PZ4620

'Matavai Bay and Point Venus, Tahiti, Augt 24th 1849 [Society Islands]' Long Caption: No.15. 9. No. 15 in Fanshawe's Pacific album, 1849-1852. Captioned by the artist on the page below the image, as title. Matavai Bay, Cook's main base on Tahiti on all his voyages, was in the area ruled in his time by the local chief Tu, (afterwards King Pomare I of Tahiti). It is on the north side of the island, east of Papeete. Point Venus, the promontory in the distance, takes its name from being the position from which Cook observed the 1769 transit of Venus across the Sun, the prime aim of his first Pacific voyage in the 'Endeavour'. Credit line: © National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London Object: PAI4620 Artist: Admiral Sir Edward Gennys Fanshawe Date: 1849 Medium: graphite; wash Size: 227 mm x 325 mm Click here to buy a bespoke print of this image.