Portrait of Captain Cook. Extant in the British Maritime Museum.

The Sandwich Islands were the name given to Hawaii by British navigator James Cook when he discovered it on January 18, 1778, in honor of the First Lord of the Navy, his superior and patron, the Fourth Earl of Sandwich. Beginning in the late 19th century, the name ceased to be widely used.

Captain James Cook, FRS, RN (27 October 1728 - 14 February 1779) was an English explorer and navigator who made three expeditions to the Pacific Ocean and explored the coastline along the Pacific coast. He was also a mapmaker, inventor of the longitude meter nautical position determination, and the first captain to discover a cure for scurvy. Often referred to as Captain Cook.

According to records, the first British man to discover the southern hemisphere of New Zealand and the east coast of Australia was James Cook. The strait between the North and South islands of New Zealand today is named Cook Strait after him. There is also an archipelago in the South Pacific named Cook Islands after him. He was also the first European to discover the Hawaiian Islands.

James Cook was a Scottish immigrant and was born in 1728 in Whiteby Farm in Yorkshire, England. He began working as a running boat sailor for the Wuck Shipping Company in the 1740s, but only worked in the waters near England. In 1755, he joined the Royal Navy and was sent to North America to participate in the Anglo-French War. In 1759, he was promoted to captain. Cook began his 20-year expedition in the 1760s and died in Hawaii in 1779. The cause of death is still unknown. He is believed to have been killed during a conflict with Native Hawaiian people. During his three Long March, accompanying painters John Webber and William Hodges left many valuable nautical drawings.

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