A WEBSITE documenting the life of a North-East town's most famous son was launched yesterday.

The website dedicated to explorer Captain James Cook, who was born in Marton, Middlesbrough, contains one of the earliest accounts of his life, published in January 1780, just after news of his murder reached Britain's shores.

The site draws on maps, paintings, drawings, photographs, manuscripts and newspapers, and includes the muster sheet for Cook's first voyage on his ship, HM bark, the Endeavour, including the name of sailor Robert Stainsby, from Darlington.

Cook's observation of Tahitians being tattooed is among the items on offer.

He wrote in his journal: "As this is a painful operation, especially the tattooing of their buttocks, it is perform'd but once in their lifetime, it is never done until they are 12 or 14 years of age.''

Funding for the website came from the British Library's Reaching the Regions programme, in partnership with the North-East Museums, Libraries and Archives Council and the Captain Cook Birthplace Museum, in Middlesbrough.

Reaching the Regions manager Hazel Dakers said: "A virtual exhibition like this enables items which cannot be seen physically side by side to be brought together on the web, so the public can now see this wonderful variety of material from the North-East side by side with items from the British Library collections.''

Birthplace Museum curator Phil Philo said the museum had been given a unique opportunity to work with world-class collections.

He said: "I hope that audiences across the globe will enjoy using this website to discover the incredible story of Captain Cook and his achievements.''

To visit the website log on to www.captcook-ne.co.uk.