The 13-cent Captain Cook commemorative stamps were issued simultaneously on January 20, 1978, at Honolulu, Hawaii, and Anchorage, Alaska. The commemorative issue was comprised of two separate stamp designs. One featured, in a vertical format, a portrait of Cook, and the other stamp, in a horizontal format, depicted Cook's ships at Hawaii.
The portrait stamp was designed by Robert F. Szabo, and the ships stamp was designed by Jak Katalan. They were printed in sheets of fifty.
