Free

Essential Information

Location
National Maritime Museum
Price Free

Voyage to the world’s largest ocean and hear tales of exploration and exploitation. Learn about encounters between Europeans and the Te-Moananui-a-Kiwa (people of the Pacific Ocean), and the legacies still felt today.

Inside the gallery

The Pacific is the world’s biggest ocean, and people have lived there for thousands of years. Learn more about British voyages to the Pacific by men such as Captain Cook that changed the world forever, and the legacies and traditions of the people living there today.

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Experience the stories of Pacific voyages, including the HM Bark Endeavour, the first of three expeditions led by Captain James Cook in 1768.

Plus hear stories of Pacific islanders, such as Tupaia, whose knowledge of his surroundings greatly helped Cook during his expeditions.

Behold the drua, a Fijian open ocean canoe, and explore Pacific histories of boat-building, navigation and performance.

Discover artistic representations of the Pacific islands and their occupants by artists such as William Hodges and George Stubbs.

See examples of the exploitation of Pacific land and resources through relics from the infamous story of the mutiny of the Bounty.

Read accounts from missionaries who introduced, and in some cases imposed Christianity on the islanders, whose practices and beliefs they tried to outlaw.

Behind the scenes

William Hodges accompanied Captain Cook on his voyages to the Pacific. He turned his sketches into rich canvases which defined how Europe saw the region. See how Hodges' largest surviving painting, 'The War-Boats of Tahiti', was prepared for display at the Museum.

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A father and son look through a porthole on the main deck of historic ship Cutty Sark

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