Explorer's of Australia 26.9.1983

Thank you Merja.

200th Anniversary of The first voyage of James Cook 29.5.1968

The first voyage of James Cook was a combined Royal Navy and Royal Society expedition to the south Pacific Ocean aboard HMS Endeavour, from 1768 to 1771. It was the first of three Pacific voyages of which Cook was the commander. The aims of this first expedition were to observe the 1769 transit of Venus across the Sun (3–4 June of that year), and to seek evidence of the postulated Terra Australis Incognita or "unknown southern land".

The voyage was commissioned by King George III and commanded by Lieutenant James Cook, a junior naval officer with skills in cartography and mathematics. Departing from Plymouth-Dock (Devonport) in August 1768, the expedition crossed the Atlantic, rounded Cape Horn and reached Tahiti in time to observe the transit of Venus. Cook then set sail into the largely uncharted ocean to the south, stopping at the Pacific islands of Huahine, Borabora and Raiatea to claim them for Great Britain, and unsuccessfully attempting to land at Rurutu. In September 1769 the expedition reached New Zealand, being the second Europeans to visit there, following the first European discovery by Abel Tasman 127 years earlier. Cook and his crew spent the following six months charting the New Zealand coast, before resuming their voyage westward across open sea. In April 1770 they became the first Europeans to reach the east coast of Australia, making landfall at Point Hicks, and then proceeding to Botany Bay.

The expedition continued northward along the Australian coastline, narrowly avoiding shipwreck on the Great Barrier Reef. In October 1770 the badly damaged Endeavour came into the port of Batavia in the Dutch East Indies, her crew sworn to secrecy about the lands they had discovered. They resumed their journey on 26 December, rounded the Cape of Good Hope on 13 March 1771, and reached the English port of Deal on 12 July. The voyage lasted almost three years.

Explorers & Navigators 20.9.1993

Alessandro Malaspina (November 5, 1754 – April 9, 1810) was an Italian explorer who spent most of his life as a Spanish naval officer. Under a Spanish royal commission, he undertook a voyage around the world from 1786 to 1788, then, from 1789 to 1794, a scientific expedition (the Malaspina Expedition) throughout the Pacific Ocean, exploring and mapping much of the west coast of the Americas from Cape Horn to the Gulf of Alaska.  

José Celestino Mutis (1732–1808) was a Spanish priest, botanist and mathematician, best known for leading the 25 year Royal Botanical Expedition to the New World, commencing in 1783.

José Celestino Mutis (6 April 1732 – 11 September 1808) was a Spanish priest, botanist and mathematician.

Cyprus - 500th Anniversary of Leonardo Da Vinci's visit 15.6.1981

"From the southern seaboard of Cicilia may be seen to the south the beautiful island of Cyprus which was the realm of the goddess Venus, and many there have been who, impelled by her loveliness, have had their ships and rigging broken upon the rocks that lie among the seething waves. Here the beauty of some pleasant hills invites the wandering mariners to take there ease among its flowery verdure, where the zephyrs continually come and go, filling with sweet odours the island and the encompassing sea...". This note is found in the notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) one of the most prominent artists and one of the most complex geniuses not only of he era (Italian Renaissance) but of all times. In the same page there is also a ground plan, a front view and a description of the structure of a temple of Aphrodite. Although there does not exist any historical evidence for the visit of Leonardo in Cyprus, the description given in that note about the beauties of the island, allows us to presume that Leonardo has indeed visited Cyprus. This presumption is enforced by sources according to which the visit took place in 1481 (500 years ago) during the reign of Katherine Cornaro, queen of Cyprus, who entertained the famous painter. It is said that Leonardo was so much impressed by the Lefkara laces that he took with him one which he offered to be used on the Altar of the Cathedral of Milan.
The stamps on this First Day Cover feature A Lefkara Lace with the Cathedral of Milan in the background (top left), A self-portrait of Leonardo Da Vinci, and finally the famous painting of the Lord's Supper by Leonardo Da Vinci. Merja My Dear Friend sent me this cover.