The Voyage of the Endeavor
Brian
Greig collection
Globe projection
showing places of ingress and egress for
the planet Venus during the 1769 Transit
Transit
of Venus R.A. Proctor 1875 - Brian Greig collection
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Island of Tahiti 1780 Alex Hogg
James Cook sketch of Island of Tahiti, showing Matavai Bay and Point Venus,
originally found by Captain Wallis Sometimes
called Point Royal.
Brian
Greig collection
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The island of Tahiti from the air
Brian
Greig Collection
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View of Point Venus and the Endeavor at anchor
in
Matavia Bay, Tahiti from One Tree Hill
Italian
Publication 1780 Circa, plagiarism was alive and well in the 18th
Century.
Sometimes prints were engraved back to front and the figures slightly
changed to look different from
the original which had been copied.
Brian Greig collection
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The moons of Jupiter
were used by NAVIGATORS TO check their instruments
and confirm their longitude.
they were also used for determining the speed of light
Astronomy
Explained......James Ferguson 1757 - Brian
Greig collection
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James Cook and Joseph Banks, {the expedition botanist}
would have remembered
these types of microscopes from their earlier years, by the 1760's
more modern instruments appeared. These sketch's date from about
1720.
Brian Greig Collection, Circa 1750
Note the small microscope on
the table beside a young
Joseph Banks, painted by an unknown artist the painting once hung
at
Revesby Abbey was home of Joseph Banks England
Joseph
Banks showing the locals the Transit of Venus using a Telescope
"Astronomy"
Fred Hoyle
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Type
of instrument supplied to Joseph Banks and Dr Solander while
aboard the Endeavor possibly by George Adams.
He also supplied William Wales and William Bayley with instruments
on Cooks second voyage for a price of twenty seven pounds
and nine shillings. |
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Jesse Ramsden Sextant
Private
Collection |
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USED FOR FIXING LONGITUDE
FROM THE STARS WITH A 19 MM DIAMETER
OBJECTIVE AND
focal length of
330 mm and radius arm of 300 mm this instrument was
stolen by the locals who thought it must have great
powers because it was moved around in a wooden box
and guarded with a sentry.
it was recovered, attempts had been
made to pull it to pieces but it was put back together
again some would say that it had lost its original
alignment and accuracy.
The counter weight hanging at the left
hand side was immersed in water to dampen any vibrations
that might occur during observations. A mahogany tripod
was used to support the quadrant when used on location
around Tahiti |
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Astronomical
Regulator Clock by John Shelton, 1768: Cook's second
and third voyages.
The property of the Royal Society. |
Jesse Ramsden
, J.Sisson and Bird made these instruments the illustrated
instrument is by Bird.
The Astronomical Quadrant Cambridge Whipple Museum |
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Peter Dolland supplied refracting telescopes with
a focal
length of about 40inch focal length they were fitted with a split
objective { a form of heliometer} and micrometer for precise
measurements, the style taken by Cook would have been close to these
two images
Dip Needle by Nairne was taken by Captain Cook
"Apparatus
of Science at Harvard University "
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From
the Science Museum London Collection
This model was made before 1761 to demonstrate
the problems
involved in finding the distance of the Sun from the Earth
using the planet Venus. It was used to show clearly why transits
of Venus occur at intervals of little over a hundred years
and repeat two transits where each transit is separated by
eight years i.e. 1761-1769, , 1874-
1882 and in the 21st Cent. 2004 and 2012."
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Greenwich Observatory and the Astronomers Royal played
an important part in all the Transits of
Venus,instruments were calibrated and checked, the long case astronomical
regulator clock made by
John Shelton number 35 would have been checked here also.
National
Maritime Museum, as it would have appeared in the 18th Century
"Discoverers
of Space" 1969 - Brian
Greig collection
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Astronomy
explained by James Ferguson 1785 Brian Greig Collection
James Ferguson was a member of a coterie of
people all of whom were interested in astronomy and the Transits
of Venus. He translated into English in 1760 the "MAPPMONDE"
produced by
Joseph Delisle a French man showing the progress of the Venus
across the Sun and the best places to view it from around
the world.
Delisle had used the Paris Observatory as the
meridian upon which the viewing times were based.
James Ferguson redrew the "MAPPMONDE" with the Greenwich
Meridian and during the transit he viewed the event with others
from the roof top of the British Museum London. He is better
known for his lectures on astronomy and the models and orreries
he used to give a better understanding of the cosmos. While
working there he had an outstanding student M.Messier better
known for his discoveries of Comets and Nebulae.
Mappemonde Sur la quelle on amarques les Heures
et les Minutes des tems vrai delentree et de la sortie du
centre de Venus...............par M.DEL'ISLE del' Academic
Royal des Sciences.
Astronomer and map maker Joseph Nicolas Delisle
played an important part in the life of another French astronomer
Charles Messier who he hired in 1751 as a draughtsman. We
know him today as the founder of the Messier Catalogue { M31}
the Andromeda Galaxy the Omega nebulae
{ M17 } etc etc. |
Astronomy
explained J.Ferguson 1757 , Brian Greig Collection
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The original painting of the moon { 1795 } by John Russell
R.A.about five feet square was given to Radcliffe Observatory
in 1824 by his daughter. He also painted John Wesley,
William Cowper, and Sir Joseph Banks in 1788
Graphic
Magazine 1922 |
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James Cooks Cottage donated to the people of Australia
from the people
of England, shipped out brick by brick and reassembled in Melbourne.
Image
kindly supplied by Cook's Cottages Fitzroy gardens Melbourne Australia
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Porcelain Plaque of James Cook by Josiah Wedgewood
"James
Cook" by Beaglehole
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