Cook in the PacificThen and Now

Three historic voyages. Who was Captain James Cook and where did he explore in the Pacific?

What did his journals record of his voyages and his encounters with the people who lived there?

What are the consequences today?

Listen now Follow the series

Series I · Episodes

Voyages

Launched

Jul '26

1768 — 1779

11 years

Cook at the chart table — visual reconstruction

Visual reconstruction · Veo 2026

About the series

Made in Suva, Fiji

I arrived in Fiji in early 2026 with two months, two books, and a question I’d been carrying since childhood: what did Captain James Cook actually do in the Pacific?

Cook never landed in Fiji, yet the history of its capital Suva is a direct consequence of his voyages. So that’s where this podcast begins — in Fiji — as I explore Cook’s epic three voyages across the South Pacific.

Three voyages and questions that won’t let go: who was Cook, what did he make of the Pacific — and what do his voyages actually mean today?

Series I — 2026

Who was Cook — and where did he go?

Episodes 2 & 3 coming

Available now

The Man from the Moors

James Cook was born in North Yorkshire, learned to sail in Whitby, and was appointed to command an expedition to explore the Pacific. With Peter Moore, author of Endeavour: the Ship and Attitude that Changed the World.

Listen — Episode 1

The Honest Ship

Banks, the Admiralty, and the question of what the voyages were actually for.

Coming

Matavai Bay

Tahiti in 1769 — before it became “Tahiti”. What the Transit expedition actually found.

Coming