Samuel Wallis (c. 1720 – January 21, 1795) was an Cornish navigator who circumnavigated the world. January 21 is the 21st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1795 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... The Cornish people are a British ethnic group originating in Cornwall. ... A navigator is the person onboard a ship responsible for the navigation of the vessel. ...

Wallis was born near Camelford, Cornwall. In 1766 he was given the command of HMS Dolphin to circumnavigate the world, accompanied by the Swallow under the command of Philip Carteret. The two ships were parted shortly after sailing through the Strait of Magellan, Wallis continuing to Tahiti, which he named King George the Third's Island in honour of the King (June 1767). He continued to Batavia, where many of the crew died from dysentery, then via the Cape of Good Hope to England, arriving in May 1768. He was able to pass on useful information to James Cook who was due to depart shortly for the Pacific, and some of the crew from the Dolphin sailed with Cook. Camelford is a town in Cornwall, England. ... Cornwall (Cornish: Kernow) is a county in South West England on the peninsula that lies to the west of the River Tamar. ... HMS Dolphin was a 24-gun sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. ... Philip Carteret (1733 - 1796) was a British naval officer and explorer who participated in the Royal Navys circumnavigation expedition of 1766. ... The Strait of Magellan is a navigable route immediately south of mainland Chile, South America. ... Map of French Polynesia Map of Tahiti and Moorea Tahiti is the largest island of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean at . ... Jakarta (also Djakarta or DKI Jakarta), formerly known as Sunda Kelapa, Jayakarta and Batavia is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. ... Dysentery is an illness (formerly known as the bloody flux or simply flux) involving severe diarrhea that is often associated with blood in the feces. ... The Cape of Good Hope; looking towards the west, from the coastal cliffs above Cape Point. ... James Cook, portrait by Nathaniel Dance, c. ... For other meanings of Pacific, see Pacific (disambiguation). ...

In 1780 Wallis was appointed Commissioner of the Admiralty. 1780 was a leap year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Old Admiralty House, Whitehall, London, Thomas Ripley, architect, 1723-26, was not admired by his contemporaries and earned him some scathing couplets from Alexander Pope The Admiralty was historically the authority in the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy. ...

The Polynesian archipelago of Wallis and Futuna (now a French overseas collectivity) is named in his honour. Carving from the ridgepole of a Māori house, ca 1840 Polynesia (from Greek: πολύς many, νῆσος island) is a large grouping of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. ...

Reference

• famousamericans.net, itself quoting the Edited Appletons Encyclopedia

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