Young Nick's Head

Young Nick's Head from Kaiti Beach

Young Nick's Head is a headland at the southern end of Poverty Bay in New Zealand's North Island. It is visible from the nearby city of Gisborne.

The promontory was the first land sighted by the crew of Capt. James Cook's ship, Endeavour on October 7, 1769, Cook having promised a reward to the first crewman to sight land. This reward was delivered to 12-year-old Nicholas Young, assistant to the ship's surgeon, in the form of five gallons of rum and the name of the headland.

In Maori the promontory is named Te Kuri o Paoa,[1] or in its English translation "The Dog of Paoa" as the shape of the headlands looked like the dog of the famous Maori explorer Paoa.

References

Coordinates: 38°45′25″S 177°57′49″E / 38.7570°S 177.9636°E