Fort Venus, Tahiti

Just visible in sketchy outline on the far shore of the bay is Fort Venus, the site from which Captain Cook observed the transit of Venus in 1769. The bark Endeavour is anchored just off shore.
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The engraving appears here in John Hawkesworth’s bestselling account of Cook’s circumnavigation. Our copy is a popular small-format edition of 1789, much less lavish and expensive than the original edition of 1773.
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