A Sea Otter

This engraving is after a drawing by John Webber from John Hawkesworth's account (1773) of the voyages of Captain James Cook, Joseph Banks and Captain John Byron.

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.

John Webber was the artist on Cook’s third voyage from 1776-1780.

Cook's travelled to Nootka Sound (King George's Sound), Vancouver Island, on the north-west coast of America between 29 March and 26 April 1778. This was likely when Webber made this drawing.

Loosely bound in album with PAI3893-PAI3915, PAI3917-PAI3936.; Plate No.43 in Cook's Voyage to the Pacific.

Object Details

ID: PAI3916
Type: Print
Display location: Not on display
Creator: Mazell, Peter; Webber, John
Date made: 1734; 1778
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London
Measurements: Platemark: 200 mm x 267 mm; Primary support: 390 mm x 535 mm
Parts: Illustrations of Cooks Voyages (Album)