Captain James Cook's voyage in the Endeavour which resulted in the mapping of New Zealand and the east coast of Australia, was an epic voyage into the unknown. According to the British government - who wished to deceive the world as to its true purpose - it was merely a scientific expedition to observe the transit of the planet Venus across the face of the sun, a measurement which could help to establish the scale of the universe itself. Instead it turned out to be the one of the greatest voyages of discovery. The story of the Endeavour has always been seen as a small part of Cook's biography when, in fact, the voyage is a complete narrative in its own right. It has never before been told in its full and dramatic context. The narrative brings to life the main characters - Cook, Joseph Banks and his sailors - as their ship became the first ship to enter the Pacific Ocean and to know her precise whereabouts on the surface of the earth. The story includes aspects of history, geography, exploration, seamanship, astronomy, natural history, anthropology and many other sciences, and it is a story of human emotion, hardship and triumphant endeavour.