Cook is celebrated after his second voyage, earning the Copley Medal and membership in the Royal Society.

Cook volunteers to lead a new expedition to find the Northwest Passage, ending his brief retirement.

Cook bids farewell to his family and sets sail from England aboard the Resolution.

The Resolution and Discovery rendezvous at Cape Town to restock supplies before heading south and east.

Cook and a well-armed party visit Grass Cove, New Zealand to investigate the massacre of Furneaux's men.

The ships arrive at Tahiti, where Mai is reunited with his sister after years spent in England.

Cook observes and documents a human sacrifice ritual at Matavai Bay without intervening.

After goats are stolen on Moorea, Cook orders a punitive raid that destroys villages and canoes.

Cook purchases land on Huahine, builds a house for Mai, and leaves him behind permanently.

The Resolution and Discovery sail north of the equator and unexpectedly sight the Hawaiian Islands.

Cook's ships find shelter at Nootka Sound on the North American coast and trade with the Mowachaht people.

The ships push into the Arctic Ocean and are stopped by an impassable wall of sea ice.

Cook's ships enter Kealakekua Bay during the Makahiki festival and are greeted by thousands of Hawaiians.

After a cutter is stolen, Cook attempts to kidnap King Kalaniʻōpuʻu and is killed by Hawaiians.

Captain Clerke negotiates the return of Cook's bones and the crew holds a funeral at sea.

Cook's third voyage begins with his decision to leave retirement and lead an expedition in search of the Northwest Passage. After resupplying at Cape Town, the ships navigate through New Zealand, Tahiti, and the Society Islands before making first contact with Hawaii. The search for a northern sea route takes the expedition along the North American coast and deep into the Arctic, where impassable ice forces a retreat to Hawaii. At Kealakekua Bay, the Hawaiians initially welcome Cook with extraordinary reverence during the Makahiki festival. Tensions escalate when a ship's cutter is stolen, and Cook's attempt to kidnap King Kalaniʻōpuʻu ends in his violent death on the beach. The surviving crew recovers Cook's remains and holds a solemn funeral at sea, marking the end of an era of exploration.

The headline events of Cook's final voyage, from departure to tragic death.

Mai arrives in Britain aboard HMS Adventure and becomes an instant celebrity in London society.

Under Joseph Banks's patronage, Mai meets King George III and receives a smallpox inoculation from Dr. Dimsdale.

A farewell dinner is held aboard the Resolution, attended by Lord Sandwich and senior Admiralty officials.

The storm-battered Resolution puts in at Tenerife in the Canary Islands for resupply and rest.

Cook's expedition reaches the barren Kerguelen Islands and Cook formally claims the territory for Britain.

The expedition finds shelter at Adventure Bay in Tasmania and encounters the Palawa people peacefully.

Marine George Moody is lost overboard during the brutal voyage from Tasmania toward New Zealand.

Cook anchors at Ship Cove in Queen Charlotte Sound and cautiously resumes trade with the Māori.

Cook learns that a Spanish expedition visited Tahiti during his absence and claimed the island for Spain.

Cook and his officers observe the Tahitian war fleet rehearsing maneuvers before a planned attack on Moorea.

Two sailors become lost on Christmas Island and survive by drinking turtle blood until they are rescued.

Cook explores the Waimea River valley on Kaua'i and marvels at the islanders' sophisticated agricultural techniques.

Cook conducts a formal possession ceremony at Cook Inlet, raising the Union Jack and burying a bottle.

Surgeon William Anderson dies of tuberculosis during the crew's northward push through Alaskan waters.

The crew arrives in Macau and discovers the high value of sea otter pelts, sparking talk of mutiny.

Before the voyage departs, Mai's years in England as a celebrity and cultural ambassador set the stage for his complicated return to the Pacific. The expedition's stops at Tenerife, the Kerguelen Islands, and Tasmania mark the difficult early stages of the journey south and east. Reaching New Zealand brings cautious trade under the shadow of the Grass Cove massacre, while Tahiti reveals the complications of Spanish colonial rivalry. The voyage northward toward Alaska introduces the crew to new peoples and harsh terrain, and the gradual death of their surgeon William Anderson casts a shadow over the Arctic push. The discovery of sea otter pelt values at Macau points toward the lasting economic consequences that Cook's voyages would unleash upon the Pacific.

The supporting encounters and incidents that shaped the voyage's course.

Cook grows restless in retirement at Greenwich Hospital and agrees to lead the third expedition himself.

Captain Clerke's imprisonment for debt delays the Discovery's departure from England.

The Resolution nearly strikes a reef near Boa Vista, raising early doubts about Cook's state of mind.

After meeting the Māori responsible for the massacre at Grass Cove, Cook refuses to execute Chief Kahura.

Mai's attempt to impress the Tahitians by riding a horse in full armor fails and exposes his identity crisis.

Cook refuses Mai's request for help reclaiming his home island of Raiatea from Bora Boran invaders.

Mai and Cook share a deeply emotional farewell before the ships depart Huahine and leave him behind.

Mai dies from a virus on Huahine along with his two New Zealand servants.

Severe storms repeatedly force Cook southward along the Oregon coast, causing him to miss the Columbia River.

The Resolution springs a dangerous leak during a violent storm in the North Pacific after leaving Nootka Sound.

Cook concludes that Cook Inlet is a dead-end river estuary and abandons hope of finding the Northwest Passage there.

Blocked by Arctic ice and facing winter, Cook decides to sail south to the Hawaiian Islands to wait out the season.

King Kalaniʻōpuʻu arrives at Kealakekua Bay and presents Cook with a magnificent feathered cloak and helmet.

The Resolution's foremast breaks, forcing the ships to make an unwelcome return to Kealakekua Bay.

Captain Clerke, commanding the expedition after Cook's death, succumbs to tuberculosis and is buried in Siberia.

Cook's story pivots on the moment he abandons retirement and volunteers for a mission that will prove fatal, driven by restlessness and imperial ambition. From the near-disaster at Boa Vista to his controversial decision to spare Chief Kahura, Cook's judgment is repeatedly tested and quietly questioned by his crew. Mai's failed reintegration into Polynesian society—marked by awkward displays and his unfulfilled dream of reclaiming Raiatea—reveals the deep human cost of cultural collision. The revelation that both Cook Inlet and the Arctic ice pack dead-end the search for the Northwest Passage marks the expedition's defining failure. Back in Hawaii, the breaking of the Resolution's foremast forces a return to Kealakekua that sets the tragic final confrontation in motion. The death of Captain Clerke in Siberia signals the complete collapse of the original expedition's leadership and the end of the voyage.