Actually it was Wouters ancestors and the rest of Europe that thought the World was flat. The Pollies had been sailing the far reaches of the Pacific for centuries when the Anglo-Saxons finally got brave enough to sail out of sight of land.

Cooks notes suggested he thought the Tahitian catamarans capable of 20 knots! He said they were impossible to out run or out manouver....
Oh and we all like catamarans....and who created them???????
Tahiti when discovered by the French had 24 hour lighthouses and over 350 of what the French desciribed as large Ships.

The eating each other comment is just amazing as Europe has a long history of Cannibalism including families who killed lone travellers and butchered them and sold the meat to other travellers. The Crusaders did their best to barbeque and eat a whole city. Christians that they were.

Ignorance often opens peoples mouths wide and they need to to get their feet in.