ray@cluster.cs.su.oz.au (Raymond Lister) (10/24/90)
> Article xxx of sci.space.shuttle: > From: gandalf@pro-canaveral.cts.com (Ken Hollis) > Subject: Shuttle Names / Dates... > Date: 23 Oct 90 21:56:39 GMT > > ... > > OV-103 Discovery ... The vessel that Henry Hudson in 1610 - 1611 > attempted to find a northwest passage between the Pacific & Atlantic. > The ship Captain Cook discovered the Hawaiian Islands & explored > southern Alaska & western Canada. > > ... > > OV-105 Endeavour Projected Delivery, 1991. > ... I am sure someone out there can remember which reason this ship was > famous (Something about who sailed around the Cape Horn???) I guess every country - including Australia - teaches its school kids those parts of history which are important to that country, and ignore the rest. So naturally American kids learn about Captain Cook's discovery of the Hawaiian Islands on a ship called 'Discovery'. In an earlier voyage (~1770) on the Endeavour, Cook, amongst other things, took a party of astronomers to Tahiti to observe a transit of the sun by Venus (his primary mission), circumnavigated and mapped New Zealand, and last but not least, discovered and mapped the east coast of a small island later called "Australia". In fact, Cook made three voyages to the Pacific, and was killed by natives on that last voyage. He was arguably the greatest of all naval explorers. (At least that's what they told me at school.) Raymond Lister Department of Computer Science University of Sydney AUSTRALIA Internet: ray@cs.su.oz.AU