Possibly Cook exploring a small island with natives looking on

This is likely a scene from Yoolee-Etea. The voyagers and islanders had good relations and were fond of trading commodities. Yoolee-Etea was an island visited after Otaheite by Captain James Cook during the first Endeavor voyage to the Pacific from 1768-1771.

Many drawings and engravings were then put 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.


Mounted in Album PAJ2143, with PAJ2145 - PAJ2206. Possibly after the Sykes who was one of Vancouver's midshipmen (N Rigby 6/04)

Object Details

ID: PAJ2175
Type: Print
Display location: Not on display
Creator: Alexander, after William; Sykes, J. Pouncy, Benjamin Thomas
Date made: 1769-1770; 1769-70
People: Alexander, William; Sykes, J. Pouncy, Benjamin Thomas
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London
Measurements: Sheet: 232 x 306 mm
Parts: Plates of Cook's Voyages - Voyage 1 (Album)