A new interest in European maritime exploration was aroused with the publication of the first volume of J.C. Beaglehole’s edition of The Journals of Captain James Cook in 1955. In the forty-odd years since then, our knowledge of this exploration – and of the imperialism of which it was a part – has expanded enormously. We now recognise that the scientific endeavours, once seen as disinterested manifestations of the Enlightenment, actually had both strategic and commercial implications. And today much greater emphasis is given to the meanings of early encounters for both the Natives of the Pacific islands and the Strangers from the European world.