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2 unusual facts about Third voyage of James Cook


Third voyage of James Cook

In passing and after initial landfall at Waimea harbour, Kauai, Cook named the archipelago the "Sandwich Islands" after the fourth Earl of Sandwich—the acting First Lord of the Admiralty.

Tongatapu Rail

It is known only from brief descriptions of a specimen, now lost, collected from Tongatapu in 1777 in the course of James Cook’s third voyage to the Pacific, and from a contemporary illustration by Georg Forster.


Omai

His portrait was painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds among others, and his journey to England and subsequent return to Tahiti with Cook on his third voyage in 1776 became the subject of a theatrical production, written and directed by the dramatist John O'Keefe, entitled Omai – A Voyage ‘round the World that was performed during the 1785 Christmas season at London’s Theatre Royal in Covent Garden.


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