1769 Transit of Venus observed from Tahiti while voyaging to (unsuccessfully) observe the 1761 Transit in Sumatra. Using the solar parallax values obtained from the 1769 transit, Hornsby wrote in "Philosophical Transitions" December 1771 that "the mean distance from the Earth to the Sun (is) 93,726,900 English miles." The radar-based value used today for the astronomical unit is . This is only a difference of eight-tenths of one percent. Considering what these astronomers had to work with, their results were "absolutely remarkable". 1769 Transit of Venus observed from Tahiti On June 3, 1769, British navigator Captain James Cook, British naturalist Joseph Banks, British astronomer Charles Green and
RMS Tahiti efforts. The court found both the crew and officials who had certified the ship′s compliance with standards of seaworthiness blameless in the sinking, stated that the breaking of a propeller shaft was a common event at sea but the level of damage sustained by "Tahiti" in the breaking of her propeller shaft was exceedingly rare, and determined that "Tahiti"′s sinking was "due to a peril of the sea which no reasonable human care or foresight could have avoided." The court commended "Tahiti"′s master, T. A. Toten, for displaying "resource and cool accurate judgment worthy of the highest praise," said that