement from 6 March 1788 until 5 May 1855, except for an 11-year hiatus between 15 February 1814 and 6 June 1825, when ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Caledonia
New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of the French Republic, a legal status unique in overseas France, and is enshrined in a dedicated chapter of the French Constitution. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre (New Caledonia), Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Chesterfield Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of Pines (New Caledonia), Isle of Pines, and a few remote islets. The Chesterfield Islands are in the Coral Sea. French people, especially locals, call Grande Terre , a nickname also used more generally for the entire New Caledonia. Kanak people#Agitation for independence, Pro-independence Kanak parties use the name (''pron.'' ) to refer to New Caledonia, a term coined in the 1980s from the ethnic name of the indi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
