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Captain James Cook (7 November 1728Template:Efn – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer known for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 1768 and 1779. He completed the first recorded circumnavigation of the main islands of New Zealand and was the first known European to visit the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands.
Cook joined the British merchant navy as a teenager before enlisting in the Royal Navy in 1755. He served during the Seven Years' War, and subsequently surveyed and mapped much of the entrance to the St. Lawrence River during the siege of Quebec. In the 1760s, he mapped the coastline of Newfoundland and made important astronomical observations which brought him to the attention of the Admiralty and the Royal Society. This acclaim came at an important moment in British overseas exploration, and it led to his commission in 1768 as commander of Template:Ship for the first of three Pacific voyages.
During these voyages, he sailed thousands of miles across largely uncharted areas of the globe. He mapped coastlines, islands and features across the Pacific from Hawaii to Australia in greater detail than previously charted. He made contact with numerous indigenous peoples, and he claimed many territories for Britain. He displayed a combination of seamanship, superior surveying and cartographic skills, physical courage, and an ability to lead men in adverse conditions.
In 1779, during his second visit to Hawaii, Cook was killed when a dispute with indigenous Hawaiians turned violent. He left a legacy of scientific and geographical knowledge that influenced his successors well into the 20th century. Numerous memorials have been dedicated to him worldwide. However, he remains a controversial figure due to his occasionally violent encounters with indigenous peoples, and there is ongoing debate regarding his role in facilitating British colonialism.
Early life and familyEdit
James Cook was born on 7 November 1728Template:Efn in the village of Marton in the North Riding of Yorkshire and baptised on 14 November in the parish church of St Cuthbert where his name can be seen in the church register.<ref name="Rigby25" /><ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> He was the second of eight children of James Cook (1693–1779), a Scottish farm labourer from Ednam in Roxburghshire, and his locally born wife, Grace Pace (1702–1765), from Thornaby-on-Tees.<ref name="Rigby25">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref>Template:Harvnb</ref>Template:Sfn In 1736, his family moved to Airey Holme farm at Great Ayton, where his father's employer, Thomas Skottowe, paid for him to attend the local school.Template:Sfn In 1741, after five years of schooling, he began work for his father who had been promoted to farm manager. For leisure, he would climb a nearby hill, Roseberry Topping, enjoying the opportunity for solitude.Template:Sfn
In 1745, when he was 16, Cook moved Template:Convert to the fishing village of Staithes to be apprenticed as a shop boy to grocer and haberdasher William Sanderson.<ref name="Rigby25" /> Historian Vanessa Collingridge speculated that this is where Cook first felt the lure of the sea while gazing out of the shop window.Template:Sfn
After 18 months, not proving suited for shop work, Cook travelled to the nearby port town of Whitby and was introduced to Sanderson's friends John and Henry Walker. The Walkers, who were Quakers, were prominent local ship-owners in the coal trade.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Their house is now the Captain Cook Memorial Museum.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Cook was taken on as a merchant navy apprentice in their small fleet of vessels, plying coal along the English coast. His first assignment was aboard the collier Freelove, and he spent several years on this and various other coasters, sailing between the Tyne and London. As part of his apprenticeship, Cook applied himself to the study of algebra, geometry, trigonometry, navigation and astronomy – all skills he would need one day to command his own ship.Template:Sfn
His three-year apprenticeship completed, Cook began working on merchant ships in the Baltic Sea. After passing his examinations in 1752, he soon progressed through the merchant navy ranks, starting with his promotion in that year to mate aboard the collier brig Friendship.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref>
In 1755, Britain was re-arming for what was to become the Seven Years' War. Cook realised his career would advance more quickly in military service, soTemplate:Snddespite the need to start at the bottom of the naval hierarchyTemplate:Sndhe volunteered for service in the Royal Navy. He entered the Navy at Wapping on 17 June 1755.<ref name="Rigby27">Template:Harvnb</ref>
On 21 December 1762, Cook married Elizabeth Batts, the daughter of Samuel BattsTemplate:Sndkeeper of the Bell Inn in Wapping and one of Cook's mentorsTemplate:Sndat St Margaret's Church, Barking, Essex.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Efn The couple had six children: James (1763–1794), Nathaniel (1764–1780, lost aboard Template:HMS which foundered with all hands in a hurricane in the West Indies), Elizabeth (1767–1771), Joseph (1768–1768), George (1772–1772) and Hugh (1776–1793, who died of scarlet fever while a student at Christ's College, Cambridge).Template:Cn When not at sea, Cook lived in the East End of London. He attended St Paul's Church, Shadwell, where his son James was baptised.Template:Cn Cook has no direct descendants – all of his children died before having children of their own.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref>
David Samwell, a Welsh surgeon who accompanied Cook on the third voyage, described him as: "... above six feet high, and though a good looking man, he was plain both in address and appearance. His head was small, his hair, which was dark brown, he wore tied behind. His face was full of expression, his nose exceedingly well shaped, his eyes which were of a brown cast, were quick and piercing: his eyebrows prominent, which gave his countenance altogether an air of austerity."Template:Sfn
Edit
Cook's first posting was with Template:HMS, serving as able seaman and master's mate under Captain Joseph Hamar for his first year aboard, and Captain Hugh Palliser thereafter.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> In October and November 1755, he took part in Eagle's capture of one French warship and the sinking of another, following which he was promoted to boatswain in addition to his other duties.<ref name="Rigby27" /> His first temporary command was in March 1756 when he was briefly master of Cruizer, a small cutter attached to Eagle while on patrol.<ref name="Rigby27" /><ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> In June 1757, Cook passed his master's examinations at Trinity House, Deptford, qualifying him to navigate and handle a ship of the King's fleet.<ref name="G_Williams">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He then joined the sixth-rate frigate HMS Solebay as master under Captain Robert Craig.Template:SfnTemplate:Efn
CanadaEdit
During the Seven Years' War, Cook served in North America as master aboard the fourth-rate Navy vessel Template:HMS.Template:Sfn With others in PembrokeTemplate:'s crew, he took part in the major amphibious assault that captured the Fortress of Louisbourg from the French in 1758, and in the siege of Quebec City in 1759.Template:Sfn
The day after the fall of Louisbourg, Cook met an army officer, Samuel Holland, who was using a plane table to survey the area.Template:Sfn The two men had an immediate connection through their interest in surveying, and Holland taught Cook the methods he was using. They collaborated on developing preliminary charts of the entrance to the Saint Lawrence River, with Cook most likely the author of sailing directions for the river, written in 1758. The combination of Holland's land-surveying techniquesTemplate:Efn and Cook's hydrographic skills enabled the latter, from that time onwards, to produce nautical charts for coastal areas that substantially exceeded the accuracy of such Admiralty charts of the time.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn As General Wolfe's advance on Quebec progressed in 1759, Cook and the other masters of ships in the English fleet worked to chart and mark the shoals of the river, particularly near to Quebec itself. The close approach by the ships of the Royal Navy through these shallow waters allowed General Wolfe to make his successful stealth attack during the 1759 Battle of the Plains of Abraham.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
Cook's surveying ability was also put to use in mapping the jagged coast of Newfoundland in the 1760s, aboard Template:HMS. He surveyed the northwest stretch in 1763 and 1764, the south coast between the Burin Peninsula and Cape Ray in 1765 and 1766, and the west coast in 1767. At this time, Cook employed local pilots to point out the "rocks and hidden dangers" along the south and west coasts. During the 1765 season, local pilots were engaged to assist with mapping Fortune Bay, Connaigre Bay, Hermitage Bay, the Bay d'Espoir and the coast west of St. Lawrence.<ref name=pilots>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Efn
While in Newfoundland, Cook also conducted astronomical observations, in particular of the eclipse of the sun on 5 August 1766.Template:Sfn By obtaining an accurate estimate of the time of the start and finish of the eclipse, and comparing these with the timings at a known position in England, it was possible to calculate the longitude of the observation site in Newfoundland. This result was communicated to the Royal Society in 1767.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Cook's hydrographic surveys in NewfoundlandTemplate:Sndconducted over five seasonsTemplate:Sndproduced the first large-scale, accurate maps of the island's coasts. They were the first large-scale surveys to use precise triangulation to establish land outlines.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> They also gave Cook his mastery of practical surveying, achieved under often adverse conditions, and brought him to the attention of the Admiralty and Royal Society at a crucial moment both in his career and in the direction of British overseas discovery. Cook's charts were used for over 100 years.Template:Sfn
At the end of the 1767 surveying season, while HMS Grenville was returning to her home port of Deptford, Cook encountered a storm at the entrance to the Thames. He anchored Grenville off the Nore lighthouse and prepared the ship to ride out the weather. One anchor cable broke, and the ship went aground on a shoal. Despite efforts to improve the situation, Cook and his crew were obliged to abandon ship. They returned when the storm eventually abated, lightened and re-rigged the ship and continued into Deptford.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
First voyage (1768–1771)Edit
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Cook's first scientific voyage was a three-year expedition to the south Pacific Ocean aboard HMS Endeavour, conducted from 1768 to 1771. The voyage was jointly sponsored by the Royal Navy and Royal Society.Template:SfnTemplate:Efn The publicly stated goal was to observe the 1769 transit of Venus from the vantage point of Tahiti.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Additional objectivesTemplate:Sndoutlined in sealed orders not to be opened until Cook reached TahitiTemplate:Sndincluded: searching for the postulated Terra Australis Incognita (undiscovered southern land); and to claim lands for Britain.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:EfnTemplate:Efn
In early 1768, the Admiralty asked shipwright Adam Hayes to select a vessel for the expedition; he chose the merchant collier Earl of Pembroke.Template:Sfn<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} The Captain Cook Society cites Admiralty Minutes curated at The National Archives (TNA) in Kew. Specific records are: 5 April 1768 ADM/3/76; 12 April 1768 ADM/3/76;
12 April 1768 ADM/3/76; 25 May 1768 ADM/3/76.</ref>Template:Efn She was renamed Endeavour by the navy. On 6 May 1768, at age 39, Cook took his examination for the rank of lieutenantTemplate:Snda rank that was required for the captain of a ship armed with the number of guns planned for Endeavour.Template:Sfn The promotion to lieutenant was effective on 25 May 1768, the date he took command.Template:Sfn<ref name="Rigby30">Template:Harvnb</ref>Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Harvnb. Kippis incorrectly states that Cook and Hugh Palliser selected the ship for the voyage.</ref> Like most colliers, Endeavor had a large hold, a sturdy construction that would tolerate grounding, was small enough to be careened for repairs, and had a small draft that enabled navigating in shallows.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Upon completion of the first voyage, Cook wrote "It was to these properties in her, those on board owe their Preservation. Hence I was enabled to prosecute Discoveries in those Seas so much longer than any other Man ever did or could do."Template:Sfn When selecting ships for his second voyage in 1772, Cook chose the same type of ship, from the same shipbuilder.Template:Sfn
The Admiralty authorised a ship's company of 73 sailors and 12 Royal Marines.Template:Sfn Cook's second lieutenant was Zachary Hicks, and his third lieutenant was John Gore, a 16-year Naval veteran who had circumnavigated the world in 1766 aboard HMS Dolphin.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Also on the ship were astronomer Charles Green and botanist Joseph Banks.Template:Sfn Banks provided funding for seven others to join the journey, including naturalists, artists, a secretary, and two servants.<ref>Template:Cite book, p. 10. Holmes incorrectly states that Green's first name was William, not Charles.</ref>
Transit of VenusEdit
The expedition departed England on 26 August 1768.Template:Sfn Cook and his crew rounded Cape Horn and continued westward across the Pacific, arriving at Tahiti on 13 April 1769, where the observations of the transit were made.Template:Sfn However, the result of the observations was not as conclusive or accurate as had been hoped.Template:Sfn Once the observations were completed, Cook opened the sealed orders, which instructed him to search for the postulated southern continent of Terra Australis.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
New Zealand and AustraliaEdit
Cook then sailed to New Zealand and landed near the Tūranganui River.Template:Sfn Encounters with the Māori on the first two days were violent: a Māori was shot and killed on each of the days.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Cook then sailed around both of the New Zealand islands, mapping the complete coastline.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn With the aid of Tupaia, a Tahitian priest who had joined the expedition, Cook was the first European to communicate with the Māori.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Despite Cook's attempts to establish relations, many encounters turned violent, and a total of nine Māori were killed during the voyage.<ref>Template:Cite magazine British government statement describes nine deaths.</ref><ref>Template:Harvnb</ref>
Cook then voyaged west, reaching the southeastern coast of Australia near Point Hicks on 19 April 1770.<ref name=":1">Template:Harvnb</ref>Template:Efn In doing so his expedition became the first recorded Europeans to have encountered its eastern coastline.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Efn On 23 April, Cook saw Aboriginal Australians for the first time at Brush Island near Bawley Point.<ref name= jour22Apr>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} </ref>Template:Efn Endeavour continued northwards along the coastline, keeping the land in sight, while Cook charted and named landmarks along the way.Template:Sfn On 29 April, Cook and crew made their first landfall on the continent in Botany Bay, at the east end of Silver Beach.Template:Efn In the expedition's first direct encounter with Aboriginal Australians, two Gweagal men of the Dharawal / Eora nation opposed the landing, and one of them was shot and wounded by Cook's crew.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="auto22">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Harvnb</ref>
Cook and his crew stayed at Botany Bay for a week, exploring the surrounding area and collecting water, timber, fodder, and botanical specimens.Template:Sfn Cook sought to establish relations with the Indigenous population without success.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> Their first landing site was later to be promoted, particularly by Joseph Banks, as a suitable candidate for situating a settlement and British colonial outpost.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref>
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After his departure from Botany Bay, he continued northwards, stopping at Bustard Bay on 23 May 1770.Template:Sfn The ships proceeded north through the shallow and extremely dangerous Great Barrier Reef. On 11 June Endeavour ran aground on the reef at high tide.Template:Sfn The ship was stuck fast, so Cook ordered all excess weight thrown overboard, including six cannons and some of the ship's ballast. She was eventually hauled off after 27 hours, on the second high tide after the grounding.Template:Sfn The ship was leaking badly, so the crew fothered the damage (hauled a spare sail under the ship to cover and slow the leak).Template:Sfn Cook then careened the ship on a beach at the mouth of the Endeavour River for seven weeks while repairs were undertaken.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref>
The voyage continued northward until they reached the northeast tip of Australia: Cape York. Searching for a vantage point to look for a route forward, Cook saw a hill on a nearby island. On 22 August 1770, he stood atop the island and claimed the entire Australian coast that he had surveyed as British territory, and named the island Possession Island.Template:Sfn<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The expedition then turned west and continued homeward through the dangerously shallow waters of the Torres Strait.
Return to EnglandEdit
In October 1770, Cook stopped in Batavia (modern Jakarta, Indonesia), where the Dutch dockyard facilities were used to inspect and repair the damage from running aground on the Great Barrier Reef.Template:Sfn While in Batavia, seven of his crew died from malaria, and 40 were sickened.Template:Sfn From Batavia, he sailed to the Cape of Good Hope, then to the island of Saint Helena, arriving on 30 April 1771.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> The ship finally returned to England on 12 July 1771, anchoring in the Downs, and Cook disembarked to go to the town of Deal in Kent.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Efn
Shortly after his return, Cook was promoted in August 1771 to the rank of commander.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref><ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> Cook's journal of the first voyage was published in 1773.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Efn Banks received accolades from the press and the scientific community.Template:Sfn Banks planned to travel with Cook in the second voyage, but his excessive demands for modifications to the ship conflicted with the Admiralty's constraints, so he removed himself from the voyage before it departed.Template:Sfn
Second voyage (1772–1775)Edit
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} In 1772, Cook was commissioned to lead another scientific expedition on behalf of the Royal Society, with the goal of determining whether or not the hypothetical landmass Terra Australis existed.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
This voyage would have two ships and, unlike the first voyage, Cook selected them himself: Template:HMS commanded by Cook, and Template:HMS, commanded by Tobias Furneaux.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Resolution began her career as the North Sea collier Marquis of Granby, launched at Whitby in 1770. She was fitted out at Deptford with the most advanced navigational aids of the day, including an azimuth compass, ice anchors, and an apparatus for distilling fresh water from sea water.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Crew included astronomer William Wales (responsible for the new K1 chronometer carried on the Resolution), lieutenant Charles Clerke, artist William Hodges, and naturalists Johann Reinhold Forster and his son, Georg Forster.Template:Sfn
Searching for Terra AustralisEdit
After departing England, the ships travelled to South Africa and stopped at Cape Town in November 1772.Template:Sfn From there they sailed eastward, planning to circumnavigate the globe roughly between 50°S and 70°S latitude.Template:SfnTemplate:Efn In late November 1772, the ships sighted the first icebergs and Cook performed an experiment: his crew chopped blocks of ice from ice flows and melted them onboard the ships, producing good quality fresh water, proving that drinking water could be obtained from sea ice.Template:Sfn On 17 January 1773 the crews became the first recorded Europeans to cross the Antarctic Circle.Template:Sfn<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Despite his mission to find Terra Australis, Cook never sighted Antarctica in any of his voyages; but on 18 JanuaryTemplate:Sndunbeknownst to himTemplate:Sndthe ships approached within Template:Convert of Antarctica.Template:Sfn
In February 1773, in the Antarctic fog, Resolution and Adventure became separated.Template:Sfn Furneaux made his way, via Tasmania,Template:Efn to a pre-arranged rendezvous location to be used in the event of separation: Queen Charlotte Sound in New Zealand. Cook arrived in May, after Furneaux.Template:Sfn The crews traded with the Māori people, and in his journal, Cook lamented the fact that Europeans were possibly transmitting diseases to the indigenous people and encouraging prostitution.Template:Sfn
In June, the ships departed New Zealand, and headed southTemplate:Snd in the middle of the southern winterTemplate:Sndto resume their eastward search for Terra Australis at about 60°S.Template:Sfn The next month, 20 crewmen of the Adventure contracted scurvy because Furneaux had failed to follow Cook's dietary instructions.Template:Sfn
The ships then turned north to visit Tahiti, Tonga, and New Zealand.Template:Sfn On their way to New Zealand, the ships became separated in a storm.Template:Sfn Cook proceeded to the rendezvous point, and waited three weeks, then departed to continue the voyage alone. Furneaux arrived, missing Cook by four days.Template:Sfn While resupplying their ship in Queen Charlotte Sound, eleven members of the crew of Adventure fought with some Maori, resulting in the deaths of all eleven crew and two Maori. Furneaux later discovered the bodies of the crew members, partially burned in preparation for cannibalism.Template:Sfn When learning about the deaths much later, Cook wondered if Furneaux's crew was at fault, writing "I must ... observe in favor of the New Zealanders that I have always found them of a brave, noble, open and benevolent disposition".Template:Sfn The Adventure departed New Zealand and quickly returned to Britain.Template:SfnTemplate:Efn
The Resolution continued her search for Terra Australis alone, reaching her most southern latitude of 71°10′S in January 1774.Template:Sfn When his ship reached that southernmost point, and progress was blocked by impenetrable pack ice, Cook wrote in his private diary: "I whose ambition leads me not only farther than any other man has been before me, but as far as I think it possible for man to go...".<ref name="G_Williams" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} Diary entry 30 January 1774.</ref>
The Resolution made a large anti-clockwise circle in the south Pacific, visiting Easter Island, Tofua, Melanesia, and New Zealand.Template:SfnTemplate:Efn They then proceeded home, sailing south of Tierra del Fuego, and stopping at South Georgia Island, where Cook claimed it in the name of his king.Template:Sfn The ship then travelled to South Africa, then north back to Britain.Template:SfnTemplate:EfnTemplate:Efn
Return to EnglandEdit
Cook was promoted to the rank of post-captain and given an honorary retirement from the Royal Navy, with a posting as an officer of the Greenwich Hospital.Template:Sfn He reluctantly accepted, insisting that he be allowed to quit the post if an opportunity for active duty should arise.<ref name="Beaglehole">Template:Harvnb</ref> His fame extended beyond the Admiralty: he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society and awarded the Copley Gold Medal for completing his second voyage without losing a man to scurvy.<ref name="Rigby79">Template:Harvnb</ref> Nathaniel Dance-Holland painted his portrait; he dined with James Boswell; and he was described in the House of Lords as "the first navigator in Europe".<ref name="G_Williams" />
Third voyage (1776–1779)Edit
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} The primary purpose of Cook's third expedition was to search for a Northwest Passage from the north Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Efn To keep this goal secret, the Admiralty publicly stated that the aim of the mission was to return Polynesian native Omai to his home in Tahiti.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Efn
On this voyage, Cook again commanded the Resolution, while Captain Charles Clerke commanded Template:HMS.Template:SfnTemplate:Efn Cook's lieutenants included John Gore and James King.Template:Sfn William BlighTemplate:Sndwho would later command HMS BountyTemplate:Sndwas the master.Template:Sfn William Anderson was surgeon and botanist, William Bayly served as astronomer, and John Webber was the official artist.Template:Sfn Among the midshipmen was George Vancouver, who would later lead the Vancouver Expedition.Template:Sfn
HawaiiEdit
The third voyage began by sailing around South Africa, then into the Pacific Ocean.Template:Sfn After stopping in New Zealand, the expedition returned Omai to his homeland of Tahiti. Cook then travelled north and became the first recorded European to encounter the Hawaiian Islands.Template:SfnTemplate:Efn After his initial landfall in January 1778 at Waimea harbour, Kauai, Cook named the archipelago the "Sandwich Islands" after the fourth Earl of Sandwich—the acting First Lord of the Admiralty.Template:Sfn
North AmericaEdit
From Hawaii, Cook sailed northeast to reach the west coast of North America and begin his search for a Northwest Passage.Template:Sfn He sighted the Oregon coast at approximately 44°30′ north latitude, naming it Cape Foulweather, after the bad weather which forced his ships south to about 43° north before they could begin their exploration of the coast northward.<ref name="Hayes 1999 42–43">Template:Harvnb</ref> He unwittingly sailed past the Strait of Juan de Fuca and soon after entered Nootka Sound on Vancouver Island.Template:Sfn Cook's two ships remained in Nootka Sound from 29 March to 26 April 1778, in what Cook called Ship Cove, now Resolution Cove, at the south end of Bligh Island.<ref>Template:Cite bcgnis</ref>Template:Efn After leaving Nootka Sound, Cook explored and mapped the coast all the way to the Bering Strait, on the way identifying what came to be known as Cook Inlet in Alaska.<ref name="Hayes 1999 42–43"/>
By the second week of August 1778, Cook had sailed through the Bering Strait, crossed the Arctic Circle, and sailed into the Chukchi Sea.Template:Sfn He headed northeast up the coast of Alaska until he was blocked by sea ice at a latitude of 70°44′ north.Template:Sfn Cook then sailed west to the Siberian coast, and then southeast down the Siberian coast back to the Bering Strait.Template:Sfn
During this voyage, Cook charted the majority of the North American northwest coastline for the first time, determined the extent of Alaska, and closed the gaps in Russian (from the west) and Spanish (from the south) exploratory probes of the northern Pacific.<ref name="G_Williams" />
By early September 1778, he was back in the Bering Sea to begin the trip to back to Hawaii.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> Cook became increasingly frustrated and irritable on this voyage, and sometimes exhibited irrational behaviour towards his crew, such as forcing them to eat walrus meat, which they considered inedible.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn
Return to HawaiiEdit
Cook returned to Hawaii in 1779. The ships sailed throughout the archipelago for eight weeks, surveying and trading.Template:SfnTemplate:Efn After stops in Maui and Kauai, Cook made landfall at Kealakekua Bay on Hawai'i Island, the largest island in the Hawaiian archipelago.Template:Sfn
On the large island, Cook met with the Hawaiian king Kalaniʻōpuʻu, who treated Cook with respect, and invited him to participate in several ceremonies. The king and Cook exchanged gifts, and the king presented Cook with a ʻahuʻula (feathered cloak).Template:Sfn Some members of Cook's crew concluded that the Hawaiian's considered Cook a deity, and that interpretation (specifically, that Cook was considered to be the Polynesian god Lono) has been endorsed by some academics.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Efn Other scholars, including Gananath Obeyesekere, assert that the Hawaiians did not consider Cook to be a deity.<ref>Template:Harvnb.</ref>Template:Efn
DeathEdit
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After a month's stay, Cook left Hawaii to resume his exploration of the northern Pacific, but shortly after departure a strong gale caused ResolutionTemplate:'s foremast to break, so the ships returned to Kealakekua Bay for repairs.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
Relations between the crew and the Hawaiians were already strained before the departure, and they grew worse when the ship returned for repairs.Template:SfnTemplate:Efn Numerous quarrels broke out and petty thefts were common. On 13 February 1779, a group of Hawaiians stole one of Cook's cutters.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
The following day, Cook attempted to recover the cutter by kidnapping and ransoming the king, Kalaniʻōpuʻu.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Cook and a small party marched through the village to retrieve the king.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Cook led Kalaniʻōpuʻu away; as they got to the boats, one of Kalaniʻōpuʻu's favourite wives, Kānekapōlei, and two chiefs approached the group. They pleaded with the king not to go and a large crowd began to form at the shore.Template:Sfn News reached the Hawaiians that on the other side of the bay, high-ranking Hawaiian chief Kalimu had been shot whilst trying to break through a British blockade; this exacerbated the tense situation.Template:Sfn As the Europeans launched the boats to leave, Cook was struck on the head by the villagers and then stabbed to death as he fell on his face in the surf.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Efn Cook collapsed and died on the shore, and Hawaiian warriors crowded around the corpse to bludgeon it.Template:Sfn
AftermathEdit
Following the death of Cook and the four marines, the bodies were taken inland to a village by Hawaiians.Template:SfnTemplate:Efn King took a boat to the opposite side of the bay, and was approached by a priest who offered to intercede and ask for Cook's remains to be returned; King consented.Template:Sfn Some crewmen returned to the location of the attack, and skirmishes broke out, resulting in the death of several Hawaiians.Template:Sfn The following day, some of Cooks remains were returned to the Resolution, including some charred flesh, several bones, the skull, and the hands with the skin still attached. The crew placed the remains in a weighted box, and buried their captain at sea.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
Clerke assumed leadership of the expedition and sailed north to try again to locate the Northwest Passage.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn He stopped in Kamchatka and entrusted Cook's journal, with a cover letter describing Cook's death, to the local military commander, Magnus von Behm.Template:Sfn Behm had the package delivered, overland, from Siberia to England.Template:Sfn The Admiralty, and all of England, heard the news of Cook's death when the package arrived in LondonTemplate:Sndeleven months after he died; the package had arrived in England before the surviving crew.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Efn
Continuing north, the expedition made it to the Bering Strait, but was again blocked by pack ice, and unable to discover a Northwest Passage.Template:Sfn Clerke died of tuberculosis on 22 August 1779 and John Gore, a veteran of Cook's first voyage, took command of the Resolution and the expedition. James King replaced Gore in command of Discovery.Template:Sfn The ships returned home, reaching England on 4 October 1780.Template:Efn After their arrival in England, King completed Cook's account of the voyage.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
LegacyEdit
Edit
Cook's three voyages to the Pacific Ocean vastly expanded Europeans' knowledge of the area. Several islands, including the Hawaiian group, were encountered for the first time by Europeans, and his accurate navigational charting of large areas of the Pacific contributed to the fields of hydrographic and geographic knowledge.Template:Cn
On his second and third voyages, Cook carried the K1 chronometer made by Larcum Kendall, to test if it could accurately keep time for long spans of time, while withstanding the violent motions of a ship. It performed well, and thus (along with similar chronometers, such as John Harrison's H4) solved the longitude problem that had plagued mariners for centuries.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Efn Cook's log was full of praise for the timepiece.Template:Cn
LeadershipEdit
Several officers who served under Cook went on to have distinguished careers. William Bligh, Cook's sailing master, was given command of Template:HMS in 1787 to sail to Tahiti and return with breadfruit. Bligh's crew mutinied, and placed him and 18 others into an open boat 23 feet (7 m) long. Bligh successfully navigated 3618 miles (5822 km) to Timor, arriving with all men alive.<ref>Template:Cite book </ref> He later became Governor of New South Wales.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> George Vancouver, one of Cook's midshipmen, led a voyage of exploration to the Pacific Coast of North America from 1791 to 1794.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In honour of Vancouver's former commander, his ship was named Template:HMS. George Dixon, who sailed under Cook on his third expedition, later commanded a commercial vessel that circumnavigated the globe.<ref>Template:Cite DCB</ref>
ScienceEdit
Cook was a pioneer in the prevention of scurvy.Template:Sfn He succeeded in circumnavigating the world on his first voyage without losing a single man to scurvy, an unusual accomplishment at the time.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn He tested several preventive measures, most importantly the frequent replenishment of fresh food.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref>Template:Efn For presenting a paper on this aspect of the voyage to the Royal Society he was presented with the Copley Medal in 1776.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Cook became the first European to have extensive contact with various people of the Pacific. Based on language similarities, Cook and Banks identified similarities in the languages spoken in the Pacific Islands and Southeast Asia, and suggested that they may have originated in Asia.Template:Sfn<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Efn
Significant observations and discoveries were made by the scientists that Cook carried on each his voyages. Two botanists, Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander, sailed on the first voyage and collected over 3,000 plant species.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Banks subsequently promoted British settlement of Australia, leading to the establishment of New South Wales as a penal settlement in 1788.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Artists also sailed on Cook's first voyage. Sydney Parkinson was heavily involved in documenting the botanists' findings, completing 264 drawings before his death near the end of the voyage.<ref name=flor>Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Sfn The drawings, many published in Banks' Florilegium, were of immense scientific value to British botanists.<ref name=flor/>Template:Sfn<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Cook's second expedition included artist William Hodges, who produced landscape paintings of many locations, including Tahiti, Easter Island, and New Zealand.<ref>Template:Cite DNB</ref>
Cook's contributions to knowledge gained international recognition during his lifetime. In 1779, while the American colonies were fighting Britain for their independence, Benjamin Franklin wrote to captains of colonial warships at sea, recommending that if they came into contact with Cook's vessel, they were to "not consider her an enemy, nor suffer any plunder to be made of the effects contained in her, nor obstruct her immediate return to England by detaining her or sending her into any other part of Europe or to America; but that you treat the said Captain Cook and his people with all civility and kindness ... as common friends to mankind."<ref name="Franklin1837">Template:Cite book</ref>
MemorialsEdit
United KingdomEdit
His obituary in the The Norwich Chronicle read, in part:
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This untimely and ever to be lamented fate of so intrepid, so able, and intelligent a sea-officer, may justly be considered as an irreparable loss to the public... for in him were united every successful and amiable quality that could adorn his profession; nor was his singular modesty less conspicuous than his other virtues. His successful experiments to preserve the healths of his crews are well known, and his discoveries will be an everlasting honour to his country.Template:Sfn<ref>
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One of the earliest monuments to Cook in the United Kingdom is located at The Vache, erected in 1780 by Hugh Palliser, a friend of Cook.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The inscription reads, in part:
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The ablest and most renowned navigator this or any country hath produced... Cool and deliberate in judging, sagacious in determining, active in executing, steady and persevering in enterprising from vigilance and unremitting caution, unsubdued by labour, difficulties, and disappointments, fertile in expedience never wanting presence of mind... Mild, just, but exact in discipline... Traveller! Contemplate, admire, revere and emulate this great master in his profession, whose skill and labours have enlarged natural philosophy [and] have extended nautical science.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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A large obelisk was built in 1827 as a monument to Cook on Easby Moor overlooking his boyhood village of Great Ayton,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> along with a smaller monument at the former location of Cook's cottage.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> There is also a monument to Cook in the church of St Andrew the Great, St Andrew's Street, Cambridge, where his sons Hugh, a student at Christ's College, and James were buried. Cook's widow Elizabeth was also buried in the church and in her will left money for the memorial's upkeep.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The 250th anniversary of Cook's birth was marked at the site of his birthplace in Marton by the opening of the Captain Cook Birthplace Museum, located within Stewart Park (1978). A granite vase just to the south of the museum marks the approximate spot where he was born.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Other tributes in Middlesbrough include a primary school,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> shopping square<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and the Bottle 'O Notes, a public artwork by Claes Oldenburg, that was erected in the town's Central Gardens in 1993.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Also named after Cook is James Cook University Hospital, a major teaching hospital which opened in 2003, near to the James Cook railway station.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Royal Research Ship RRS James Cook was built in 2006 to replace the RRS Charles Darwin in the UK's Royal Research Fleet,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and Stepney Historical Trust placed a plaque on Free Trade Wharf in the Highway, Shadwell to commemorate his life in the East End of London. A statue erected in his honour can be viewed near Admiralty Arch on the south side of The Mall in London. In 2002, Cook was placed at number 12 in the BBC's poll of the 100 Greatest Britons.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
AustraliaEdit
Cooks' Cottage, his parents' last home, which he is likely to have visited, is now in Melbourne, Australia, having been moved from England at the behest of the Australian philanthropist Russell Grimwade in 1934.<ref name="CityMelb">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>Template:Sfn The first institution of higher education in North Queensland, Australia, was named after him, with James Cook University opening in Townsville in 1970.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> There are statues of Cook in Hyde Park in Sydney, and at St Kilda in Melbourne.<ref name="Sum 2024">Template:Cite news</ref>
In 1959, the Cooktown Re-enactment Association first performed a re-enactment of Cook's 1770 landing at the site of modern Cooktown, Australia, and have continued the tradition each year, with the support and participation of many of the local Guugu Yimithirr people.Template:Cn They celebrate the first act of reconciliation between Indigenous Australians and non-Indigenous people, when a Guugu Yimithirr elder stepped in after some of Cook's men had violated custom by taking green turtles from the river and not sharing with the local people.Template:Cn He presented Cook with a broken-tipped spear as a peace offering, thus preventing possible bloodshed. Cook recorded the incident in his journal.<ref name="kim">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
United StatesEdit
The site where Cook was killed in Hawaii was marked in 1874 by a white obelisk. The small plot of land surrounding the marker was purportedly deeded to Britain in 1877 by Princess Likelike and her husband, Archibald Scott Cleghorn.<ref name=ChrisGray>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=CCSmem>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Efn The plot is now fronted by a low stone jetty bearing some small insignia (many now missing) and accompanied by an undated plaque which reads: "This jetty was erected by the Commonwealth of Australia in memory of Captain James Cook, RN the discoverer of both Australia and these islands".<ref>Photo by Camilo Gaivoto, Google Earth, access date 1 June 2025.</ref> The Apollo 15 Command/Service Module Endeavour<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and the Template:Ship<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> are named after Cook's ship. Another Space Shuttle, Discovery, was named after Cook's Discovery.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> There is a statue of Cook at Resolution Park in Anchorage, Alaska.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} </ref> A U.S. coin, the 1928 Hawaii Sesquicentennial half-dollar, carries Cook's image.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
CanadaEdit
A statue of James Cook in Victoria, BC, CanadaTemplate:Sndwhich was constructed in 1976Template:Sndwas destroyed on Canada Day in 2021 by protestors drawing attention to the effects of the Canadian Indian residential school system.<ref>Template:Cite newspaper </ref> <ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Ethnographic collectionsEdit
Template:See also The Australian Museum in Sydney holds over 250 objects associated with Cook's voyages. The objects are mostly from Polynesia although there are also artefacts from the Solomon Islands, North America and South America. Many of the artefacts were collected during first contact between Europeans and indigenous peoples of the Pacific.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Thomsett, History of Acquisition">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The largest collection of artefacts from Cook's voyages is the Cook-Forster Collection held at the University of Göttingen.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Efn
Places named after CookEdit
Cook's name has been given to the Cook Islands, Cook Strait, Cook Inlet, Cooktown, and Cook crater on the Moon.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Aoraki / Mount Cook, the highest summit in New Zealand, is named for him.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Another Mount Cook is on the border between the U.S. state of Alaska and the Canadian Yukon territory.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Hawaii has a town named Captain Cook, near his place of death.
CultureEdit
Cook has been a subject in many literary creations. Letitia Elizabeth Landon, a popular poet known for her sentimental romantic poetry,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> published a poetical illustration to a portrait of Captain Cook in 1837.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In 1931, Kenneth Slessor's poem "Five Visions of Captain Cook" was the "most dramatic break-through" in Australian poetry of the 20th century according to poet Douglas Stewart.<ref>Herbert C. Jaffa, Kenneth Slessor: A Critical Study, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1977, p. 20.</ref> Cook has been depicted in numerous films, documentaries and dramas.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Cook appears as a symbolic and generic figure in several Aboriginal myths, often from regions where Cook did not encounter Aboriginal people.<ref name=Maddock/> Cook is usually portrayed as the bringer of Western colonialism to Australia and is presented as a villain who brings immense social change.<ref name=Maddock>Template:Cite book</ref>
ControversyEdit
The period 2018 to 2021 marked the 250th anniversary of Cook's first voyage of exploration. Several countries, including Australia and New Zealand, arranged official events to commemorate the voyage,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> leading to widespread public debate about Cook's legacy and the violence associated with his contacts with Indigenous peoples.<ref name="Daley 2020">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In the lead-up to the commemorations, various memorials to Cook in Australia and New Zealand were vandalised, and there were public calls for their removal or modification due to their alleged promotion of colonialist narratives.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> There were also campaigns for the return of Indigenous artefacts taken during Cook's voyages.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Efn Attacks on public monuments to Cook continued in Canada and Australia.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Sum 2024" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Alice Proctor argues that the controversies over public representations of Cook and the display of Indigenous artefacts from his voyages are part of a broader debate over the decolonisation of museums and public spaces and resistance to colonialist narratives.<ref name=AlProc>Template:Cite book Chapters 11 and 12 are most relevant to Cook.</ref> A number of commentators argue that Cook enabled British imperialism and colonialism in the Pacific.<ref name="Daley 2020" /><ref name=AlProc/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:SfnTemplate:Efn Robert Tombs has defended Cook, arguing: "He epitomized the Age of Enlightenment in which he lived" and in conducting his first voyage "was carrying out an enlightened mission, with instructions from the Royal Society to show 'patience and forbearance' towards native peoples".<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref>
ArmsEdit
See alsoEdit
Template:Div col
- Death of CookTemplate:SndPaintings depicting Cook's death
- European and American voyages of scientific exploration
- List of Australian places named by James Cook
- List of places named after Captain James Cook
- New Zealand places named by James Cook
ReferencesEdit
NotesEdit
CitationsEdit
SourcesEdit
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book Sometimes titled The Journals of Captain James Cook on His Voyages of Discovery Vol. IV: The Life of Captain James Cook.
- Template:Cite book Abridged version of the journals, based on the original three volumes of manuscripts by John Beaglehole 1955–67.
- Template:Cite book Originally published in 1992, with a new Afterword (pp. 197-250) called "De-Sahlinization" added in the 1997 reprint, which discusses the Sahlins controversy.
Further readingEdit
- Template:Cite book Reprinted in 2017 by Taylor & Francis.
- Template:Cite book Reprinted in 2017 by Taylor & Francis.
- Template:Cite book A picture book with a wide variety of works by artists that accompanied Cook.
- Template:Cite book First published in 1777 as A Voyage round the World in His Britannic Majesty's Sloop Resolution, Commanded by Capt. James Cook, during the Years, 1772, 3, 4, and 5
External linksEdit
- Template:Internet Archive author - Digitised books and documents
- Template:Gutenberg author - Digitised books and documents
- Template:Librivox author
JournalsEdit
- Journal from Cook's second voyage - High-resolution digitised version at the Cambridge Digital Library
- Searchable version of the Endeavor journal = Held by the National Library of Australia
- The South Seas Project - Maps and online copies of journals, including Banks' journal. Includes John Hawkesworth's account of Cook's first voyage.
Collections and museumsEdit
- American Geographical Society Library - Collection of maps made by Cook
- Template:UK National Archives ID
- Captain Cook Birthplace Museum Marton
- Captain Cook Memorial Museum Whitby
- Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa - Collection of items related to Cook
- National Museum of Australia - Cook-Forster - Artefacts collected during the voyages of Cook
Template:Captain James Cook Template:His Majesty's Naval Service Template:Polar exploration Template:Authority control