ITEMS that belonged to Captain James Cook, which have not been seen in public for nearly 200 years, will go on show next month.

About 20 items in the Curiosities from The Endeavour exhibition, at the Cook Memorial Museum, at Whitby, North Yorkshire, will include a Maori canoe bailer and a breastplate.

Dr Sophie Forgan, chairwoman of the museum's trustees, said the items on display had been on The Endeavour, one of Cook's ships, which was built in Whitby and which he sailed on his voyages.

The collection is going on display through the Putt Rivers Museum with the permission of Christ Church College, Oxford, which was given the items by the botanist Sir Joseph Banks, who sailed with Cook.

One of the first people to see it at the museum, which was Cook's home before he went on his voyages to the South Seas, will be The Duke of Edinburgh, who will sail into Whitby on March 31 on board the replica of The Endeavour, which is making a five-day visit to the port. The ship will return to Whitby in May for a longer stay.

Published: 13/03/2004