1770 – James Cook names and lands on Possession Island, and claims the east coast of Australia for Britain as New South Wales.
1780 – James Cook's ship HMS Resolution returns to England (Cook having been killed on Hawaii during the voyage).
1827 – José de la Mar becomes President of Peru.
1834 – Samuel Pierpont Langley, American physicist and astronomer (d. 1906)
1896 – Laurence McKinley Gould, American geologist, educator, and polar explorer (d. 1995)
1949 – The Queen Charlotte earthquake is Canada's strongest since the 1700 Cascadia earthquake
