Cook's canon

Wellington’s museum down by the harbour is the national museum of New Zealand with loads of state of the art displays, many of them interactive, spread over five floors. The canon (poor picture, left) caught my eye since it is an original from the Endeavour, the ship used by my fellow sailor and Yorkshireman Captain Cook on his epic voyages.

It has survived because at one stage in the 1770s Endeavour ran aground on a reef and to get her free Cook ordered six canons to be thrown overboard to lighten the load. This one survived 200 years in water, was recovered, restored and now holds an honoured place on the museum’s third floor. Dave