The Story of James Cook

Who was James Cook?

James Cook was a British explorer and navigator during the 18^th century. He was born on 27 October 1728 in Marton and died in 1779. He was married to Elizabeth Batts and had 6 children. All of the children died young, so there wasn’t a successor of the Cook family. Some of his children died while he was on his voyages so has never really known them.

James Cook was a great seaman, an impressive leader and cartographer and in my opinion he was also a very brave and inquisitive man. He was very smart, I’ll explain that in the next paragraph.

His friend David Samwell wrote of him: "He was a modest man, and rather bashful; of an agreeable lively conversation, sensible and intelligent. In temper he was somewhat hasty, but of a disposition the most friendly, benevolent and humane. His person was above six feet high: and, though a good looking man, he was plain both in dress and appearance. His face was full of expression: his nose extremely well shaped: his eyes which were small and of a brown cast, were quick and piercing; his eyebrows prominent, which gave his countenance altogether an air of austerity."

His early years

The Cook family was a really poor farmer workers family. In Ayton James’ fathers could work as a hind and when James became old enough he started working along with his father. Yet James was ambitious and wanted a better job. At the age of eighteen he started his seaman career in Whitby (a small port). While he worked there he taught himself math, astronomy and cartography. In 1755, Cook was accepted by the Royal Navy, where he learnt to survey and chart coastal waters.

Cook made his first journey on the ship Mercury. Sir hugh Palliser became interested in him because of his amazing seamanship and his talent for cartography. Palliser gave him the assignment to create maps of Newfoundland. His maps are really precise that’s why they were used up until the 20^th century.

Soon his popularity reached the queen and she assignment him to make Tahiti a colony of the British Empire.

One of his maps

Life while Cook was famous

Between 1766 and 1771 James Cook made his first voyage on the Endeavor to observe the passage of Venus at Tahiti and to look for the ‘mythical south continent’. But he was given secret instructions;  to discover new natural resources and to expand The British Empire by having a colony in the Pacific Ocean to control the trading posts around the world.
For this reason he discovered New-Zealand, Australia and some islands in the Pacific Ocean. He came home in July 1771 and was rewarded with the leadership over another two ships.

A year later Cook began his second big voyage from 1772 until 1775.  It was believed that there was much more land in the south of the the equator than there had already been discovered. Because Cook hadn't been south of Australia, he couldn't disprove it. So Cook went looking for the southern continent. His two ships, the Resolution and the Adventure , sailed close to the Antarctic coast but they were forced to turn back by the cold. They then visited New Zealand and Tahiti (to stay for the winter), and returned to England in 1775.  During this voyage he also discovered several island chains in the Pacific Ocean.

After Cook arrived back in Britain in July 1775, he received the highest honor for his geographic exploration.

After his second voyage, The Navy wanted Cook to find the mythical Northwest Passage, which would make it possible to sail between Europe and Asia across North America. Cook started his third voyage in July 1776. He sailed along the coast of North America, but as he headed north he was stopped by the impassible Arctic ice.

For the second time he discovered that something did not exist, so he continued his voyage. His last stop was in 1779 at the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) where he was killed in a fight with islanders over the theft of a boat because he tried to take the local leader as hostage.

After his death

Even  now there are still companies, universities and of course ships named after James Cook. A lot of books are written about his life and his voyages. His ship, the HMS Endeavour, is rebuilt and is currently in Australia.

What I admire about him

I really admire how he became a captain even though he grew up in a really poor hind family. He has worked really hard and thought himself several subjects. In my opinion he was a great man, because he didn't get full of himself after he became famous and most importantly; he has been an important person in the world history by discovering the islands in the Pacific Ocean, Australia and New Zealand. He filled many gaps on worlds maps. By discovering these islands, Cook changed the view of the Europeans on the world geography radically. 

Personally, I'm really envious of his voyages and discoveries!