James Cook

This article is about the British explorer. For other uses, see James Cook (disambiguation).
"Captain Cook" redirects here. For other uses, see Captain Cook (disambiguation).
Captain James Cook

Born 7 November [O.S. 27 October] 1728
Marton (in present-day Middlesbrough) Yorkshire, England
Died 14 February 1779(1779-02-14) (aged 50)
Kealakekua Bay, Hawaii
Nationality British
Education Postgate School, Great Ayton
Occupation Explorer, navigator, cartographer
Title Captain
Spouse(s) Elizabeth Batts
Children James Cook, Nathaniel Cook, Elizabeth Cook, Joseph Cook, George Cook, Hugh Cook
Parent(s) James Cook, Grace Pace
Signature

Captain James Cook FRS RN (7 November 1728[NB 1] – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the Royal Navy. Cook made detailed maps of Newfoundland prior to making three voyages to the Pacific Ocean, during which he achieved the first recorded European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands, and the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand.

Cook joined the British merchant navy as a teenager and joined the Royal Navy in 1755. He saw action in the Seven Years' War, and subsequently surveyed and mapped much of the entrance to the Saint Lawrence River during the siege of Quebec. This helped bring Cook to the attention of the Admiralty and Royal Society. This notice came at a crucial moment in both Cook's career and the direction of British overseas exploration, and led to his commission in 1766 as commander of HM Bark Endeavour for the first of three Pacific voyages.

In three voyages Cook sailed thousands of miles across largely uncharted areas of the globe. He mapped lands from New Zealand to Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean in greater detail and on a scale not previously achieved. As he progressed on his voyages of discovery he surveyed and named features, and recorded islands and coastlines on European maps for the first time. He displayed a combination of seamanship, superior surveying and cartographic skills, physical courage and an ability to lead men in adverse conditions.

Cook was attacked and killed in a confrontation with Hawaiians during his third exploratory voyage in the Pacific in 1779. He left a legacy of scientific and geographical knowledge which was to influence his successors well into the 20th century, and numerous memorials worldwide have been dedicated to him.

Early life and family

James Cook was born on 7 November 1728 in the village of Marton in Yorkshire and baptised on 3 November in the parish church of St Cuthbert, where his name can be seen in the church register.[1][2] He was the second of eight children of James Cook, a Scottish farm labourer from Ednam in Roxburghshire, and his locally born wife, Grace Pace, from Thornaby-on-Tees.[1][3][4] 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. In 1741, after five years' schooling, he began work for his father, who had by now been promoted to farm manager. For leisure, he would climb a nearby hill, Roseberry Topping, enjoying the opportunity for solitude.[5] Cooks' Cottage, his parents' last home, which he is likely to have visited, is now in Melbourne, having been moved from England and reassembled, brick by brick, in 1934.[6]

In 1745, when he was 16, Cook moved 20 miles (32 km) to the fishing village of Staithes, to be apprenticed as a shop boy to grocer and haberdasher William Sanderson.[1] Historians have speculated that this is where Cook first felt the lure of the sea while gazing out of the shop window.[4]

After 18 months, not proving suitable for shop work, Cook travelled to the nearby port town of Whitby to be introduced to friends of Sanderson's, John and Henry Walker.[6] The Walkers, who were Quakers, were prominent local ship-owners in the coal trade. Their house is now the Captain Cook Memorial Museum. 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.[4]

His three-year apprenticeship completed, Cook began working on trading 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.[7] In 1755, within a month of being offered command of this vessel, he volunteered for service in the Royal Navy, when Britain was re-arming for what was to become the Seven Years' War. Despite the need to start back at the bottom of the naval hierarchy, Cook realised his career would advance more quickly in military service and entered the Navy at Wapping on 17 June 1755.[8]

Portrait of Mrs Elizabeth Cook by William Henderson, dated 1830.

Cook married Elizabeth Batts (1742–1835), the daughter of Samuel Batts, keeper of the Bell Inn, Wapping[9] and one of his mentors, on 21 December 1762 at St Margaret's Church, Barking, Essex.[10] The couple had six children: James (1763–94), Nathaniel (1764–80, lost aboard HMS Thunderer which foundered with all hands in a hurricane in the West Indies), Elizabeth (1767–71), Joseph (1768–68), George (1772–72) and Hugh (1776–93), the last of whom died of scarlet fever while a student at Christ's College, Cambridge. 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. Cook has no known direct descendants—all his recorded children either pre-deceased him or died without issue.[11]

Start of Royal Navy career

James Cook's 1775 chart of Newfoundland

Cook's first posting was with HMS Eagle, serving as able seaman and master's mate under Captain Joseph Hamar for his first year aboard, and Captain Hugh Palliser thereafter.[12] 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.[8] His first temporary command was in March 1756 when he was briefly master of the Cruizer, a small cutter attached to the Eagle while on patrol.[8][13]

In June 1757 Cook passed his master's examinations at Trinity House, Deptford, which qualified him to navigate and handle a ship of the King's fleet.[14] He then joined the frigate HMS Solebay as master under Captain Robert Craig.[15]

Conquest of Canada (1758–63)

During the Seven Years' War, Cook served in North America as master of Pembroke (1757).[16] In 1758 he took part in the major amphibious assault that captured the Fortress of Louisbourg from the French, after which he participated in the siege of Quebec City and then the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in 1759. He showed a talent for surveying and cartography, and was responsible for mapping much of the entrance to the Saint Lawrence River during the siege, thus allowing General Wolfe to make his famous stealth attack on the Plains of Abraham.[17]

Cook's surveying ability was put to good use mapping the jagged coast of Newfoundland in the 1760s, aboard HMS Grenville. He surveyed the north-west 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, four pilots were engaged at a daily pay of 4 shillings each: John Beck for the coast west of "Great St Lawrence", Morgan Snook for Fortune Bay, John Dawson for Connaigre and Hermitage Bay, and John Peck for the "Bay of Despair".[18]

His five seasons in Newfoundland produced the first large-scale and accurate maps of the island's coasts and were the first scientific, large scale, hydrographic surveys to use precise triangulation to establish land outlines.[19] 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 map would be used into the 20th century—copies of it being referenced by those sailing Newfoundland's waters for 200 years.[20]

Following on from his exertions in Newfoundland, it was at this time that Cook wrote that he intended to go not only "farther than any man has been before me, but as far as I think it is possible for a man to go."[14]

Voyages of exploration

First voyage (1768–71)

Endeavour replica in Cooktown, Queensland harbour — anchored where the original Endeavour was beached for seven weeks in 1770.
Captain James Cook Commander, H.M.B. “Endeavour” which was beached and repaired near this site 17 June – 4 August, 1770

In 1766, Admiralty engaged Cook to command a scientific voyage to the Pacific Ocean. The purpose of the voyage was to observe and record the transit of Venus across the Sun for the benefit of Royal Society inquiry into a means of determining longitude.[21] Cook, at the age of 39, was promoted to lieutenant to grant him sufficient status to take the command.[22][23] For its part the Royal Society agreed that Cook would receive a one hundred guinea gratuity in addition to his Naval pay.[24]

The expedition sailed from England on 26 August 1768,[25] rounded Cape Horn and continued westward across the Pacific to arrive at Tahiti on 13 April 1769, where the observations of the Venus Transit were made. However, the result of the observations was not as conclusive or accurate as had been hoped. Once the observations were completed, Cook opened the sealed orders which were additional instructions from the Admiralty for the second part of his voyage: to search the south Pacific for signs of the postulated rich southern continent of Terra Australis.[26] Cook then sailed to New Zealand and mapped the complete coastline, making only some minor errors. He then voyaged west, reaching the south-eastern coast of Australia on 19 April 1770, and in doing so his expedition became the first recorded Europeans to have encountered its eastern coastline.[NB 2]

On 23 April he made his first recorded direct observation of indigenous Australians at Brush Island near Bawley Point, noting in his journal: "…and were so near the Shore as to distinguish several people upon the Sea beach they appear'd to be of a very dark or black Colour but whether this was the real colour of their skins or the C[l]othes they might have on I know not."[27] On 29 April Cook and crew made their first landfall on the mainland of the continent at a place now known as the Kurnell Peninsula. Cook originally christened the area as "Stingray Bay", but he later crossed it out and named it "Botany Bay"[28] after the unique specimens retrieved by the botanists Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander. It is here that James Cook made first contact with an aboriginal tribe known as the Gweagal.[29]

After his departure from Botany Bay he continued northwards. On 11 June a mishap occurred when HMS Endeavour ran aground on a shoal of the Great Barrier Reef, and then "nursed into a river mouth on 18 June 1770".[30] The ship was badly damaged and his voyage was delayed almost seven weeks while repairs were carried out on the beach (near the docks of modern Cooktown, Queensland, at the mouth of the Endeavour River).[4] The voyage then continued, sailing through Torres Strait and on 22 August Cook landed on Possession Island, where he claimed the entire coastline that he had just explored as British territory. He returned to England via Batavia (modern Jakarta, Indonesia where many in his crew succumbed to malaria), the Cape of Good Hope, and arriving on the island of Saint Helena on 12 July 1771.[31]

Interlude

Cook's journals were published upon his return, and he became something of a hero among the scientific community. Among the general public, however, the aristocratic botanist Joseph Banks was a greater hero.[4] Banks even attempted to take command of Cook's second voyage, but removed himself from the voyage before it began, and Johann Reinhold Forster and his son Georg Forster were taken on as scientists for the voyage. Cook's son George was born five days before he left for his second voyage.[32]

The routes of Captain James Cook's voyages. The first voyage is shown in red, second voyage in green, and third voyage in blue. The route of Cook's crew following his death is shown as a dashed blue line.

Second voyage (1772–75)

James Cook's 1777 South-Up map of South Georgia

Shortly after his return from the first voyage, Cook was promoted in August 1771, to the rank of commander.[33][34] In 1772 he was commissioned to lead another scientific expedition on behalf of the Royal Society, to search for the hypothetical Terra Australis. On his first voyage, Cook had demonstrated by circumnavigating New Zealand that it was not attached to a larger landmass to the south. Although he charted almost the entire eastern coastline of Australia, showing it to be continental in size, the Terra Australis was believed to lie further south. Despite this evidence to the contrary, Alexander Dalrymple and others of the Royal Society still believed that a massive southern continent should exist.[35]

Cook commanded HMS Resolution on this voyage, while Tobias Furneaux commanded its companion ship, HMS Adventure. Cook's expedition circumnavigated the globe at an extreme southern latitude, becoming one of the first to cross the Antarctic Circle (17 January 1773). In the Antarctic fog, Resolution and Adventure became separated. Furneaux made his way to New Zealand, where he lost some of his men during an encounter with Māori, and eventually sailed back to Britain, while Cook continued to explore the Antarctic, reaching 71°10'S on 31 January 1774.[14]

James Cook witnessing human sacrifice in Tahiti c. 1773

Cook almost encountered the mainland of Antarctica, but turned towards Tahiti to resupply his ship. He then resumed his southward course in a second fruitless attempt to find the supposed continent. On this leg of the voyage he brought a young Tahitian named Omai, who proved to be somewhat less knowledgeable about the Pacific than Tupaia had been on the first voyage. On his return voyage to New Zealand in 1774, Cook landed at the Friendly Islands, Easter Island, Norfolk Island, New Caledonia, and Vanuatu.

Before returning to England, Cook made a final sweep across the South Atlantic from Cape Horn and surveyed, mapped and took possession for Britain of South Georgia, which had been explored by Anthony de la Roché in 1675. Cook also discovered and named Clerke Rocks and the South Sandwich Islands ("Sandwich Land"). He then turned north to South Africa, and from there continued back to England. His reports upon his return home put to rest the popular myth of Terra Australis.[36]

Cook's second voyage marked a successful employment of Larcum Kendall's K1 copy of John Harrison's H4 marine chronometer, which enabled Cook to calculate his longitudinal position with much greater accuracy. Cook's log was full of praise for this time-piece which he used to make charts of the southern Pacific Ocean that were so remarkably accurate that copies of them were still in use in the mid-20th century.[37]

Upon his return, 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. He reluctantly accepted, insisting that he be allowed to quit the post if an opportunity for active duty should arise.[38] His fame now 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.[39] Nathaniel Dance-Holland painted his portrait; he dined with James Boswell; he was described in the House of Lords as "the first navigator in Europe".[14] But he could not be kept away from the sea. A third voyage was planned and Cook volunteered to find the Northwest Passage. He travelled to the Pacific and hoped to travel east to the Atlantic, while a simultaneous voyage travelled the opposite route.[40]

Third voyage (1776–79)

A statue of James Cook stands in Waimea, Kauai commemorating his first contact with the Hawaiian Islands at the town's harbour in January 1778

On his last voyage, Cook again commanded HMS Resolution, while Captain Charles Clerke commanded HMS Discovery. The voyage was ostensibly planned to return the Pacific Islander, Omai to Tahiti, or so the public were led to believe. The trip's principal goal was to locate a Northwest Passage around the American continent.[41] After dropping Omai at Tahiti, Cook travelled north and in 1778 became the first European to begin formal contact with the Hawaiian Islands.[42] 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.[43]

From the Sandwich Islands Cook sailed north and then north-east to explore the west coast of North America north of the Spanish settlements in Alta California. He made landfall on the Oregon coast at approximately 44°30′ north latitude, naming his landing point Cape Foulweather. Bad weather forced his ships south to about 43° north before they could begin their exploration of the coast northward.[44] He unknowingly sailed past the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and soon after entered Nootka Sound on Vancouver Island. He anchored near the First Nations village of Yuquot. Cook's two ships remained in Nootka Sound from 29 March to 26 April 1778, in what Cook called Ship Cove, now Resolution Cove,[45] at the south end of Bligh Island, about 5 miles (8 km) east across Nootka Sound from Yuquot, lay a Nuu-chah-nulth village (whose chief Cook did not identify but may have been Maquinna). Relations between Cook's crew and the people of Yuquot were cordial if sometimes strained. In trading, the people of Yuquot demanded much more valuable items than the usual trinkets that had worked in Hawaii. Metal objects were much desired, but the lead, pewter, and tin traded at first soon fell into disrepute. The most valuable items which the British received in trade were sea otter pelts. During the stay, the Yuquot "hosts" essentially controlled the trade with the British vessels; the natives usually visited the British vessels at Resolution Cove instead of the British visiting the village of Yuquot at Friendly Cove.[46]

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. In a single visit, Cook charted the majority of the North American north-west coastline on world maps 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 limits of the Pacific.[14]

HMS Resolution and Discovery in Tahiti

By the second week of August 1778 Cook was through the Bering Strait, sailing into the Chukchi Sea. He headed north-east up the coast of Alaska until he was blocked by sea ice. His furthest north was 70 degrees 44 minutes. Cook then sailed west to the Siberian coast, and then south-east down the Siberian coast back to the Bering Strait. By early September 1778 he was back in the Bering Sea to begin the trip to the Sandwich (Hawaiian) Islands.[47] He became increasingly frustrated on this voyage, and perhaps began to suffer from a stomach ailment; it has been speculated that this led to irrational behaviour towards his crew, such as forcing them to eat walrus meat, which they had pronounced inedible.[48]

Return to Hawaii

Cook returned to Hawaii in 1779. After sailing around the archipelago for some eight weeks, he made landfall at Kealakekua Bay, on 'Hawaii Island', largest island in the Hawaiian Archipelago. Cook's arrival coincided with the Makahiki, a Hawaiian harvest festival of worship for the Polynesian god Lono. Coincidentally the form of Cook's ship, HMS Resolution, or more particularly the mast formation, sails and rigging, resembled certain significant artefacts that formed part of the season of worship.[4][48] Similarly, Cook's clockwise route around the island of Hawaii before making landfall resembled the processions that took place in a clockwise direction around the island during the Lono festivals. It has been argued (most extensively by Marshall Sahlins) that such coincidences were the reasons for Cook's (and to a limited extent, his crew's) initial deification by some Hawaiians who treated Cook as an incarnation of Lono.[49] Though this view was first suggested by members of Cook's expedition, the idea that any Hawaiians understood Cook to be Lono, and the evidence presented in support of it, were challenged in 1992.[48][50]

Death

The Death of Captain James Cook, 14 February 1779, an unfinished painting by Johann Zoffany, circa 1795.[51]

After a month's stay, Cook attempted to resume his exploration of the Northern Pacific. Shortly after leaving Hawaii Island, however, the Resolution's foremast broke, so the ships returned to Kealakekua Bay for repairs.

Tensions rose, and a number of quarrels broke out between the Europeans and Hawaiians at Kealakekua Bay. An unknown group of Hawaiians took one of Cook's small boats. The evening when the cutter was taken, the people had become "insolent" even with threats to fire upon them. Cook was forced into a wild goose chase that ended with his return to the ship frustrated.[52] He attempted to kidnap and ransom the King of Hawaiʻi, Kalaniʻōpuʻu.

That following day, 14 February 1779, Cook marched through the village to retrieve the King. Cook took the King (aliʻi nui) by his own hand and led him willingly away. One of Kalaniʻōpuʻu's favorite wives, Kanekapolei and two chiefs approached the group as they were heading to boats. They pleaded with the king not to go until he stopped and sat where he stood. An old Kahuna (priest), chanting rapidly while holding out a coconut, attempted to distract Cook and his men as a large crowd began to form at the shore. The king began to understand that Cook was his enemy.[52] As Cook turned his back to help launch the boats, he was struck on the head by the villagers and then stabbed to death as he fell on his face in the surf.[53] He was first struck on the head with a club by a chief named Kalaimanokahoʻowaha or Kanaʻina (namesake of Charles Kana'ina) and then stabbed by one of the king's attendants, Nuaa.[54][55] The Hawaiians carried his body away towards the back of the town, still visible to the ship through their spyglass. Four marines, Corporal James Thomas, Private Theophilus Hinks, Private Thomas Fatchett and Private John Allen, were also killed and two others were wounded in the confrontation.[54][56]

Aftermath

The esteem which the islanders nevertheless held for Cook caused them to retain his body. Following their practice of the time, they prepared his body with funerary rituals usually reserved for the chiefs and highest elders of the society. The body was disembowelled, baked to facilitate removal of the flesh, and the bones were carefully cleaned for preservation as religious icons in a fashion somewhat reminiscent of the treatment of European saints in the Middle Ages. Some of Cook's remains, thus preserved, were eventually returned to his crew for a formal burial at sea.[57]

Clerke assumed leadership of the expedition, and made a final attempt to pass through the Bering Strait.[58] He died from tuberculosis on 22 August 1779 and John Gore, a veteran of Cook's first voyage, took command of Resolution and of the expedition. James King replaced Gore in command of Discovery.[59] The expedition now returned home, reaching England in October 1780. After their arrival in England, King completed Cook's account of the voyage.

David Samwell, who sailed with Cook on Resolution, 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."[60]

Legacy

Hawaiian feather cloak held by the Australian Museum
A statue of James Cook in Greenwich, London
John Webber's Captain Cook, oil on canvas, 1776

One of his first biographies (1788) was written by Andrew Kippis.

Ethnographic collections

The Australian Museum acquired its Cook Collection in 1894 from the Government of New South Wales. At that time the collection consisted of 115 artefacts collected on Cook's three voyages throughout the Pacific Ocean, during the period 1768–80, along with documents and memorabilia related to these voyages. Many of the ethnographic artifacts were collected at a time of first contact between Pacific Peoples and Europeans. In 1935 most of the documents and memorabilia were transferred to the Mitchell Library in the State Library of New South Wales. The provenance of the collection shows that the objects remained in the hands of Cook's widow Elizabeth Cook, and her descendants, until 1886. In this year John Mackrell, the great-nephew of Isaac Smith, Elizabeth Cook's cousin, organised the display of this collection at the request of the NSW Government at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition in London. In 1887 the London-based Agent-General for the New South Wales Government, Saul Samuel, bought John Mackrell's items and also acquired items belonging to the other relatives Reverend Canon Frederick Bennett, Mrs Thomas Langton, H. M. C. Alexander, and William Adams. The collection remained with the Colonial Secretary of NSW until 1894, when it was transferred to the Australian Museum.[62]

Cook's 12 years sailing around the Pacific Ocean contributed much to European knowledge of the area. Several islands such as the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) were encountered for the first time by Europeans, and his more accurate navigational charting of large areas of the Pacific was a major achievement.[63]

To create accurate maps, latitude and longitude must be accurately determined. Navigators had been able to work out latitude accurately for centuries by measuring the angle of the sun or a star above the horizon with an instrument such as a backstaff or quadrant. Longitude was more difficult to measure accurately because it requires precise knowledge of the time difference between points on the surface of the earth. The Earth turns a full 360 degrees relative to the sun each day. Thus longitude corresponds to time: 15 degrees every hour, or 1 degree every 4 minutes.[64]

Cook gathered accurate longitude measurements during his first voyage due to his navigational skills, the help of astronomer Charles Green and by using the newly published Nautical Almanac tables, via the lunar distance method—measuring the angular distance from the moon to either the sun during daytime or one of eight bright stars during night-time to determine the time at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, and comparing that to his local time determined via the altitude of the sun, moon, or stars. On his second voyage Cook used the K1 chronometer made by Larcum Kendall, which was the shape of a large pocket watch, 5 inches (13 cm) in diameter. It was a copy of the H4 clock made by John Harrison, which proved to be the first to keep accurate time at sea when used on the ship Deptford's journey to Jamaica, 1761–62.[65]

Cook succeeded in circumnavigating the world on his first voyage without losing a single man to scurvy, an unusual accomplishment at the time. He tested several preventive measures but the most important was frequent replenishment of fresh food.[66] It was for presenting a paper on this aspect of the voyage to the Royal Society that he was presented with the Copley Medal in 1776.[67][68] Ever the observer, Cook was the first European to have extensive contact with various people of the Pacific. He correctly postulated a link among all the Pacific peoples, despite their being separated by great ocean stretches (see Malayo-Polynesian languages). Cook theorised that Polynesians originated from Asia, which scientist Bryan Sykes later verified.[69] In New Zealand the coming of Cook is often used to signify the onset of colonisation.[4][6]

Cook carried several scientists on his voyages; they made several significant observations and discoveries. Two botanists, Joseph Banks and Swede Daniel Solander, were on the first voyage. The two collected over 3,000 plant species.[70] Banks subsequently strongly promoted British settlement of Australia.[71][72]

Several 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. They were of immense scientific value to British botanists.[4][73] Cook's second expedition included William Hodges, who produced notable landscape paintings of Tahiti, Easter Island, and other locations.

Nouveaux voyages du capitaine Cook. Engraving XVIII Century and drawings by Jean-Max Albert, 1983,


Several officers who served under Cook went on to distinctive accomplishments. William Bligh, Cook's sailing master, was given command of HMS Bounty in 1787 to sail to Tahiti and return with breadfruit. Bligh is most known for the mutiny of his crew which resulted in his being set adrift in 1789. He later became governor of New South Wales, where he was subject of another mutiny—the Rum Rebellion was the only successful armed takeover of an Australian government.[74] George Vancouver, one of Cook's midshipmen, led a voyage of exploration to the Pacific Coast of North America from 1791 to 1794.[75] In honour of his former commander, Vancouver's ship was named HMS Discovery (1789). George Dixon, who sailed under Cook on his third expedition, later commanded his own.[76] A lieutenant under Cook, Henry Roberts, spent many years after that voyage preparing the detailed charts that went into Cook's posthumous Atlas, published around 1784.

Cook's contributions to knowledge were internationally recognised 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."[77] Unknown to Franklin, Cook had met his death a month before this "passport" was written.

Cook's voyages were involved in another unusual first. The first recorded circumnavigation of the world by an animal was by Cook's goat, who made that memorable journey twice; the first time on HMS Dolphin, under Samuel Wallis, and then aboard Endeavour. When they returned to England, Cook had the goat presented with a silver collar engraved with lines from Samuel Johnson: Perpetui, ambita bis terra, praemia lactis Haec habet altrici Capra secunda Jovis. She was put to pasture on Cook's farm outside London, and was reportedly admitted to the privileges of the Royal Naval hospital at Greenwich. Cook's journal recorded the date of the goat's death: 28 March 1772.[78]

Memorials

The coat of arms of James Cook granted by King George III to Cook's widow in 1785, to be borne by his descendants and 'placed on any monument or otherwise to his memory'[79]
Captain Cook memorial statue at the Catani Gardens in St Kilda, Victoria, Australia

A US coin, the 1928 Hawaiian Sesquicentennial half dollar carries Cook's image. Minted for the 150th anniversary of his discovery of the islands, its low mintage (10,008) has made this example of Early United States commemorative coins both scarce and expensive.[80] The site where he was killed in Hawaii was marked in 1874 by a white obelisk set on 25 square feet (2.3 m2) of chained-off beach. This land, although in Hawaii, was deeded to the United Kingdom.[81] A nearby town is named Captain Cook, Hawaii; several Hawaiian businesses also carry his name. The Apollo 15 Command/Service Module Endeavour was named after Cook's ship, HMS Endeavour,[82] as was the space shuttle Space Shuttle Endeavour.[83] Another shuttle, Discovery, was named after Cook's HMS Discovery.[84]

The first institution of higher education in North Queensland, Australia was named after him, with James Cook University opening in Townsville in 1970.[85] In Australian rhyming slang the expression "Captain Cook" means "look".[86] Numerous institutions, landmarks and place names reflect the importance of Cook's contributions, including the Cook Islands, the Cook Strait, Cook Inlet, and the Cook crater on the Moon.[87] Aoraki/Mount Cook, the highest summit in New Zealand, is named for him.[88] Another Mount Cook is on the border between the US state of Alaska and the Canadian Yukon Territory, and is designated Boundary Peak 182 as one of the official Boundary Peaks of the Hay–Herbert Treaty.[89]

Blue plaque for Captain James Cook, at 326 The Highway in Shadwell, East London, England

One of the earliest monuments to Cook in the United Kingdom is located at The Vache, erected in 1780 by Admiral Hugh Palliser, a contemporary of Cook and one-time owner of the estate.[90] A huge obelisk was built in 1827 as a monument to Cook on Easby Moor overlooking his boyhood village of Great Ayton,[91] along with a smaller monument at the former location of Cook's cottage.[92] There is also a monument to Cook in the church of St Andrew the Great, St Andrew's Street, Cambridge, where his son Hugh, a student at Christ's College, was buried. Cook's widow Elizabeth was also buried in the church and in her will left money for the memorial's upkeep. 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.[93] Tributes also abound in post-industrial Middlesbrough, including a primary school,[94] shopping square[95] and the Bottle 'O Notes, a public artwork by Claes Oldenburg, that was erected in the town's Central Gardens in 1993. Also named after Cook is the James Cook University Hospital, a major teaching hospital which opened in 2003.[96] The Royal Research Ship RRS James Cook was built in 2006 to replace the RRS Charles Darwin in the UK's Royal Research Fleet,[97] 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. In 2002 Cook was placed at number 12 in the BBC's poll of the 100 Greatest Britons.[98]

Another painting of the death of Cook by John Cleveley the Younger

The death of Cook was interesting to artists and writers of the time because its brutality was a contrast to the idea that primitive humans were naturally good-natured – the "noble savage". There were no eye-witness accounts of the death and so the incident was open to artistic interpretation and myth-making.[99]

See also

References

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Old style date: 27 October
  2. ↑ At this time, the International Date Line had yet to be established, so the dates in Cook's journal are a day earlier than those accepted today.

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 Rigby & van der Merwe 2002, p. 25
  2. ↑ Robson 2009, p. 2
  3. ↑ Stamp 1978, p. 1
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Collingridge 2003
  5. ↑ Collingridge 2003, p. 15
  6. 1 2 3 Horwitz 2003
  7. ↑ Hough 1994, p. 11
  8. 1 2 3 Rigby & van der Merwe 2002, p. 27
  9. ↑ "Famous 18th century people in Barking and Dagenham: James Cook and Dick Turpin" (PDF). London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Retrieved 5 March 2013.
  10. ↑ Robson 2009, pp. 120–1
  11. ↑ Stamp 1978, p. 138
  12. ↑ Robson, John (2009). Captain Cook's War and Peace: The Royal Navy Years 1755–1768. University of New South Wales Press. pp. 19–25. ISBN 9781742231099.
  13. ↑ McLynn 2011, p. 21
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 Williams, Glyn (17 February 2011). "Captain Cook: Explorer, Navigator and Pioneer". BBC. Retrieved 5 September 2011.
  15. ↑ Capper, Paul (1985–96). "The Captain Cook Society: Cook's Log". Life in the Royal Navy (1755–1767). Retrieved 22 September 2011.
  16. ↑ Kemp & Dear 2005
  17. ↑ Hough 1994, p. 19
  18. ↑ Whiteley, William (1975). "James Cook in Newfoundland 1762–1767" (PDF). Newfoundland Historical Society Pamphlet Number 3. Retrieved 27 August 2012.
  19. ↑ Government of Canada (2012). "Captain James Cook R.N.". Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada. Retrieved 2 November 2012.
  20. ↑ Hough 1994, p. 32
  21. ↑ Collingridge 2003, p. 95
  22. ↑ Rigby & van der Merwe 2002, p. 30
  23. ↑ Wikisource:1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Cook, James
  24. ↑ Beaglehole 1968, p. cix
  25. ↑ "The Sydney Morning Herald". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 2 May 1931. p. 12. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
  26. ↑ "Secret Instructions to Captain Cook, 30 June 1768" (PDF). National Archives of Australia. Retrieved 3 September 2011.
  27. ↑ "Cook's Journal: Daily Entries, 22 April 1770". Retrieved 21 September 2011.
  28. ↑ "PAGES FROM THE PAST". The Argus. Melbourne: National Library of Australia. 31 May 1919. p. 20. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
  29. ↑ "Once were warriors – smh.com.au". The Sydney Morning Herald. 11 November 2002. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
  30. ↑ Robson 2004, p. 81
  31. ↑ Beaglehole 1968, p. 468
  32. ↑ "Captain Cook: Obsession & Discovery. (Part 2 of 4) – Britain on DocuWatch – free streaming British history documentaries". 2011. Retrieved 5 March 2013.
  33. ↑ Hough 1994, p. 180
  34. ↑ McLynn 2011, p. 167
  35. ↑ Hough 1994, p. 182
  36. ↑ Hough 1994, p. 263
  37. ↑ "Captain James Cook: His voyages of exploration and the men that accompanied him". National Maritime Museum. Retrieved 10 October 2007.
  38. ↑ Beaglehole 1974, p. 444
  39. ↑ Rigby & van der Merwe 2002, p. 79
  40. ↑ Hough 1994, p. 268
  41. ↑ Collingridge 2003, p. 327
  42. ↑ Shirley Fish (2011). The Manila-Acapulco Galleons : The Treasure Ships of the Pacific: With An Annotated List of the Transpacific Galleons 1565-1815. AuthorHouse. pp. 360–. ISBN 978-1-4567-7543-8.
  43. ↑ Collingridge 2003, p. 380
  44. ↑ Hayes 1999, pp. 42–3
  45. ↑ "Resolution Cove". BC Geographical Names. Retrieved 6 March 2013.
  46. ↑ Fisher 1979
  47. ↑ Beaglehole, John Cawte (1974). The Life of Captain James Cook. A & C Black. pp. 615–23. ISBN 0-7136-1382-3.
  48. 1 2 3 Obeyesekere 1992
  49. ↑ Sahlins 1985
  50. ↑ Obeyesekere 1997
  51. ↑ "The Death of Captain James Cook, 14 February 1779 – National Maritime Museum". National Maritime Museum. Retrieved 11 July 2012.
  52. 1 2 Obeyesekere, Gananath (1997). The Apotheosis of Captain Cook: European Mythmaking in the Pacific. Princeton University Press. pp. 310–. ISBN 0-691-05752-4.
  53. ↑ Collingridge 2003, p. 410
  54. 1 2 Samwell, David; Townsend, Ebenezer (Jr); Gilbert, George; Hawaiian Historical Society; Ingraham, Joseph; Meares, John; Cartwright, Bruce (1791). Extracts from Voyages Made in the Years 1788 and 1789, from China to the Northwest Coast of America: With an Introductory Narrative of a Voyage Performed in 1786, from Bengal in the Ship "Nootka". Paradise of the Pacific Press. p. 76.
  55. ↑ Dibble, Sheldon (1843). History of the Sandwich Islands. Lahainaluna: Press of the Mission Seminary. p. 61.
  56. ↑ "Muster for HMS Resolution during the third Pacific voyage, 1776-1780" (pdf). Captain Cook Society. 15 October 2012. p. 20. Retrieved 27 October 2014.
  57. ↑ Collingridge 2003, p. 413
  58. ↑ Collingridge 2003, p. 412
  59. ↑ Collingridge 2003, p. 423
  60. ↑ Samwell, David (1791). A Narrative of the Death of Captain James Cook (Reprint ed.). Hawaiian Historical Society. p. 20. Retrieved 14 August 2011.
  61. ↑ IPNI.  Cook.
  62. ↑ Thomsett, Sue. "Cook Collection, History of Acquisition". Electronic Museum Narrative. Australian Museum.
  63. ↑ Cook, James; Clerke, Charles; Gore, John; King, James (1784). A voyage to the Pacific Ocean ... – Google Books. 2. London: W. and A. Strahan. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
  64. ↑ "Celestial Sphere: The Apparent Motions of the Sun, Moon, Planets, and Stars – Earth, North, Axis, Approximately, Latitude, and Equator". 2011. Retrieved 26 August 2011.
  65. ↑ "Captain Cook – Cook's Chronometer – English and Media Literacy, Documentaries". dl.nfsa.gov.au. 2011. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
  66. ↑ Fernandez-Armesto 2006, p. 297
  67. ↑ Stamp 1978, p. 105
  68. ↑ Cook, Captain James (2011). "The Method Taken for Preserving the Health of the Crew of His Majesty's Ship the Resolution during Her Late Voyage Round the World". Philosophical Transactions. Royal Society Publications. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  69. ↑ Sykes 2001
  70. ↑ "The Endeavour Botanical Illustrations at the Natural History Museum". nhm.ac.uk. 2011. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
  71. ↑ "Sir Joseph Banks". BBC. 2011. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
  72. ↑ Gilbert, L. A. Solander, Daniel (1733–1782). Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Retrieved 22 September 2011.
  73. ↑ "The Endeavour Botanical Illustrations at the Natural History Museum". nhm.ac.uk. 2011. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
  74. ↑ "Biography: William Bligh | Online Information Bank | Research Collections | Royal Naval Museum at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard". royalnavalmuseum.org. 2011. Retrieved 7 August 2011.
  75. ↑ Phillips, Nan. Vancouver, George (1757–1798). Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Retrieved 22 September 2011.
  76. ↑ Gough, Barry M. (1979). "Dixon, George". In Halpenny, Francess G. Dictionary of Canadian Biography. IV (1771–1800) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
  77. ↑ Franklin, Benjamin (1837). The works of Benjamin Franklin. Tappan, Whittemore, and Mason. pp. 123–24. Retrieved 22 September 2011.
  78. ↑ Chaplin, Joyce E. (2012). Round About the Earth: Circumnavigation from Magellan to Orbit. p. 125. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  79. ↑ Wagner 1972
  80. ↑ "Hawaii Sesquicentennial Half Dollar". coinsite.com. 2011. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
  81. ↑ "Captain Cook's Monument, Kealakekua Bay, Hawaii". Waymarking.com. Retrieved 22 September 2011.
  82. ↑ "Call Signs". NASA. Retrieved 21 May 2011.
  83. ↑ "Space Shuttle Endeavour". John F. Kennedy Space Center website. NASA. Retrieved 21 May 2011.
  84. ↑ "Space Shuttle Discovery". John F. Kennedy Space Center website. NASA. Retrieved 21 May 2011.
  85. ↑ "About James Cook University". James Cook University. 2011. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  86. ↑ Sidney 1981, p. 160
  87. ↑ "Planetary Names: Crater, craters: Cook on Moon". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS/NASA. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
  88. ↑ "Aoraki Mount Cook National Park & Mt Cook Village, New Zealand". Retrieved 21 September 2011.
  89. ↑ "Map of Mount Cook, Yukon, Mountain – Canada Geographical Names Maps". Retrieved 21 September 2011.
  90. ↑ "CCS – Cook Monument at the Vache, Chalfont St Giles – Access Restored". Retrieved 22 September 2011.
  91. ↑ "Great Ayton – Captain Cook's Monument". Retrieved 20 September 2011.
  92. ↑ "CAPTAIN COOK". The Sydney Morning Herald. NSW: National Library of Australia. 26 January 1935. p. 16. Retrieved 27 September 2013.
  93. ↑ "The Captain Cook Birthplace Museum, Marton, Middlesbrough, UK". captcook-ne.co.uk. 2011. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
  94. ↑ "Captain Cook Primary School". BBC. 2 December 2004. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
  95. ↑ "Captain Cook Shopping Square". Captaincookshopping.com. Retrieved 8 March 2010.
  96. ↑ "Captain Cook and the Captain Cook Trail". Retrieved 22 September 2011.
  97. ↑ "RRS James Cook". Nautical Environment Research Council. 2011. Retrieved 5 March 2013.
  98. ↑ "100 great Britons – A complete list". Daily Mail. 21 August 2002. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  99. ↑ Domercq, Julien (2014). "The death of Captain Cook". Cambridge University Library. Retrieved 15 April 2015.

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