A Toupapow with a corpse on it Attended by the Chief Mourner in his Habit of Ceremony

This engraving, after a drawing by artist William Hodges, is in John Hawkesworth's account (1773) of the voyages of Captain James Cook, Joseph Banks and Captain John Byron. A tupapow was a house or shed under which the dead were deposited in Otaheite.

Otaheite (Tahiti) was originally named Port Royal Harbour in King George the Third's Island by Captain Samuel Wallis (1728-1795).

The frigate Dolphin was under the command of Captain John Byron 1723-1786) and then Captain Samuel Wallis (1728-1795) and Captain Cook's first Endeavor voyage. Byron was chosen to command an expedition to circumnavigate the globe and search for a north-west passage. Byron's mention of signs of a southern continent encouraged the immediate preparation of another expedition to the Pacific. Wallis took command of the Dolphin (back from Byron's circumnavigation) and had as his objective to search for the great continent 'Terra Australis Incognita.'

Captain James Cook (1728-1779) made three separate voyages to the Pacific (with the ships Endeavour, Resolution, Adventure, and Discovery) and did more than any other voyager to explore the Pacific and Southern Ocean. Cook not only encountered Pacific cultures for the first time, but also assembled the first large-scale collections of Pacific objects to be brought back to Europe. He was killed in Hawaii in 1779.

This is the first of two engravings.
Mounted in album with PAI3938-PAI4038, PAI4040-PAI4076.; Page 88.

Object Details

ID: PAI4039
Type: Print
Display location: Not on display
Creator: Cadell, Thomas; Strahan, William Woollett, William
Date made: 1 Feb 1777
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London
Measurements: Sheet: 350 x 540 mm; Plate: 240 x 393 mm
Parts: Atlas to Cook's Voyages Vol I 1773-1777. (Illustrations are from Hawkesworth's 'Voyages to the Southern Hemisphere', all volumes, and Cook [ed. Douglas] 'A Voyage towards the South Pole... ' [1773-75], page 70 onwards) (Album)
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