New Caledonia

In September 1774, after weeks among the islands of the New Hebrides, Cook’s expedition turns southward into open ocean—expecting nothing but empty horizon. Instead, a vast landmass rises from the mist. Guarded by a colossal coral reef and fringed with pale grasslands and dark mountains, New Caledonia appears like a world apart.

Anchored off New Caledonia, the expedition found fresh water inland and forged peaceful exchanges with the islanders. Mountains were climbed, graves discovered, and new species collected. But after a shared meal of an unfamiliar fish, numbness and paralysis struck before dawn—leaving Cook and his naturalists weakened, just as the island’s deeper secrets began to unfold.