Afia-too-ca, a Burying Place in the Isle of Amsterdam (before title)

This engraving, after a drawing by artist William Hodges, is in John Hawkesworth's account (1773) of the voyages of Captain James Cook, Joseph Banks and Captain John Byron. It represents a burial place on the island of Tongatapu in the Pacific. The print caption refers to the island as the “Isle of Amsterdam”, the name given to it by Abel Tasman in the 1640s. Cook landed on the island on 4 October 1773 and stayed for three days. He later visited against from 26–29 June 1774.

Captain James Cook (1728-1779) made three separate voyages to the Pacific (with the ships Endeavour, Resolution, Adventure, and Discovery) and did more than any other voyager to explore the Pacific and Southern Ocean. Cook not only encountered Pacific cultures for the first time, but also assembled the first large-scale collections of Pacific objects to be brought back to Europe. He was killed in Hawaii in 1779.

Mounted in album with PAI2055-PAI2077, PAI2079-PAI2127.; No.21.

Object Details

ID: PAI2078
Type: Print
Display location: Not on display
Creator: Byrne, William
Places: Unlinked place
Date made: 1777
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London
Measurements: Sheet: 261 x 405 mm; page: 460 mm x 590 mm
Parts: Volume of Plates to Cook's Voyages. Voyage II (Album)