Dalrymple, the chief hydrographer of the Admiralty, who had chief claims to the command, was also somewhat of a faddist, and Cook was selected almost as a _dernier ressort_.

The choice proved an excellent one.
He selected a coasting coaler named the _Endeavour_, of 360 tons, because her breadth of beam would enable her to carry more stores and to run near coasts.

Just before they started Captain Wallis returned from a voyage round the world upon which he had discovered or re-discovered Tahiti, and he recommended this as a suitable place for observing the transit.
Cook duly arrived there, and on the 3rd of June 1769 the main object of the expedition was fulfilled by a successful observation.

But he then proceeded farther, and arrived soon at a land which he saw reason to identify with the Staaten Land of Tasman; but on coasting along this, Cook found that, so far from belonging to a great southern continent, it was composed of two islands, between which he sailed, giving his name to the strait separating them.
Leaving New Zealand on the 31st of March 1770, on the 20th of the next month he came across another land to the westward, hitherto unknown to mariners.

Entering an inlet, he explored the neighbourhood with the aid of Mr.Joseph Banks, the naturalist of the expedition.
He found so many plants new to him, that the bay was termed Botany Bay.
He then coasted northward, and nearly lost his ship upon the great reef running down the eastern coast; but by keeping within it he managed to reach the extreme end of the land in this direction, and proved that it was distinct from New Guinea.