Home > Tobias Furneaux

Furneaux was born at Swilly near Plymouth. He entered the Royal Navy, and was employed on the French and African coasts and in the West Indies during the latter part of the Seven Years War (1760-1763). He served as second lieutenant of the Dolphin under Captain Samuel Wallis on the latter's voyage round the globe (August 1766 - May 1768). Furneaux was made a commander in November 1771, and commanded the Adventure which accompanied Captain Cook (in the Resolution) on Cook's second voyage.

On this expedition Furneaux was twice separated from his leader (February 8 - May 19, 1773; October 22, 1773 - July 14, 1774, the date of his return to England). On the former occasion he explored a great part of the south and east coasts of Tasmania, and made the earliest British chart of the same. Most of his names here survive; Cook, visiting this shore-line on his third voyage, confirmed Furneaux's account and delineation of it (with certain minor criticisms and emendations), and named after him the islands in Banks Straits , opening into Bass's Straits, and the group now known as the Low Archipelago .

After the Adventure was finally separated from the Resolution off New ZealandFor alternative meanings, see New Zealand (disambiguation). New Zealand is a country formed of two major islands and a number of smaller islands in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. A common Mori name for New Zealand is Aotearoa popularly translated as Land in October 1773, Furneaux returned home alone, bringing with him Omai of Ulaietea . This first South Sea Islander seen in the British IslesThe British Isles is a traditional term used to identify the group of islands off the northwest coast of Europe consisting of Great Britain, Ireland and the many smaller adjacent islands. These islands form an archipelago of more than 6,000 islands off th returned to his home with Cook in 1776-1777.

Furneaux was made a captain in 1775. During the American RevolutionThe American Revolutionary War ( 1775 1783), also known as the American War of Independence was a war fought between Great Britain and revolutionaries within thirteen of her North American colonies. The war, which eventually widened far beyond British Nor, he commanded the Syren in the British attack of the 28th of June 1776 upon Charleston, South CarolinaCharleston is an American city located predominantly in Charleston County, South Carolina. The city was founded as Charlestown or Charles Town Carolina in 1670, and moved to its present location in 1690, when it had a population of 1200 and was the fifth.

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. 1911 Britannica