Credit: © The Royal Society
    Image number: RS.9212
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    ‘A War Canoe, of New Zealand’

    Date
    1773
    Creator
    Richard Bernard Godfrey (1728 - 1799, British) , Engraver
    After
    Sydney Parkinson (1740 - 1771, British) , Draftsman
    Object type
    Library reference
    58306
    Material
    Technique
    Dimensions
    height (print): 210mm
    width (print): 250mm
    Subject
    Description
    View of a Māori, Maʊri, war canoe, waka taua, ornately carved at both front and back, with its crew of rowers.

    Described in the associated text as having: "from eighteen to twenty-two men in them, and were adorned with fine heads ... in spirals of very curious workmanship".

    Illustration from A journal of a voyage to the South Seas, in His Majesty's ship, The Endeavour, by Sydney Parkinson (London, 1773), which was published posthumously.

    Sydney Parkinson (c.1745-1771) Scottish natural history artist and Joseph Banks's (1743–1820) illustrator on board HMS Endeavour's voyage to the Pacific in 1768, under Lieutenant James Cook (1728-1779).

    Endeavour's mission was to observe the Transit of Venus, which they did from Tahiti on 3rd June 1769, and explore, claim resources and trade in the 'unknown southern land', Terra Australis Incognita, including New Zealand.
    Associated place
    <The World>
       > Oceania
          > New Zealand
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