James Cook and Tobias Furneaux  

Tobias Furneaux (1735 - 1781) was second in command of the great 1772-1775 Antarctic expedition led by James Cook (1728 - 1779) when he visited Adventure Bay and charted the coast of Van Diemens Land early in 1773. His ship Adventure, after which Furneaux named this Bruny Island bay, had not long before accompanied Cook's ship Resolution south across the Antarctic Circle - the first ships ever to achieve this feat. Near Heard Island, the two ships had become separated. Furneaux stopped for water at Adventure Bay on his way to a rendezvous with Cook in New Zealand. Cook was to visit the same spot four years later, on his final, fatal voyage in which he was killed in the Hawaiian Islands.