Cook has been sent by the Royal Navy to the Pacific to track the transit of Venus from Tahiti, but also with a second, secret mission: once he’s reached Tahiti, he will go on to search for the great southern continent, Terra Australis. Encountering Tahitians, Maori and Aboriginal Australians, Cook and his crew develop relations with them which will often turn sour. Join Tom and Dominic in the second part of our series on Captain Cook, as they delve into his exploring of the Pacific, his relationships with indigenous peoples, the behaviour of Joseph Banks and the Endeavour’s crew, stories of goats and kangaroos, and much more.
The greatest sea explorer of all time, James Cook was born to a humble Yorkshire family, and first stood out for his talents as a cartographer for the Royal Navy in Newfoundland. He would go on to lea…