1760

1761	26-Feb	John Harrison, inventor of the first practical chronometer, petitioned Lord Anson for sea trials of his H3 and H4 timepieces. Harrison tested his H1 chronometer in HMS Centurion in May 1736 and was awarded finance to develop his invention. The work of Harrison contributed to the success of Cook’s voyages of exploration.
1764	3-Feb	Capt Louis Antoine de Bougainville of the French Navy founded a colony at his own expense at Malouines in the Falkland Islands.
1764	4-Jul	Commodore Byron, RN, sailed from Plymouth in command of HM ships Dolphin and Tamar with secret orders from the Admiralty to establish a garrison in the Falkland Islands and discover new lands in the Southern Seas. The object was to forestall the French expedition led by Bougainville.
1765	9-Feb	The Board of Longitude in London accepted Tobias Mayer’s Lunar Tables for use in HM ships. Mayer’s heirs were awarded £3,000 for the invention.
1767	17-Jun	HMS Dolphin, Capt Samuel Waffis, RN, raised the British flag in Samoa. Britain, the USA and Germany claimed the islands a century later.
1767	10-Sep	HMS Swallow, Capt Phillip Cateret, RN, explored Pitcairn Island, New Ireland and New Britain. Swallow was the second vessel in Capt Wallis’ expedition.
1767	29-Sep	HMS Swallow, discovery vessel, Capt P. Carteret, RN, surveyed and named the Admiralty Islands.
1768	15-Feb	The British Crown was petitioned for funds to provide a ship to observe the transit of Venus across the sun and to discover the Australian continent before the French.
1768	5-Jun	Capt Louis Antoine de Bougainville cruised along the Great Barrier Reef but failed to find a passage through to the mainland.
1768	6-Jun	Capt de Bougainville noted an endless line of shoals and reefs while sailing about latitude 15⁰S. The French navigator had unknowingly discovered the Great Barrier Reef and was almost within sight of the east coast of Australia two years before Cook.
1768	2-Jul	Capt Louis de Bougainville, French ships Le Boudeuse, frigate, and L ‘Etoile, storeship, discovered and named Buka Island.
1768	30-Jul	HMS Endeavour, Lt James Cook, RN, sailed from Woolwich, England.
1768	29-Aug	Capt Louis de BougainVille, French ships Le Boudeuse and L ‘Etoile, were attacked by natives on the coast of New Britain.
1769	2-Jun	Capt Jean Francois Marie de Surville, French ship St Jean Baptiste, sailed from Pondicherry, India, on a voyage in which he unknowingly rediscovered and surveyed the Solomon Islands. He called the group Arsacides and claimed them for France.
1769	3-Jun	Lt James Cook, RN, HMS Endeavour, made observations of the transit of the planet Venus across the sun at Tahiti.
1769	15-Aug	HMS Endeavour, Lt James Cook, RN, sailed from Tahiti in search of the Great South Land.
1769	12-Dec	A French expedition led by Capt de Surville arrived on the west coast of New Zealand’s northern island. On the same day Lt James Cook, RN, HMS Endeavour, was surveying the east coast. The expeditions did not meet.