After this voyage of Bouvet, the spirit of discovery ceased, till his present Majesty formed a design of making discoveries, and exploring the Southern Hemisphere; and, in the year 1764, directed it to be put in execution.
Accordingly, Commodore Byron, having under his command the Dolphin and Tamer, sailed from the Downs on the 21st of June the same year; and having visited the Falkland islands, passed through the Straits of Magalhaens into the Pacific Ocean, where he discovered the islands of Disappointment;—George’s;—Prince of Wales’s;—the isles of Danger;—York island;—and Byron island.
He returned to England the 9th of May, 1766; and, in the month of August following, the Dolphin was again sent out, under the command of Captain Wallis, with the Swallow, commanded by Captain Carteret.
They proceeded together, till they came to the west end of the Straits of Magalhaens, and the Great South Sea in sight, where they were separated.
Captain Wallis directed his course more westerly than any navigator had done before him in so high a latitude; but met with no land till he got within the tropic, where he discovered the islands Whitsunday;—Queen Charlotte;—Egmont;—Duke of Gloucester;—Duke of Cumberland;—Maitea;—Otaheite;—Eimeo;—Tapamanou;—How;—Scilly;—Boscawen;—Keppel;—and Wallis; and returned to England in May, 1768.
His companion Captain Carteret kept a different route; in which he discovered the islands Osnaburg;—Gloucester;—Queen Charlotte’s isles;—Carteret’s;—Gower’s;—and the Strait between New Britain and New Ireland; and returned to England in March, 1769.
In November, 1766, Commodore Bougainville sailed from France, in the frigate La Boudeuse, with the store-ship L’Etoile. After spending some time on the coast of Brazil, and at Falkland islands, he got into the Pacific Sea, by the Straits of Magalhaens, in January, 1768.
In this ocean he discovered the Four Facardines;—the Isle of Lanciers;—and Harpe island, which I take to be the same that I afterwards named Lagoon;—Thrum Cap, and Bow island. About twenty leagues farther to the west, he discovered four other islands;—afterwards fell in with Maitea;—Otaheite;—Isles of Navigators;—and Forlorn Hope; which to him were new discoveries. He then passed through between the Hebrides;—discovered the Shoal of Diana; and some others;—the land of Cape Deliverance;—several islands more to the north;—passed to the north of New Ireland; touched at Batavia; and arrived in France in March, 1769.
This year was rendered remarkable by the transit of the planet Venus over the sun’s disc; a phænomenon of great importance to astronomy; and which every where engaged the attention of the learned in that science.
In the beginning of the year 1768, the Royal Society presented a memorial to his Majesty, setting forth the advantages to be derived from accurate observations of this transit in different parts of the world; particularly from a set of such observations made in a southern latitude, between the 140th and 180th degrees of longitude, west from the Royal Observatory at Greenwich; and that vessels, properly equipped, would be necessary to convey the observers to their destined stations; but that the Society were in no condition to defray the expence of such an undertaking.