Tupaia, Captain Cook and the Voyage of the Endeavour: A Material History

Centring priest and navigator Tupaia and Pacific worldviews, this richly illustrated volume weaves a new set of cultural histories in the Pacific, between local islanders and the crew of the Endeavour on James Cook’s first ‘voyage of discovery’ (1768-1771). This book revisits the National Maritime Museum’s material collections brought back from the voyage, paying particular attention to objects, journals, drawings, maps, cloth and clothes, and the attending narratives that framed Britain’s kaleidoscopic engagement with Pacific peoples.

Bringing together artists, scholars, historians, theorists, and tailors, this book presents a cross-cultural conversation that breathes new life into the concepts of acquired and curated artefacts and taonga that traversed oceans and entwined cultures. Each chapter draws attention to a particular material, object or process to reveal fresh insights on the voyage, the societies it brought together and the histories it transformed. Chapters cover Tupaia’s drawings, journals and cartography from the voyage itself, textiles of old worlds and new, pattern making, weaving techniques and materials, animal iconography, instruments and ethnomusicology, and performances and rituals.

This work challenges colonial museum collections and celebrations of Cook’s voyages, using materials old and new to make connections between past and present, whilst reinforcing Tupaia’s agency as both a historical figure and a contemporary muse. Tracing overlapping folds of symbolism, this book draws together a picture of the diverse materials and people at the centre of cultural exchange, spanning the spectrum of an encounter that began 250 years ago, stretching from Deptford and Plymouth to Polynesia, Indonesia, Australia and Aotearoa.