By Jeremy Armstrong Seashells from Captain Cook’s last voyage will go on display 50 years after being thrown in a skip. The remarkable collection was amassed before the explorer was killed by Hawaiian islanders in 1779. Despite surviving more than 200 years, they nearly met an untimely end in the 1980s after being loaned in 1934 to Armstrong College, now Newcastle University. A passing marine biology lecturer, Dr John Buchanan, saved them. The shells were then cared for by his family until they discovered they were part of a collection amassed by Bridget Atkinson, who lived from 1732-1814. Dr …