It is, therefore, very probable, that what Bouvet saw was
nothing more than a large ice-island. From hence he stood to the east, in
51 deg. of latitude to 35 deg. of E. longitude: After which the two ships
separated, one going to the island of Mauritius, and the other returning to
France.[11]
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 of 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 of 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's 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
Harp 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 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 disk, a phenomenon of great importance to astronomy; and which
every-where engaged the attention of the learned in that science.
