3. H.M.S. Gorgon's Visit, 1792.

H.M.S. Gorgon, during a voyage round the world under the command of Captain John Parker, sailed past the Three Kings and the north of New Zealand on 5th January 1792. No attempt was made to land, those on board contenting themselves with merely noting the “desolate barren and rocky" appearance of the coastline from the North Cape to Cape Maria van Diemen. Up to this time no British vessel is recorded as having sailed between the Three Kings and the mainland. Tasman had done it in 1643, De Surville in 1769, and Marion in 1772; Cook, our solitary representative in the vicinity, had passed outside the islands.