Shipwrecks and Sea Dogs and its host Rich Napolitano acknowledge the traditions and cultures of the native peoples of Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti, Hawaii, Vancouver Island, and Pacific islands, and recognise their custodianship of their native lands as the original inhabitants.
Captain James Cook (1728-1779) was a British explorer, navigator, and cartographer. He is best known for his voyages in the Pacific Ocean, where he mapped and explored the eastern coast of Australia, New Zealand, and many Pacific islands, including Hawaii. Cook was a skilled navigator and leader, and his voyages helped to expand scientific knowledge of the world’s oceans and land masses. His voyages were also significant for the impact they had on the indigenous peoples he encountered, as Cook’s interactions with them set the stage for later European colonization and exploitation of these regions. Cook’s legacy is complicated, with some seeing him as a hero and others as a symbol of imperialism and colonialism.
Captain James Cook, by Nathaniel Dance Holland, 1776
Sir Joseph Banks, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, circa 1771-1773
Cook’s landing at Botany Bay in 1770. Lithograph by unknown artist, first published in the Town and Country Journal New South Wales, 21 December 1872.
James Cook greets the native people at Nootka Sound, Vancouver Island in March 1778.
Native Hawaiians approach the HMS Resolution in outrigger canoes at Kealakekua Bay, 1779.
The Death of Captain James Cook by Johann Zoffany (1794)
The monument of James Cook on the shore at Kealakekua Bay, Hawaii.
Inscription on the Captain Cook Monument, Kealakekua Bay, Big Island, Hawaii.
This plaque is located at Kealakekua Bay, Hawaii.
This statue of James Cook in Sydney, Australia was vandalised in 2020.
The statue of James Cook in Gisborne, New Zealand in 2019. It has been a source of controversy for New Zealanders.
This statue of James Cook at Victoria Harbour, Vancouver Island, Canada was pulled down and thrown into the harbour in 2021.
