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00:26One night nearly 250 years ago,
00:30a ship ran aground on a treacherous reef in the Pacific Ocean.
00:38Water poured into a wooden hull,
00:41threatening to sink her and drown all those on board.
00:46The ship that faced a watery grave
00:48appeared to be nothing more than an unremarkable coaling vessel,
00:52captained by an unknown commander on an obscure scientific field trip.
00:58But this ship had a secret mission,
01:01one that would redraw the map of the world
01:03and make a hero of her undistinguished leader.
01:11The ship was called the Endeavour
01:13and her commander was Captain James Cook.
01:17This is the incredible story
01:18of one of the greatest sea adventures in history,
01:21a voyage that would transform James Cook
01:24from a naval nobody into a national hero.
01:43He hangs on his bloody father
01:45Hooray! The boys are ready!
01:48His sister and his brother
01:49Hooray! The boys hang!
01:54Hooray! The boys hang!
01:56He'd make work for a mortician.
01:58Hey, boys, hey.
02:02Two and a half centuries after his adventures,
02:05Captain Cook is a household name.
02:07But the story is often misunderstood.
02:10People think he discovered New Zealand and this place, Australia.
02:15But in truth, he didn't.
02:17But his story is no less remarkable.
02:20As an explorer myself, I'm astonished by his achievements.
02:24And I want to tell you the real story of Captain Cook.
02:38The Endeavour sailed from Plymouth on 26th August, 1768.
02:47It was the Age of Enlightenment, an era of intellectual ferment.
02:53Huge advances were being made in the fields of science, literature and the exploration of the globe.
03:02Officially, the Endeavour was on a scientific mission to measure an astronomical phenomenon,
03:08the transit of Venus, the rare moment when Venus crosses in front of the Sun.
03:17If successfully observed, these measurements would enable astronomers to calculate the distance
03:23between the Earth and the Sun,
03:25a figure which could then be used to measure the dimensions of the solar system itself.
03:31The ship's orders were to measure the transit from the middle of the South Pacific,
03:35the other side of the world.
03:37But this wasn't the only reason for the mission,
03:40because on board was a second set of instructions,
03:43and these were marked secret.
03:47These sealed instructions contained the real mission of the voyage,
03:51and no one, not even the ship's commander, knew where they would lead them.
03:58The 94-man crew reflected the spirit of the age.
04:02As well as an astronomer, the Endeavour included amongst her ranks two scientists and two artists.
04:11And they were all under the command of James Cook.
04:16Of course, today, James Cook is world-famous.
04:20But at the time of the Endeavour voyage, he was a complete unknown.
04:24In fact, Captain Cook wasn't even a captain.
04:28He was a lieutenant.
04:30And in the Royal Navy at the time, in 1768,
04:34there were 300 captains and over 900 lieutenants,
04:38which shows you how far down the naval hierarchy he really was.
04:44Indeed, Lieutenant Cook appeared to be a surprising choice for the mission.
04:48His career had begun inauspiciously, as Cook himself wrote,
04:53I am a man who has not the advantage of education,
04:57nor natural abilities for writing,
05:00but one who has constantly been at sea from his youth
05:04as apprentice boy in the coal trade.
05:08After a decade on board the coaling ships of northeast England,
05:12Cook enlisted as an able seaman in the Royal Navy,
05:15rising to the rank of ship's master.
05:19Twelve years on, he had never made a voyage as long as the one now proposed,
05:23and had commanded nothing bigger than a humble schooner.
05:27Cook faced a problem that held him back.
05:30Class.
05:31Cook was a reserved farmer's son from Yorkshire,
05:34not the right candidate for the class-obsessed Royal Navy.
05:39This is why, by the ripe age of 40, he hadn't risen up the ranks,
05:43and why the Admiralty, after picking him to lead the expedition,
05:47kept him at arm's length, refusing to promote him to captain.
05:51So they gave him the responsibility, but not the rank.
05:56They ultimately chose Cook, because working class or not,
06:00they knew he possessed the skills that made him perfectly fitted to this mission.
06:04He'd proved himself to be a skilled navigator and surveyor,
06:07and even more appropriately, had developed a fascination with astronomy.
06:16For Cook, this expedition was his chance to prove himself.
06:22At last, here was the opportunity to reveal his talents,
06:26to show that class was no barrier to achievement.
06:29That's good, lads. Keep her there.
06:31But it was a huge challenge.
06:34To carry out his mission,
06:36Cook would have to navigate his ship to the other side of the world,
06:40battling treacherous seas and dangerous currents.
06:45James, it's a beautiful day on a flat, calm Sydney harbour.
06:49I mean, what's it like to sail these boats in rough weather,
06:52on big passages? You've made those passages.
06:54Yeah. Well, you get all kinds of weather.
06:57You get this sort of weather around the tropics.
07:01But in the southern latitudes,
07:03and in the high latitudes, you know, it's cold, rough.
07:06Ship rolls heavily.
07:08You've got to be up the mast there sometimes,
07:11which is rolling and pitching very violently.
07:13And, of course, in Cook's day,
07:16they would have had no backup whatsoever.
07:18I mean, if you and me recreated this journey,
07:20we'd have modern comms and modern navigation.
07:23We would always know we had some backup.
07:25It was a long way from home.
07:26There was no communication.
07:28Like a ship lost in space.
07:31But I couldn't call Mum.
07:35To make things worse, the Endeavour sailed alone.
07:39It was usual for ships on these journeys to travel with support vessels
07:42in case they got into trouble.
07:45What's more, she was just a basic workman-like coaling vessel,
07:49certainly not glamorous.
07:51And as she plodded south,
07:53she looked like the most unlikely ship in the world
07:55to be making history.
07:58As if that wasn't enough,
08:00there was the question of whether Cook could even sustain a crew
08:03fit enough to sail his lone ship across the world.
08:07Can you imagine 100 men crammed together on a small ship
08:11just like this one, 100 feet long?
08:14Conditions below must have been appalling,
08:16let alone the smell.
08:17And disease was rife.
08:20And even though Cook was incredibly strict
08:23about keeping his men and the ship clean,
08:25there was one disease that cleanliness couldn't prevent.
08:29Scurvy.
08:33Over the years,
08:34Cook has been acclaimed as the man
08:36who discovered the cure for the terrible disease of scurvy.
08:39But in fact, it's not quite so simple.
08:43The true story goes back centuries.
08:52Scurvy was the scourge of the Navy.
08:55It was a particularly gruesome way to die.
08:58Gums bled.
09:00Teeth fell out.
09:01Limbs seized up.
09:03Ulcers broke out.
09:05Old wounds reopened.
09:08And most revoltingly,
09:10gum tissue oozed out of the mouth and began to rot,
09:13making the victim's breath stink.
09:16Death must have come as a blessed release.
09:21The disease decimated crews.
09:24In the 300 years before Cook's journey on the Endeavour,
09:28over 2 million sailors had died from scurvy.
09:31A captain could expect to lose at least 40% of his men,
09:36a figure often rising to 80%.
09:43Cook was faced with a massive problem.
09:46Very little was known about scurvy,
09:48and there was no agreement at all as to what caused it
09:51or what might even prevent it.
09:52Some believed it was caused by bad air,
09:55thickening of the blood,
09:57lack of oxygen,
09:58sadness,
09:59or even the fat being skimmed off the boiling pots on board the ship.
10:03And the treatments were even more bizarre,
10:05including bloodletting,
10:07bathing an animal's blood,
10:08or having the poor victim buried up to his neck in the sand.
10:12Of course, none of them worked.
10:16Hey.
10:16Hi, Nigel.
10:17Hi, Paul. Nice to see you.
10:18Yeah, good to see you. Come on board, mate.
10:20But astonishingly,
10:21some people had stumbled upon the real cure for scurvy
10:24during the previous 200 years.
10:27So, Nigel,
10:28who were these people who found the cure for scurvy?
10:32Well, Roncius,
10:33a Dutch physician in the middle of the 17th century,
10:35had noted a cure,
10:38and then with the East India Company ships
10:40coming out across the Indian Ocean,
10:42there'd been a fellow called Woodall,
10:43who was a surgeon.
10:44He'd noted one of the cures straight away
10:47right in about 1636.
10:50Crikey.
10:50I mean, this was a long time before Cook's voyage.
10:53A long, long time.
10:55One of the problems, of course,
10:56was that these people weren't just noting one cure.
10:59It was, you know, one of a number of things,
11:01and it wasn't as clear as it is to us today.
11:04So what did Cook do on the endeavour
11:05to try and prevent scurvy?
11:07Well, he was told to take a number of anti-scorbutics,
11:10literally things which are meant to cure scurvy.
11:14He took wort,
11:15which is a kind of an infusion made with malt.
11:18He took portable soup,
11:20which was like a large stock cube,
11:22things that you mixed up with your wheat
11:24and served it up as a gruel.
11:27One of the main things he introduced
11:29was this stuff,
11:32sauerkraut.
11:32It's pickled cabbage.
11:34OK, try it.
11:35Let's have a go.
11:37Blimey.
11:40Oh, wow.
11:45It's not the best.
11:48Particularly
11:49if you're going to eat it for three years, right?
11:51Mm, very much an acquired taste.
11:53Oh, we're so much.
11:57Oh, we're so much.
11:58Oh, we're so much.
11:59Oh, we're so much.
12:00Oh, we're so much.
12:05Cook hoped that his special diet would work,
12:07but making sure the men stuck to it
12:09was no easy matter.
12:11After two months at sea,
12:13some of the crew had had enough of the ship's rations.
12:16On the 16th of September,
12:18two men rebelled against the rigid diet.
12:22As Cook noted in his daily journal,
12:24punishment was swift and severe.
12:29Oh, my God.
12:34Punished Henry Stephen,
12:36Seaman and Thomas Dunnister Marine
12:38with 12 lashes each
12:39for refusing to take their allowance of fresh beef.
12:42Oh, my God.
12:45Oh, my God.
12:46Oh, my God.
12:48Oh, my God.
12:49Oh, my God.
12:51But the lash was a regular part of Navy life,
12:54and a refusal to obey orders was tantamount to mutiny.
13:02This punishment shows how determined Cook was
13:05to keep his men healthy.
13:07He was essentially a very humane man.
13:10Other captains would have dished out
13:11two dozen lashings for such an offence.
13:13In fact,
13:14Cook preferred to use a bit of psychology
13:16rather than the lash
13:18to get the men to obey his orders.
13:20And the next time there was reluctance
13:22to eat the diet that he'd prepared,
13:24he came up with a great plan.
13:27The men hated the sauerkraut
13:29that he'd put in their diet,
13:30so he took it off their menu
13:32and just kept it on the officer's menu instead.
13:35Of course,
13:36overnight,
13:37sauerkraut became the most desired dish on board.
13:42For such are the tempers
13:44and dispositions of seamen in general
13:46that the moment they saw their superiors
13:48set a value on it,
13:49it becomes the finest stuff in the world,
13:51and the inventor,
13:52a damned, honest fellow.
13:57Despite Cook's careful diet,
13:59scurvy wasn't completely banished
14:01from the decks of the Endeavour.
14:04The disease struck many of the crew,
14:06including one of the most vital members
14:08of the expedition.
14:10Joseph Banks.
14:15Ten veins aside.
14:19Banks was a young,
14:21fantastically wealthy playboy
14:22who had effectively bought his way onto the ship.
14:27He'd paid £10,000,
14:30over a million pounds in today's money,
14:32for his place on board,
14:34more than twice as much
14:35as the official state funding of the expedition.
14:42And all to indulge his personal passion,
14:46botany.
14:47Banks brought with him an entourage
14:49of fellow botanists and artists,
14:51whose task was to collect
14:53and study the new plants
14:55encountered on the voyage.
14:56Cross.
14:57He also brought with him,
14:59as any English gentleman would do,
15:01two greyhounds.
15:05But right now,
15:06Banks' whole project,
15:08not to mention his life,
15:10was threatened by scurvy.
15:13At first,
15:14he tried to treat it
15:15by drinking a pint of wort each night,
15:18but to no effect.
15:24Then he tried another remedy.
15:28I flew to the lemon juice.
15:30The effect was surprising.
15:33In less than a week,
15:34my gums became as firm as ever,
15:36and at this time,
15:37I am troubled with nothing
15:38but a few pimples on my face.
15:48So Banks had actually stumbled
15:50across the cure for scurvy.
15:52It was the vitamin C
15:53in fresh fruit and vegetables,
15:55particularly citrus fruits
15:57like these beauties.
15:58But neither Banks nor Cook
16:00knew really
16:01if they'd found the remedy or not.
16:03They still saw the lemon juice
16:05as one possible cure amongst many.
16:11But as the endeavour sailed on,
16:13it became clear
16:14that Cook's strategy was working.
16:17Despite a few scares,
16:18nobody was actually dying from scurvy.
16:21In 1768,
16:23this was unheard of.
16:27Cook might not have known
16:28about vitamin C,
16:29present even in the sauerkraut,
16:32but by enforcing his rigid diet
16:34in the first place,
16:35he was making medical
16:36and naval history.
16:39From the voyage
16:40of the endeavour onwards,
16:42the Admiralty recognised
16:43the crucial importance of diet.
16:46Limes became standard
16:48on all British voyages,
16:49hence the nickname Limeys,
16:51and deaths fell dramatically.
16:53Anybody else?
16:58After five months at sea,
17:01the voyage appeared
17:01to be going well.
17:03Cook had scurvy under control
17:05and the ship
17:06was making good time.
17:08But they were still
17:098,000 kilometres
17:10from the heart
17:11of the South Pacific
17:12where they were to carry out
17:14their mission
17:14and the worst part
17:15of the passage
17:16was yet to come.
17:19The voyage was about to enter
17:21its most dangerous part,
17:22the treacherous waters
17:24around Cape Horn
17:25at the bottom of South America.
17:27These waters are regarded
17:29as amongst the most dangerous
17:30in the world
17:31with big storms,
17:33huge waves,
17:35fog,
17:36and icebergs,
17:38and Cook
17:38had to sail right through them.
17:45The endeavour was battered
17:47by fierce storms
17:48and Cook was forced
17:50to make three failed attempts
17:52to enter the waters
17:53around the Cape.
17:55Finally,
17:56on his fourth attempt,
17:58sailing against strong winds
17:59and currents,
18:00the endeavour made it
18:01through the passage.
18:04Cook was beginning
18:05to show the character
18:06that would make him great.
18:09Rod Fleck
18:10is Cook's
18:10great, great, great nephew.
18:13What kind of person
18:14do you think he was?
18:16I feel that he was
18:17a very humane
18:19and he liked people.
18:22He wouldn't do anything
18:23nasty to a person.
18:24He had a gentle disposition,
18:26very reserved,
18:28quiet,
18:29a kind,
18:29gentle person.
18:30He had the natural ability,
18:32I feel,
18:34to pick up things
18:35and learn
18:36and go through
18:36and apart from that,
18:38he could carry it forward.
18:39There's a lot of people
18:40who learn
18:42but they can never
18:43go through
18:44and do the things
18:45and I feel
18:46that's what he had.
18:47So that would really
18:47help his credibility
18:49as a leader at men,
18:50I would think.
18:50Isaac Smith said,
18:51which he went on
18:52a few voyages with him,
18:54a later admiral,
18:55he said that he was
18:58feared
18:58but loved
18:59by his crew.
19:00Feared because of the lash
19:02but they loved him.
19:04That's it.
19:05Wow.
19:06What more can you say
19:07about something like that?
19:08True, yeah.
19:15As the Endeavour
19:16sailed on
19:16across the Pacific,
19:18the seas became calmer
19:19and the weather
19:20more tropical.
19:26As the voyage progressed,
19:28the ship made
19:28various stops
19:29which provided
19:30Banks and his party
19:31with the opportunity
19:32to collect
19:33new plant specimens
19:34and shoot previously
19:36unknown animals
19:36and birds.
19:41Cook's cabin
19:42rapidly became flooded
19:44with all kinds of
19:45strange and unfamiliar
19:46plant and animal life.
19:57Then, on the 13th of April,
20:001769,
20:01after 33 weeks at sea,
20:04land was finally spotted.
20:07Cook had arrived
20:09at the South Pacific island
20:10that would hopefully
20:11make his name.
20:13It was here in Tahiti
20:15that he was to carry out
20:16his mission
20:16and measure the transit
20:18of Venus.
20:22The Endeavour
20:23had arrived
20:24in Paradise.
20:25This was a land
20:26of plenty
20:27and sexual liberation
20:29where fruit fell
20:30from the trees
20:31and beautiful women
20:32offered themselves freely.
20:39But Cook
20:40had important work
20:41to do,
20:42work that could
20:43potentially widen
20:44our understanding
20:45of the universe
20:45and finally prove
20:48his abilities.
20:53Cook had successfully
20:55sailed halfway
20:55around the world.
20:57Now he had to prove himself
20:58as an astronomer
20:59and he knew
21:00he had just one chance
21:02of getting his measurement
21:03right.
21:05And although he was just
21:06one of 77 observers
21:08around the world
21:09measuring the transit,
21:10he was the most important
21:12because he was the only one
21:13one in the southern hemisphere
21:15and that was the only place
21:18in the world
21:18where he could clearly see
21:19the transit
21:20from beginning
21:21to end.
21:22And as if that wasn't
21:24enough pressure,
21:25the transit of Venus
21:26is an incredibly rare event
21:28and it wouldn't happen again
21:29for another 105 years.
21:36Cook immediately began
21:37to prepare for the transit
21:38but before work
21:40in Tahiti began
21:41he gave his crew
21:43some highly unusual instructions.
21:45You are to endeavour
21:46by every fair means
21:48to cultivate
21:49a friendship
21:49with the natives
21:50and to treat them
21:52with all imaginable humanity.
21:56Cook's orders
21:57were extraordinarily radical.
21:59In the 18th century
22:00most explorers' idea
22:02of cooperating
22:03with indigenous peoples
22:04was to go in
22:05with guns blazing.
22:06but Cook preferred
22:07negotiation over brute force,
22:09making friends
22:11rather than enemies.
22:15In the event
22:16there was no need
22:17for violence.
22:18The people of Tahiti
22:19proved to be warm,
22:21open and welcoming.
22:23Banks wrote lyrically
22:24If we quarrel
22:26with those Indians
22:26we should not agree
22:28with angels.
22:30But the Tahitians
22:31did possess
22:32one annoying trait.
22:33It started as an irritation
22:35but was to escalate
22:37into something
22:37much more serious.
22:44They liked to steal.
22:50It was a hard matter
22:51to keep them out
22:52of the ship
22:52as they climbed
22:53like monkeys.
22:54But it was still harder
22:55to keep them from stealing
22:56but everything that came
22:57within their reach.
22:58In this
22:58they are prodigious experts.
23:04Metal was an especially
23:06attractive commodity
23:07to the Tahitians
23:08and it wasn't long
23:09before all kinds
23:10of things
23:10were going missing
23:11including snuff boxes
23:12and opera glasses.
23:15And the Endeavour store
23:16of iron nails
23:17were an especially
23:17attractive commodity
23:19particularly
23:20once the crew
23:21realised
23:21that a handful
23:22of them
23:23could be swapped
23:23for sex
23:24with the local women.
23:31But petty thieving
23:32soon turned
23:33into disaster.
23:34One morning
23:35one of the most
23:36vital pieces
23:37of equipment
23:38for measuring
23:38the transit
23:39the astronomical quadrant
23:41was discovered
23:42missing.
23:43Without it
23:44the measurement
23:45of the transit
23:45could not take place.
23:49Banks found out
23:50from a local
23:50chieftain
23:51the name of the thief
23:52and the direction
23:53that he'd headed
23:54and he set off
23:55running after him
23:56through the blazing heat
23:59and through the jungle
24:01across the island
24:02for 11 kilometres.
24:04It wasn't long
24:05before great hordes
24:06of Tahitians
24:07turned out
24:07to see who would win
24:09and what the outcome
24:10would be.
24:11Eventually
24:12Banks found the quadrant
24:13discarded by the side
24:15of the trail.
24:16The thief had just
24:16thrown it away.
24:18The stage was set
24:19for measuring the transit.
24:26The day dawned
24:27and the omens
24:28were good.
24:29The skies
24:30were crystal clear.
24:31As the thermometer
24:33rose to 119 degrees
24:34Cook and his team
24:36of observers
24:37trained their telescopes
24:38on the sun.
24:43Astronomer
24:44Wayne Orkiston
24:45has studied
24:46the astronomical mission.
24:47I asked him
24:48how Cook measured
24:49the transit of Venus.
24:51Well let me show you.
24:53I mean you've got
24:54the ideal t-shirt there.
24:55Certainly do.
24:56We've got the sun there
24:57and we've got
24:58this beautiful little nut
24:59which we're going
25:00to represent as Venus
25:01and what we want to do
25:02is observe the transit
25:03of Venus
25:03as it travels
25:04across the sun.
25:05So here's Venus
25:06approaches the edge
25:07of the sun
25:07onto the sun
25:10and then exits the sun.
25:11Now that transit
25:12from here to here
25:13is going to take
25:14about six and a half hours.
25:15What we want to do
25:16to determine the transit
25:17accurately
25:18is record precisely
25:20when Venus
25:21is just on the edge
25:22of the sun
25:22but outside it
25:23on the edge
25:24of the sun
25:25but inside it
25:26so just touching
25:26the limb of the sun
25:28as we call it.
25:29We call that
25:30first and second contacts
25:31and then the third contact
25:33is just as it approaches
25:34and touches the edge
25:35of the sun
25:35and fourth contact
25:36as it leaves
25:37and it's those
25:38four contact points
25:39and the times of them
25:41that are critical
25:42and we observe those
25:43by looking through
25:44the telescope
25:45observing Venus
25:46as it approaches the sun
25:47and then with the clock
25:49which we've got
25:49adjacent to the telescope
25:50reporting the times.
25:56But as Venus
25:57crept in front of the sun
25:58Cook realised
26:00he had a major problem
26:01on his hands.
26:03When Venus
26:04enters the sun
26:05once it gets to this point
26:06second contact
26:07in fact
26:09Venus has got
26:10an atmosphere around it
26:11so you see a hazy shadow
26:12a bit like
26:13the atmosphere
26:13of the earth
26:14around Venus
26:15and so it's very hard
26:16to know
26:17exactly when Venus
26:18gets right onto the sun
26:19and you find that
26:20as it moves
26:21further and further
26:22onto the sun
26:22you end up
26:23with a little strip
26:24of shadow
26:25linking the edge
26:26of the sun.
26:27So when do you decide
26:28that in fact
26:29second contacts occurred
26:30is it here
26:30or is it here
26:32or here?
26:35When Cook compared
26:36the timings
26:37of the transit
26:38they didn't tally.
26:40The measurements
26:41varied by nearly a minute
26:42and he needed them
26:44to be exact
26:45now it seemed
26:47Cook had travelled
26:48halfway round the world
26:49only for his mission
26:50to end in failure
26:58but another opportunity
26:59was about to present itself
27:01one even greater
27:03than the measurement
27:03of the transit
27:05Cook's real mission
27:06was only just beginning
27:09it was time to open
27:11the secret instructions
27:16if achieved
27:17these orders
27:18would transform Britain
27:20into the richest
27:21and most powerful
27:22nation on earth
27:23and turn Cook
27:25into a national hero
27:29you are to proceed
27:30to the southern
27:31in order to make
27:32discovery of the continent
27:33until you arrive
27:35in the latitude
27:36of 40 degrees
27:37unless you sooner
27:38fall in with it.
27:39The real purpose
27:41of Cook's mission
27:42was now revealed
27:43the discovery
27:44of the fabled
27:45great southern continent.
27:56Hey John
27:57Thanks for letting me on
27:58You're welcome
27:59Right, give me something to do
28:00Well, we need to get that genoa out
28:02Righto mate
28:02Here we go
28:04In the 18th century
28:05it was widely assumed
28:07that there was a great
28:09southern continent
28:10somewhere in the South Pacific
28:12and I was so confident
28:13it was there
28:15it was as certain
28:16as the sun
28:16and the moon exists
28:18It was even given a name
28:21Terra Australis Incognita
28:23Unknown Land of the South
28:25It was somewhere
28:27out there
28:31The notion of the
28:33great southern continent
28:34dates from the
28:35classical world
28:36The ancient Greeks
28:37have theorized
28:38about its existence
28:39in the first century AD
28:42and by the Renaissance
28:43scientists argued
28:45that since the earth
28:45was spherical
28:46there must be a great landmass
28:48in the southern hemisphere
28:50to counterbalance
28:51the vast continents
28:52of the north
28:54And this was no ordinary continent
28:57By the 18th century
28:59it was believed
28:59it covered most of the southern hemisphere
29:02A far greater landmass
29:04than anything we now know to exist
29:06All somebody needed to do
29:08was find it
29:12This lost continent
29:14was imagined to be
29:15a paradise on earth
29:16A land overflowing
29:18with natural riches
29:21Whichever nation
29:22claimed it first
29:23stood to reap
29:24massive rewards
29:25exploiting the continent's
29:27vast riches
29:27and commanding trading
29:29and military routes
29:30in the Pacific
29:31It had become
29:33the holy grail
29:34of empire
29:35and exploration
29:41This explains why Cook's orders
29:43were secret
29:44The British government
29:45didn't want their foreign rivals
29:46to know
29:47that it was an expedition afoot
29:48to find the great southern continent
29:50And what better cover for the mission
29:53than a simple coaling ship
29:55on a science expedition
29:56to measure the transit of Venus
29:58The British government
30:00wanted to get to the southern continent
30:02first and in secret
30:05In an era when undiscovered land
30:07represented power and wealth
30:09there was intense competition
30:11to find this elusive continent
30:14This globe
30:15shows us all that was known
30:17of the world
30:17in the 1750s
30:19and it was believed
30:20that the great southern continent
30:22was somewhere around here
30:23in the South Pacific
30:24In fact
30:25it was even given
30:26an exact location
30:2740 degrees south
30:29and a length
30:308,000 kilometres long
30:37Cook's instructions
30:38were therefore
30:38to sail further south
30:40in the Pacific
30:40than any man
30:41had ever gone before
30:4440 degrees latitude
30:45in search of
30:46the great southern continent
30:50And so
30:51the Endeavour's
30:52great adventure
30:53into the unknown began
30:56Overnight
30:57the mission was transformed
30:58from a scientific field trip
31:00into a true voyage
31:01of discovery
31:05Cook had been given
31:06a second chance
31:07one that would stretch
31:08his skills to the limit
31:11He was about to be
31:12really tested
31:13for the first time
31:14in his life
31:15sailing into virgin seas
31:20Cook would need
31:21all his skills
31:22as a navigator
31:23and leader
31:23to sail his small
31:25wooden ship
31:25and her crew
31:26and her crew
31:26into the unknown
31:29What really fascinates me
31:31is how Cook navigated
31:32He crossed thousands
31:34of kilometres
31:35across the Pacific
31:36that had never been charted
31:37and he only had
31:39very, very basic
31:40navigational instruments
31:41He had no accurate charts
31:43no land masses
31:44to get sights from
31:45no accurate way
31:47of measuring distance
31:48and it would have been
31:49a huge challenge
31:50I mean these days
31:52on long passages
31:53I've got a GPS
31:54like many people
31:55these days
31:55very simple
31:56satellite receiver
31:57and it takes in
31:59satellite signals
32:00and tells me
32:01exactly where I am
32:02I'm reading it now
32:03ready to navigate
32:04accuracy
32:05three metres
32:06anywhere in the world
32:08Cook wouldn't have
32:09had anything like this
32:11But what Cook did have
32:13was his fascination
32:14with astronomy
32:15a hobby that would
32:16now serve him well
32:19Cook measured the movement
32:20of the sun
32:21the moon
32:22and the stars
32:22with a sextant
32:24and compared his readings
32:26with tables of lunar predictions
32:29Then, with some complex calculations
32:31he came up with
32:32an incredibly accurate reading
32:34for his longitude
32:35the ship's position
32:36east-west
32:40Cook was one of the first sailors ever
32:42to determine the ship's location
32:44with such pinpoint accuracy
32:50Cook kept his course
32:51sailing ever further south
32:53in search of the great southern continent
32:57The crew's eyes
32:58remained fixed on the horizon
33:00There was an occasional false alarm
33:02when cloud formations
33:04were mistaken for land
33:05But after three weeks
33:07of sailing south
33:08the ship reached 40 degrees
33:10There was no sign
33:12of Terra Australis
33:13in Cognita
33:19And with Cook's experience
33:21of the sea
33:21he could tell
33:22from the swell of the ocean
33:24and the trend of the currents
33:25that there was no great land mass
33:27anywhere nearby
33:35Cook's orders told him
33:36that if he couldn't find the continent
33:38at 40 degrees south
33:39he was to sail west
33:41in search of it instead
33:42so the endeavour changed course
33:46For a month she sailed west
33:48Cook offered a gallon a run
33:50to the first person
33:51to sight the coast
33:52and still the continent
33:54stubbornly refused to appear
33:59Then on the 6th of October 1769
34:03at 2 o'clock in the afternoon
34:05an excited voice
34:06shouted out the words
34:08that everyone had been longing
34:09to hear
34:09Land ahoy!
34:11Land ahoy!
34:16Yeah!
34:18Yeah!
34:20Yeah!
34:21Yeah!
34:21Yeah!
34:22Yeah!
34:22Yeah!
34:24Land had been sighted
34:26and a single substantial
34:28land mass at that
34:31It seemed
34:32that Cook had at last
34:33made one of the greatest discoveries
34:36in history
34:36It found the great southern continent
34:39Sunary went ashore
34:41to explore this promising new land
34:47This land is agreeable beyond description
34:49and with proper cultivation
34:51might be rendered a kind of second paradise
34:53The hills are covered with beautiful flowering shrubs
34:57intermingled with a sort of tall and stately palms
35:01which fill the air with the most grateful fragrant perfume
35:06To the continents
35:09Joseph Banks was swept up by the romance of the discovery
35:13Much difference of opinion
35:15and many conjectures about islands, rivers, inlets, etc
35:21But all hands seem to agree that this is certainly
35:25the continent we are in search of
35:27You have made this possible
35:32Cook began to fully investigate this eastern coastline
35:35Sailing north
35:37painstakingly charting the unknown land as he went
35:41As Cook sailed round the northern tip of the land
35:44and down its west coast
35:46He realised he was following a stretch of coastline
35:49that had been explored and charted before
35:51It had
35:52130 years earlier
35:54You can see it
35:55There's a little squiggle in the South Pacific
35:57And it was speculated that could have been
36:00part of the great southern continent
36:02It seemed that if Cook had done it
36:04He'd found the holy grail
36:08At last
36:09Success was in Cook's grasp
36:13But as the endeavour charted more of the coastline
36:16Cook was to be sorely disappointed
36:21The endeavour eventually reached a stretch of water
36:24which Cook christened Queen Charlotte Sound
36:28He anchored and began to explore the surrounding countryside
36:36When Cook was a boy in Yorkshire
36:37he grew up in the shadow of Rosebury Topping
36:40a large hill that he climbed all the time
36:42An entirely natural thing for kids
36:44and explorers to do
36:46Get up and have a look around
36:47And habit never left him
36:49So sure enough
36:51when he arrived at Queen Charlotte Sound
36:53he went up a hill
36:55to have a look
36:57And what he saw
36:59was just extraordinary
37:04There was a large stretch of water
37:06between the land he'd just sailed around
37:08and him
37:10Which meant it wasn't a continent at all
37:12It was just an island
37:15In fact
37:16Cook had become the first European
37:18to sail around the land we now know
37:20as the North Island of New Zealand
37:23And he was about to discover its South Island
37:26But these two small islands
37:28certainly weren't the great rich continent
37:30that he'd been in search of
37:33This country
37:34which before now was thought to be part of the imaginary southern continent
37:38consists of two large islands
37:41As to a southern continent
37:43I do not believe any such thing exists
37:47This was an astonishing claim to make
37:49Cook had just sailed
37:50straight across the part of the Pacific
37:52where the great southern continent was supposed to be
37:54And it wasn't there
37:56The dream of the great continent
37:58was in tatters
38:00Cook knew it would have been a lot better
38:02if he had found the continent
38:04rather than proved it wasn't there
38:06Because after all
38:07his masters desperately wanted it to exist
38:14Yet again
38:15the promise of success
38:17had been snatched from Cook's grasp
38:20The discovery of the great southern continent
38:23would have made Cook's name
38:24but he was not to be defeated
38:30He may not have found the continent
38:32but Cook was determined to seize victory
38:34and discover other unknown lands
38:37He made a remarkable decision
38:41Cook knew that the northwest of New Zealand
38:44was a vast land
38:45that had yet to be fully explored
38:47Even though the Dutch had surveyed
38:50the north, west and south coasts
38:53the vast eastern coast
38:55had never even been seen by Europeans
38:58It was called New Holland
38:59and Cook proposed
39:01that they survey the whole length of it
39:03to its northernmost point
39:04and only then
39:06would they sail home via the East Indies
39:08It was an extraordinary proposal
39:10one that went way over and above
39:12the normal call of duty
39:24Something in Cook had been awoken
39:25a hunger that would drive him
39:27into the history books
39:28He was now gripped by a desire
39:30to explore
39:31and discover
39:33and that's exactly how it happens
39:35It can't be denied
39:36It's so powerful
39:37It happened to me off the south coast of Britain
39:39I was 17
39:40diving at 30 metres for the very first time
39:43on a small wreck
39:44and I just knew
39:45that this
39:46is all I wanted to do
39:48for the rest of my life
39:49I was just so happy
39:50I'd left school
39:51so happy
39:52I hadn't gone to college
39:53or university
39:53and I just wanted to be amongst it
39:56I wanted to get out and explore
39:57and I reckon something like that
39:59happened to Cook at this time
40:05Cook's Aldean Devil West
40:07again venturing into the unknown
40:10Then
40:1120 days after leaving New Zealand
40:14the East Coast of New Holland
40:16was seen by European eyes
40:18for the very first time
40:30On the 29th of April 1770
40:33nearly two years after leaving Britain
40:35Endeavour sailed into this bay
40:38Cook and his crew
40:39came ashore
40:41and stepped onto these very rocks
40:44and became the first Europeans ever
40:47to land on the East Coast of New Holland
40:50Australia
40:53Cook might not have discovered Australia
40:55but he was the first to chart
40:57its huge East Coast
40:59completing the map of the country
41:02and he was the first to claim
41:03this vast rich land for Britain
41:08James what must it have been like
41:10for the indigenous people here
41:11to have seen Cook and his men arrive
41:13It would have been like
41:16seeing a UFO for the first time
41:18you know a UFO
41:19unidentified floating object mate
41:21you know
41:22and it came through the heads
41:23and all those sorts of things
41:24and from its inside
41:26these strange ghost coloured people
41:28would have came out
41:29with you know
41:30all these coloured clothes on skins
41:31and all that sort of thing
41:32and sand coloured faces
41:34and carrying these strange implements
41:38like a funny shaped spear
41:39and all those sorts of things
41:40and it would have been awe inspiring
41:42to them if you know what I mean
41:44what did Cook think of the local people
41:46when he first got here
41:47I think Cook had some very very enlightened views
41:50of the people here
41:51he started asking questions
41:53he noticed all these strange animals around
41:55and he was asking the gugu yimata
41:57you know watch this
41:58watch that
41:59and they saw this
42:00like this animal
42:02the gugu yimata turned around
42:03and said
42:03you know
42:04looked at the kangaroo
42:07and the gugu yimata
42:08turned around and said
42:09well I don't know
42:09be more specific
42:10I don't know
42:11be more specific
42:12and so they called this animal
42:14a kangaroo
42:15but in the language of the gugu yimata
42:17kangaroo meant
42:18I don't know
42:20I don't know
42:22classic misunderstanding
42:23classic misunderstanding
42:30but it wasn't only new people
42:32that Cook and his crew
42:33found in Australia
42:34Banks and his team
42:36soon discovered
42:37huge numbers
42:38of important specimens
42:39of flora and fauna
42:40totally unknown in Europe
42:44the great quantity
42:46of new plants
42:46etc
42:47Mr Banks
42:48collected in this place
42:49occasioned my giving it
42:50the name of
42:53Botanist Harbour
42:55Botanist Bay
42:58Botany Bay
43:02Doug Benson
43:03a local botanist
43:05has studied Banks' work
43:06on board the Endeavour
43:08what did he collect here
43:09what did he collect here at Botany Bay
43:10well he collected at least 130 species
43:14including this Banksia serrata here
43:17this old man Banksia
43:19which unfortunately
43:20because it's winter
43:21hasn't got it pale yellow flowers
43:24but it's a lovely plant
43:25it's a beautiful looking tree
43:26so out of all the things
43:28that Banks collected
43:29how much collecting did he do
43:30on the whole voyage
43:31oh he collected
43:32something like
43:3330,000 specimens
43:35but that includes
43:36plants
43:36birds
43:37insects
43:39fish
43:39and so on
43:40so what would you say
43:41was his contribution
43:43to science
43:43I think
43:44he gets
43:45Botany going
43:46he really provides
43:47this drive
43:48certainly he is
43:50the most influential
43:52botanical figure
43:54probably in Australia
43:56his early history
43:58and in fact
43:59as a botanist myself
44:01it's rather exciting
44:02to see that
44:03Botany
44:05features so strongly
44:06in the early history
44:07of Australia
44:09it was this land
44:10that Cook claimed for Britain
44:11an act that was to change
44:13the course of history
44:15though Cook's actions
44:16were to make his name
44:17their legacy
44:18may not have been in tune
44:19with his liberal thinking
44:22of course Cook
44:23is seen as being
44:25the father of modern Australia
44:26but he played no part
44:28in the colonising
44:29of this land
44:30it was Joseph Banks' idea
44:33nine years after Cook's death
44:34that Botany Bay
44:36should be the home
44:37of a penal colony
44:40so the British
44:41became the first European nation
44:42to settle this land
44:44and they sent cargo
44:46after cargo
44:47of convicts
44:48Australia would never be
44:50the same again
44:52the indigenous people
44:54around here
44:54those people had a structure
44:56you know
44:57they already had
44:58a political system
45:00a social system
45:01already set up
45:02they had education
45:03for their children
45:04and all those sorts of things
45:05they had a 40,000 year structure
45:08of living here
45:08you know
45:09they knew what to do
45:10with the land
45:11and all those sorts of things
45:12but in our perspective
45:13not yours
45:14and if that structure
45:15was
45:16was
45:16so successful
45:17for 40,000 years
45:19how is it that it couldn't resist
45:21the structure of the Europeans
45:22coming in
45:23you were the most powerful group of people on earth
45:26at that particular point in time
45:27you had better ships
45:29you knew the currents
45:30you knew navigation
45:32and all those sorts of things
45:33you had the weapon
45:35the gun
45:35that funny shaped spear
45:36that made a great noise
45:37and killed birds and animals
45:38two or three spear throws away
45:40right
45:40my people would have said
45:42what the hell is that
45:43you know what I mean
45:44but you also came
45:45with your invisible luggage
45:46and there's the attitudes
45:48and values
45:49you know
45:50that you also
45:51you also brought racism
45:52to this country
46:02on the 6th of May 1770
46:04the Endeavour sailed
46:05further north
46:06up the coast
46:07she'd been away from home
46:09for nearly two years
46:10and had travelled
46:11to the other side
46:12of the world
46:17surely Cook had now
46:18proved his worth
46:19he might not have found
46:21the great southern continent
46:22but his ship was loaded
46:24with discoveries
46:24that would change our understanding
46:26of the world forever
46:29maps of new lands
46:31astronomical readings
46:32and thousands of botanical specimens
46:43but unknown to Cook
46:44ruin was lurking beneath the waves
46:49he had no way of knowing it
46:51but he was sailing towards
46:52some of the most treacherous shallows
46:54on the planet
47:00ahead of him
47:01the vastness of the Great Barrier Reef
47:07this reef
47:08stretches for a massive
47:091,900 kilometres
47:11along the east coast of Australia
47:14it's so big
47:16you can see it from space
47:19and for a wooden
47:2118th century sailing ship
47:22it was a disaster
47:24waiting to happen
47:47it's beautiful down here
47:49one of the most spectacular dives anywhere on the planet
47:52but this beauty belies great danger
47:57the coral is made up of limestone
47:59it's hard as rock
48:01and razor sharp
48:07and if you look here
48:11you can see how close the reef lies to the surface
48:16in fact at low tide
48:18it's virtually at the surface
48:23now these days
48:24modern ships have sonar
48:26to water the shallow water
48:30but all Cook had
48:32was his eyesight
48:33and a weighted rope
48:37you can imagine
48:38what it would be like
48:39to try to see this from above
48:42especially at night
48:57at 11 o'clock
48:59in the evening of the 10th of June 1770
49:02Cook was asleep in bed
49:04as the endeavour made her way slowly northwards
49:08success appeared to be finally within his grasp
49:19the endeavour had crashed into the great barrier reef
49:22bringing her to a sudden halt
49:25scarce will be warm in our beds
49:27when we were called up
49:28with the alarming news of the ship
49:30being fast ashore upon a rock
49:31which she in a few moments convinced us of
49:34by beating very violently against the rocks
49:37our situation became now greatly alarming
49:51the reef had punctured a hull
49:55right in the hull of the ship
49:58the water was pouring in
50:02but the worst problem
50:04was that the ship was pinned onto the reef
50:07and wouldn't budge
50:10unless Cook could get the ship off
50:12he would be wrecked
50:14and the men would be drowned
50:18because none of them could swim
50:23and the only way Cook
50:24could get enough water to float endeavour
50:27was to wait for high tide
50:32in order to stand any chance
50:34of saving his ship and her crew
50:36Cook needed to make her as light as possible
50:38before the tide rose again
50:41as day dawned
50:42Cook ordered 50 tonnes of heavy material
50:45to be thrown overboard
50:46everything from cannons
50:48to ballast and barrels
50:53as the day drew on
50:54Cook knew he'd done all he feasibly could
50:57to save the ship
50:58all he could do now
51:00was sit and wait for high tide
51:02hoping and praying
51:03that the ship was now light enough
51:05to be lifted free from the reef
51:09as the tide rose slowly
51:11the men waited with bated breath
51:13and the endeavour gradually
51:16inch by inch
51:17was lifted from the coral
51:21she was afloat
51:22but her troubles were far from over
51:29at nine o'clock
51:30the ship righted
51:31and the leak gained considerably
51:34this was an alarming
51:35and I may say terrible circumstance
51:37and threatened immediate destruction
51:39to us as soon as the ship was afloat
51:45by now
51:46the water in the hole
51:48was over a metre deep
51:49and even by frantically manning
51:52free pumps
51:53they couldn't hold the water back
51:55Cook just had to find a way
51:57of plugging that hole
52:00the boat
52:01Cook ordered his men
52:01to take an old sail
52:02and sew straw to it
52:04before covering the straw
52:06with dung
52:06to make the sail sticky
52:08this was then tied to a rope
52:10thrown overboard
52:11and carefully manoeuvred
52:13into place
52:14over the leak
52:14the water pressure
52:16then forced it onto the hole
52:18like a giant plug
52:20it would do the job
52:21for now
52:26the water was kept back long enough
52:28for the endeavour
52:29to limp into a bay
52:30for repair
52:31but now
52:32Cook was trapped
52:33by the perils
52:34of the barrier reef
52:36Cook
52:37was really up against it
52:38at this point
52:39I mean he had a jury rigged repair
52:41I mean what's it like
52:42to navigate round there
52:43even now?
52:44well even today
52:45with all the sophisticated
52:46electronic equipment
52:48we have on boats
52:49like Deep Star
52:49we still have to
52:51navigate through
52:52the Great Barrier Reef
52:53with extreme caution
52:55you know there's a saying
52:57there's two types of skippers
52:58Paul
52:59those who have hit the reef
53:00and those who will
53:04and if you drop your guard
53:07you could be in serious trouble
53:09it's unforgiving out there
53:10what about you?
53:11have you hit it?
53:12a long time ago
53:14yes
53:14so you've had yours?
53:15I have
53:15I was against the tides
53:16and fortunately enough
53:19we had a winch
53:20on the after deck
53:21of the vessel
53:22and we were close to shore
53:24so we managed to
53:26wind this wire
53:27around a coconut tree
53:28to pull us off
53:28but poor Jimmy
53:29I don't think he had
53:30those facilities back then
53:33all Cook did have
53:35at his disposal
53:35were his formidable skills
53:37as a navigator
53:38he knew that
53:39to return home
53:40he had to find a way
53:42through the treacherous reef
53:43that hemmed him in
53:44and stretched as far
53:45as the eye could see
53:49to get through
53:51would take all of
53:52Cook's ingenuity
53:53and here's what he came up with
53:55you see these waves over here
53:57they mean that the reef
53:59comes very close to the surface
54:00and making the water really shallow
54:02what Cook needed to find
54:04was a place where there were
54:06no breaking waves
54:07because that would mean deeper water
54:08and maybe a gap
54:10that he could get Endeavour through
54:15Cook eventually spotted a gap in the reef
54:17and decided to sail through
54:19he had no choice
54:21it was that
54:22or be trapped within the reef forever
54:25this was an incredibly risky manoeuvre
54:28we're picking our way through now
54:30on this big modern boat
54:31with two whopping great engines
54:33the Endeavour was a huge wooden ship
54:36with sail power only
54:38no engines
54:39she was at the mercy of the winds
54:41the tide and the current
54:42Cook would just have to pick his time
54:44and go for it
54:53with great skill and daring
54:55Cook made it through the reef
55:04the Endeavour could now continue her journey home
55:10for 11 months she sailed onward
55:13heading from New South Wales
55:15to the East Indies
55:16round the southern tip of Africa
55:18and then north towards Europe
55:23finally on the 12th of July 1771
55:26she anchored at Deal in Kent
55:28after three years at sea
55:32it had been a truly historic expedition
55:36Cook had become the first man ever
55:39to circumnavigate the world in a lone ship
55:41a phenomenal achievement
55:44if that wasn't enough
55:45he hadn't lost a single man to scurvy
55:48an unheard of record
55:49he had joined the ranks of the few
55:52who had discovered new lands
55:54and he had claimed a new country
55:56Australia for Britain
55:59at last Cook's name was made
56:01the Admiralty recognised his huge talents
56:04and finally promoted him to the rank of captain
56:09Cook was now a hero
56:13even the original scientific mission
56:15proved to be a resounding success
56:20despite Cook's misgivings
56:22his results will turn out to be vital
56:24in 1771 the astronomer Thomas Hornsby
56:27took five of the measurements from various locations around the world
56:31including Tahiti
56:33and averaged them out
56:34Cook's measurements were essential to allow Hornsby
56:37to calculate the distance of the earth from the sun
56:40and the result was astonishingly accurate
56:43he came up with a figure of 151 million kilometres
56:48incredibly close to today's accepted figure
56:51of 150 million kilometres from the earth to the sun
56:55and this became the yardstick for measuring distance in the solar system
57:01and as a voyage of discovery
57:03the expedition had been incredibly successful
57:06Cook had found 40 new islands
57:09he'd discovered that New Zealand was in fact two islands
57:12and he'd mapped the east coast of Australia
57:14claiming it for Britain
57:17Importantly, Cook's voyage of discovery
57:19pretty much proved that the great southern continent was a fantasy
57:23and crucially he rewrote the map of the world
57:26and these achievements were only possible
57:29because of Cook's particular style of leadership
57:32as one of his colleagues wrote
57:34he was cool and deliberate in judging
57:38active in executing
57:41unsubdued by difficulties and disappointments
57:43mild, just and exact in discipline
57:47he was a father to his people
57:51Cook would go on to make two more extraordinary voyages
57:55but it was this first journey aboard Endeavour
57:57that would really make his name
57:59and by the time of his death in 1779
58:02Cook had become a legend
58:04he'd explored more of the planet than anyone else in history
58:08and for me, this naval nobody
58:11became one of the greatest explorers of all time
58:19The Captain Cook has sailing ships
58:21Hump, ship, pack and ship
58:22Sailing on a cruising ship
58:24In the South Pacific
58:25Cook found Venus through his glass
58:28Hump, ship, pack and ship
58:29The men found Venus in the grass
58:31In the South Pacific
58:33They're naked to coral reef
58:34Hump, ship, pack and ship
58:36Caused in just a squawk of grease
58:38In the South Pacific
58:39Tailed back to the old country
58:41Hump, ship, pack and ship
58:43With the national leopard tee
58:45In the South Pacific
58:46And the South Pacific
58:53Yay!
58:54Thanks James
58:56What do you think of that?