Captain Cook Quotes

“Captain James Cook's ship, The Endeavour, hit a coral outcrop in the Great Barrier Reef in 1770. Cook and his crew camped in what is now called Cooktown for nearly two months while making repairs. Then they sailed south, where Cook claimed the east coast of Australia as British territory.”
― Julie Murphy, Great Barrier Reef Under Threat

“Cannibalism was widely practised by Maori and it continued until well into the 1800’s, especially during the Musket Wars of the early 1800’s when a quarter of the Maori race perished in inter-tribal warfare.”
― Lance Morcan, New Zealand

“Did you reflect on Cook's arrival
and rue the day we were discovered
and curse the coming of foreign sailors
with bodies soaked in the blights
of London sewers?

Giving this cruel treasure to our unblemished women?
Did you think of this and rage and want to kill?
Did you remember all the insults down
the years from
French, British and American alike
Did you remember the threat of their guns?
I was not there during those dark
days of anguish and confusion

when the palace shook
with intrigue and rumor
that the greedy determined men
downtown were plotting your
ruin and demise of our nation.
--from "Manawaʻino”
― John Dominis Holt, Hanai: A Poem for Queen Liliuokalani