Título: James Cook
Seção: First voyage (1768-71)
Background: Captain James Cook  (7 November 1728 - 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the Royal Navy. Cook made detailed maps of Newfoundland prior to making three voyages to the Pacific Ocean, during which he achieved the first recorded European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands, and the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand. Cook joined the British merchant navy as a teenager and joined the Royal Navy in 1755. He saw action in the Seven Years' War, and subsequently surveyed and mapped much of the entrance to the Saint Lawrence River during the siege of Quebec.

Conteúdo: In 1766, the Admiralty engaged Cook to command a scientific voyage to the Pacific Ocean. The purpose of the voyage was to observe and record the transit of Venus across the Sun for the benefit of a Royal Society inquiry into a means of determining longitude. Cook, at the age of 39, was promoted to lieutenant to grant him sufficient status to take the command. For its part the Royal Society agreed that Cook would receive a one hundred guinea gratuity in addition to his Naval pay.  The expedition sailed aboard HMS Endeavour, departing England on 26 August 1768. Cook and his crew rounded Cape Horn and continued westward across the Pacific to arrive at Tahiti on 13 April 1769, where the observations of the Venus Transit were made. However, the result of the observations was not as conclusive or accurate as had been hoped. Once the observations were completed, Cook opened the sealed orders which were additional instructions from the Admiralty for the second part of his voyage: to search the south Pacific for signs of the postulated rich southern continent of Terra Australis. Cook then sailed to New Zealand and mapped the complete coastline, making only some minor errors. He then voyaged west, reaching the south-eastern coast of Australia on 19 April 1770, and in doing so his expedition became the first recorded Europeans to have encountered its eastern coastline.  On 23 April he made his first recorded direct observation of indigenous Australians at Brush Island near Bawley Point,

user: Where did Captain Cook go on his first voyage?

assistant: the Admiralty engaged Cook to command a scientific voyage to the Pacific Ocean.

user: Which islands did he visit in the Pacific

assistant: Cook and his crew rounded Cape Horn and continued westward across the Pacific to arrive at Tahiti

user: Tell me something noteworthy that happened on his first voyage?

assistant: The purpose of the voyage was to observe and record the transit of Venus across the Sun for the benefit of a Royal Society inquiry

user: Which ship did he go on for his first voyage?

assistant: The expedition sailed aboard HMS Endeavour,

user: Who else was on the trip?

assistant: his crew

user: Was his first voyage a success  [remember we can do more than 8 questions OK]?

assistant: On 23 April he made his first recorded direct observation of indigenous Australians at Brush Island near Bawley Point,

user: Did he go on land to observe the indigenous australians?

assistant: noting in his journal: "...and were so near the Shore as to distinguish several people upon the Sea beach they appear'd to be of a very dark or black Colour