I wonder if the 2019 Captain Cook coin design will be limited to the observation of the transit of Venus or include the charting of New Zealand which actually spanned 1769 & 1770.
In Jan 1769 Cook rounded Cape Horn, entering the Pacific phase of his outward voyage. One of the aims of the expedition was to observe the 1769 transit of Venus (the passing of Venus between Earth and Sun) from Tahiti, which they reached on 13 Apr 1769. The primary purpose of the observation was to obtain measurements that could be used to calculate more accurately the distance of Venus from the Sun, and on 3 Jun the observation went without a hitch.
Cook then charted the neighbouring islands naming them the Society Islands (now known as the Leeward Group of the Society Islands), all being protected by surrounding reefs and home to friendly inhabitants. Endeavour departed the Society Islands on 9 Aug 1769 and headed south under a second set of orders, which came in a sealed packet from the Admiralty. These instructed him to search for new lands, including the ‘Great Southern Continent.’
Failing to sight the postulated southern continent at a latitude of 40degS, Endeavour turned west and on 7 Oct 1769 reached New Zealand. Cook's cabin boy Nicholas Young was the first to sight the eastern seaboard of NZ’s North Island and the point is logged as Young Nick's Head (just north of Hawke’s Bay). The following six months were spent mapping the NZ coastlines, describing the soils, plants and animals and developing relationships with the local Maori people.
