This voyage of
discovery was the first English scientific expedition since that of the
_Roebuck_. Byron returned in 1766 without touching at New Holland, his
principal discovery being the Falkland Islands. Three months after his
return another expedition sailed under the command of Wallis in the
_Dolphin_, and with Carteret in the _Swallow_. The voyage resulted in many
minor discoveries, but will be chiefly remembered for that of Tahiti and
the story of Wallis' stay there. The _Dolphin_ [Sidenote: 1766-1769]
reached England in May, 1768. The two vessels had previously separated in
Magellan Straits; and the _Swallow_, pursuing a different course to that
taken by the _Dolphin_, made many discoveries, including Pitcairn Island;
the Sandwich Group; and several islands in the neighbourhood of New
Guinea, New Ireland and the Admiralty Islands. The _Swallow_ reached
England six months after Cook sailed. The _Dolphin's_ return so long
before her consort alarmed the Admiralty for the safety of the _Swallow_,
and Carteret on his way home, falling in with the French scientific
expedition under Bougainville, who himself had been exploring in the
Pacific, was informed that two vessels had been sent out to search for him
and his men, who, it was thought, might be cast away in the Straits of
Magellan.
Dampier's voyage was made solely for discovery purposes; Anson, who forty
years later went into the South Seas and so near to Australia as the
Philippines, had gone out to fight; Byron, Wallis, and Carteret, who
immediately preceded Cook, had sailed to discover and chart new countries;
but Cook, who made the greatest discovery and did more important charting
than all of them put together, sailed in the _Endeavour_ for the purpose
of making certain astronomical observations, and exploration was only a
secondary object of the voyage.
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