Science and Exploration in the Pacific: European Voyages to the Southern Oceans in the Eighteenth Century

About this book

The exploration of the Pacific in the eighteenth century by western Europeans has an enduring fascination for both specialists and a wider public. Within this field, Cook's voyages have a particular appeal: they include exciting elements of danger, scientific investigation, encounters between different cultures. The essays in this volume, the result of a conference held in 1997 by the National Maritime Museum and the Royal Society, take as their point of departure Cook's first voyage in the Endeavour (1768-71); they re-evaluate its political and social context, look at the expectations and outcomes of the event, and focus on the scientific and cultural issues emerging from this and subsequent Pacific voyages.

Contents

The "Endeavour" voyage - a coincidence of motives, Glyndwr Williams; shaking off the Spanish yoke - British schemes to revolutionize America, 1739-1807, Alan Frost; Joseph Banks and the expansion of empire, John Gascoigne; from the South Seas to the sun - the astronomy of Cook's voyages, Wayne Orchiston; Malaspina and the shrinking Spanish lake, Donald C. Cutter; the politics and pragmatics of seaborne plant transportation, 1769-1805, Nigel Rigby; Lord Sandwich's collection of Polynesian artefacts, Peter Gathercole; Cook and Tupaia, a tale of cartographic meconnaisance?, David Turnbull; note on the drawings by an unknown artist from the voyage of HMS "Endeavour", Harold B. Carter; the Point Venus scene, Neil Rennie; translating cultures - William Ellis and missionary writing, Rod Edmond; tails of wonder - constructions of the kangaroo in late-18th-century scientific discourse, Markman Ellis; unruly subjects - sexuality, science and discipline in 18th-century Pacific exploration, Neil Hegarty; Cook and the new anthropology, Jackie Huggins.

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