On 26 August 1768, James Cook set sail on his first voyage on the board of HMS Endeavour from Plymouth.
Originally, the purpose of the voyage was to observe and record the 1769 transit of Venus across the Sun, as a part of other observations to help to determine the distance of the Earth from the Sun.
However, Cook had also a secret instruction from the Admirality in a sealed order to search any sign of the assumed southern continent, “Terra Australis”.
And that’s made Cook’s first voyage (1768-1771) famous, because on 19 April 1770, this expedition became the first recorded encounter of Europeans with the eastern coastline of Australia.