You're listening to an AirWave Media Podcast.

Hello and welcome to the Explorers Podcast.

Today is Part 9 in our series on James Cook.

In this episode, we continue with Cook's third and final voyage.

Last time, we got it from England to Hawaii.

Today, we will follow along with Cook to North America and the Arctic in search of the Northwest Passage.

One note for today.

Go to Explorerspodcast.com to see a map of Cook's route.

As we are covering a lot of new territory, it will very much help you understand today's narrative.

And with that, let's get going.

It was January 18, 1778.

Cook and his two ships, Resolution and Discovery, had reached the Hawaiian Islands, specifically the island of Hawaii.

A little background on the region.

Hawaii is an archipelago consisting of eight major islands, plus another 129 smaller ones.

The archipelago stretches from east to west for more than 1,500 miles or 2,400 kilometers.

Now, the main eight islands are found on the eastern end of the archipelago.

These islands are only a few hundred miles apart.

Cook would only cite three of these islands on his first visit.

He called them the Sandwich Islands in honor of his sponsor, Lord Sandwich.

It was an odd choice as Cook had called some islands in the South Atlantic, the Sandwich Islands as well.

To avoid confusion, that one was eventually named the South Sandwich Islands.

The Hawaiian Islands had been settled by Polynesians between 300 and 1,100 CE, and the native spoke of Polynesian dialect,

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