Pacific exploration: voyages of discovery from Captain Cook's Endeavour to the Beagle

Captain Cook is generally acknowledged as the first great European scientific explorer.

His voyage of exploration to the Pacific in HM bark Endeavour, commencing in 1768, lasted almost three years, recorded thousands of miles of uncharted lands and seas - including New Zealand, the east coast of Australia and many Pacific islands - and tested all Cook's skills as a navigator, seaman and leader.

His voyages were among the first to take civilian scientists, notably Sir Joseph Banks, and they revealed to European eyes the mysterious and exotic lands, peoples, flora and fauna of the Pacific, never before seen.