1769 Transit of Venus observed from Tahiti 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 Swedish naturalist Daniel Solander recorded the transit of Venus on the island of Tahiti during Cook's first voyage around the world. During a transit, Venus appears as a small black disc travelling across the Sun. This unusual astronomical phenomenon takes place in a pattern that repeats itself every 243 years. It includes two transits that are eight years apart, separated by breaks of 121.5 and 105.5 years. These men, along with a crew of scientists,
Stafford (1769 EIC ship) Stafford (1769 EIC ship) Stafford was an East Indiaman launched in 1769 that made two complete voyages to India and China for the British East India Company. During her third voyage she was wrecked in 1779 at Calcutta. Captain Thomas Lyell sailed from The Downs on 6 February 1770, bound for Madras and China. On 11 March "Stafford" was at Brest, France. She reached Johanna on 29 July, and arrived at Madras on 31 August. She continued her voyage, reaching Malacca on 8 November and Trengganu on 17 May 1791 before arriving at Whampoa on 12 July. Homeward bound, she