hook, fish

This fish hook is one of a set collected by Spelman Swaine on a voyage with King’s Lynn-born Captain George Vancouver to the Pacific in the late 18th century. The wooden hook has two struts, one decorated with a two-headed zoomorphic figure while the other has a sharp bone secured to it with reed. This rare and early example from the North West American Pacific Coast came from the collection of Spelman Swaine of Wisbech, Cambridgeshire who accompanied Vancouver on his voyage on the ‘Discovery’ from 1791-1795.