Surfing Guinness Book of World Records recognized a wave ride by Garrett McNamara at Nazaré, Portugal as the largest wave ever surfed. For hundreds of years, surfing was a central part of ancient Polynesian culture. Surfing may have first been observed by British explorers at Tahiti in 1767. Samuel Wallis and the crew members of who were the first Britons to visit the island in June of that year. Another candidate is the botanist Joseph Banks being part of the first voyage of James Cook on , who arrived on Tahiti on 10 April 1769. Lieutenant James King was the first
Kingdom of Tahiti of those who had arrived at Pitcairn on HMS Bounty in 1790, only seven remained, but with their offspring they numbered 86. The supply of timber on Pitcairn was decreasing and the availability of water was erratic. Since the end of the Napoleonic wars, the Pitcairn islanders had been discovered by and had friendly contact with the Royal Navy and British authorities. In 1830, Tahiti's Queen Pomare IV invited the Pitcairners to return to Tahiti, and in March 1831, a British ship transported them there. The Tahitians welcomed the Pitcairners and offered them land. But having been isolated and not