A war canoe of New Zealand, with a view of Gable End Foreland (without title)

This war canoe from New Zealand is an engraving by Sydney Parkinson done in April 1770. Parkinson was a Scottish botanist and natural history artist employed by Joseph Banks on Captain James Cook's first Endeavor voyage to the Pacific from 1768-1771. The drawing was then engraved in John Hawkesworth's Voyages (an account of the journeys by Captain Cook, Vice Admiral John Byron, and Joseph Banks published on behalf of the Admirality in 1773). Captain 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.

War canoes, according to Joseph Banks, were judged to hold over 60 people.

This is the first of two such engravings.
Mounted in album with PAI3938-PAI3983, PAI3985-PAI4076.; Page 41.

Object Details

ID: PAI3984
Type: Print
Display location: Not on display
Creator: Parkinson, Sydney
Date made: 1770
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London
Measurements: Sheet: 290 x 615 mm; Plate: 240 x 567 mm
Parts: Atlas to Cook's Voyages Vol I 1773-1777. (Illustrations are from Hawkesworth's 'Voyages to the Southern Hemisphere', all volumes, and Cook [ed. Douglas] 'A Voyage towards the South Pole... ' [1773-75], page 70 onwards) (Album)