April 19 » Captain James Cook, still holding the rank of lieutenant, sights the eastern coast of what is now Australia.
April 20 » The Georgian king, Erekle II, abandoned by his Russian ally Count Totleben, wins a victory over Ottoman forces at Aspindza.
June 11 » British explorer Captain James Cook runs aground on the Great Barrier Reef.
July 1 » Lexell's Comet is seen closer to the Earth than any other comet in recorded history, approaching to a distance of 0.0146 astronomical units (2,180,000km; 1,360,000mi).
August 21 » James Cook formally claims eastern Australia for Great Britain, naming it New South Wales.
November 14 » James Bruce discovers what he believes to be the source of the Nile.
Day of death May 29, 1785
The temperature on May 29, 1785 was about 10.0 °C. There was 22 mm of rainWind direction mainly west-northwest. Weather type: zeer betrokken. Source: KNMI
January 7 » Frenchman Jean-Pierre Blanchard and American John Jeffries travel from Dover, England, to Calais, France, in a gas balloon.
January 20 » Invading Siamese forces attempt to exploit the political chaos in Vietnam, but are ambushed and annihilated at the Mekong river by the Tây Sơn in the Battle of Rạch Gầm-Xoài Mút.
January 27 » The University of Georgia is founded, the first public university in the United States.
November 28 » The first Treaty of Hopewell is signed, by which the United States acknowledges Cherokee lands in what is now East Tennessee.
When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin: A.J. Kegels, "Family tree Afens", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/stamboom-afens/I82.php : accessed February 26, 2026), "Cornelia Fens (1770-1785)".
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