On this day 25th August 1768- Captain Cook begins his maiden voyage

Captain Cook had spent his younger years learning his trade in Whitby, before rising through the ranks of the Royal Navy as a talented cartographer and explorer. In 1768, The Royal Society, a scientific research body formed in 1660 had a special mission for him. A great astronomical event was taking place in the Southern Hemisphere, where the planet Venus would cross the path of the sun. He had to track and observe its progress from the island of Tahiti. Cook and his crew set off on this day from Plymouth Harbour on 25th August 1768 on a two year adventure. After Venus had left the path of the sun another mission, concealed in an envelope from the Royal Society, would see him travel west to New Zealand and the East Coast of Australia. The rest as they say is history..

Cover image credit: With thanks to Wellcome images https://wellcomeimages.org/indexplus/image/M0011198.html Wikipedia creative commons 4.0