Search results
Samuel Wallis (23 April 1728 – 21 January 1795 in London) was a British naval officer and explorer of the Pacific Ocean who made the first recorded visit by a European navigator to Tahiti. Biography
Learn about the British explorer who sailed to the South Pacific in 1766 in search of the elusive terra australis. Discover how he landed in Tahiti, the first European contact with the island, and faced challenges and hardships along the way.
Samuel Wallis was a naval officer who commanded the HMS Dolphin on a circumnavigation of the world in 1766-1768. He discovered Tahiti and other South Pacific islands, but failed to find the elusive southern continent.
Samuel Wallis in 1767 reached Tahiti, Moorea, and Maiao Iti. The Society Islands were named for the Royal Society, which had sponsored the expedition under Capt. James Cook that observed from Tahiti the 1769 transit of the Sun by the planet Venus.
Learn about the British naval officers who explored the South Pacific in 1766-1769, discovering Tahiti and Pitcairn Island. See maps, images, and accounts of their voyage, challenges, and encounters with the natives.
In 1766 the British Admiralty officially took up the search for the Southern Continent, sending out Captain Samuel Wallis (1728-1795) in command of HMS Dolphin, accompanied by Philip Carteret in HMS Swallow. They were given orders to explore the Pacific in search of the mythical Great South Land.
Jul 21, 2020 · Samuel Wallis was the captain of HMS Dolphin, a British frigate that explored the South Pacific in 1766. He was the first European to land on Tahiti, where he encountered the Tahitians, traded with them, and introduced venereal disease.
