Indeed, Captain Cook—the most famous English explorer of the Pacific and the first European to circumnavigate New Zealand—achieved much of his success with the aid of a Tahitian chief who boarded his ship, the Endeavour. The chief, named Tupaia, sailed with the crew for almost 20 months and used his memories of the waters to help Cook create a map of 130 islands along a 2,500-mile swath of ocean. Much to Cook’s astonishment, no matter where the Endeavor traveled, and despite turbulent conditions, dark of night, or the stillness of a featureless day, Tupaia could always point to the direction
...more