If we learnt about Captain James Cook at school, it was as a peerless explorer and surveyor. In the first of three programmes that reassess this complex man,
Dr Nigel Rigby of the National Maritime Museum examines the achievements of Cook's first voyage of 1768-71, in which he literally put New Zealand and eastern Australia on the map.

The Three Voyages of Captain Cook
11.00am R4 Did you know that Captain James Cook's first trip to the Antipodes was made in a ship that was no more than a floating coal scuttle? HM Bark Endeavour was an old Whitby collier. This is one of but many insights into the real, human history behind the rather mythologised figure Cook has become. Son of a Yorkshire farm labourer, Cook made his mark at a time when wealth and patronage were what counted. Dr Nigel Rigby finds out how. (Jane Anderson)