This engraving, after a drawing by artist William Hodges, is from the account of James Cook's second voyage, 1772-75. It features a plan and cross-section of a Tongan canoe. Cook landed on the island of Tongatapu – the main island of Tonga – on 4 October 1773 and stayed for three days. He later visited against from 26–29 June 1774. He referred to the island as the “Isle of Amsterdam”, the name given to it by Abel Tasman in the 1640s.

As recorded in Hawkesworth's account, Cook’s two short visits to Tongatapu resulted in many fine drawings of Tongan canoes. Everyone was greatly impressed by the size and quality of the canoes: 'No canoes that we have seen in these seas can bear the least Comparison with these in point of neatness and workmanship.'

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-PAI2078, PAI2080-PAI2127.