The figure of Captain Cook understandably dominates the story of Pacific exploration, but one of the effects of his fame has been that the many voyages of science and exploration following him to the Pacific have not received the attention they have deserved, especially in Britain. Pioneers of the Pacific aims to correct this imbalance through the voyages of exploration that continued Cook's work of charting the Pacific. These voyages, by William Bligh, George Vancouver, Matthew Flinders, La Perouse and Arthur Phillip, span a time that saw Britain become the world's leading maritime power.
