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Captain James Cook
"...the ablest and most renowned navigator this or any country hath produced.
He possessed all the qualifications requisite for his profession and great undertakings..."
- Lord Palliser, Cook's superior in the Navy.
This wiki page is made to help you on your journey discovering Captain James Cook. We have listed some important key questions to ask yourself throughout this project and relevant information to go along with it. If you need more information we have found further sources to aid your quest. However, only YOU can decide if Captain James Cook is a
Hero or a Villian?
James Cook was born on October 27, 1728 in Marton, (near modern Middlesborough), Yorkshire, Britain. He commanded three voyages of discovery for Great Britain, and sailed around the world twice. Captain Cook's voyages lead to the establishment of colonies throughout the Pacific by several European countries. He is considered one of the world's greatest explorers.
Where did James Cook start his journey and where did he travel?
FIRST VOYAGE
On August 12, 1768, His Majesty's Bark Endeavour slipped out of harbor, Lt. James Cook in command, bound for Tahiti. The island had been "discovered" by Europeans only a year before in the South Pacific, a part of Earth so poorly explored mapmakers couldn't agree if there was a giant continent there ... or not. Cook might as well have been going to the Moon or Mars. He would have to steer across thousands of miles of open ocean, with nothing like GPS or even a good wristwatch to keep time for navigation, to find a speck of land only 20 miles across. On the way, dangerous storms could (and did) materialize without warning. Unknown life forms waited in the ocean waters. Cook fully expected half the crew to perish.
It was worth the risk, he figured, to observe a transit of Venus.
"At 2 pm got under sail and put to sea having on board 94 persons," Cook noted in his log. The ship's young naturalist Joseph Banks was more romantic: "We took our leave of Europe for heaven alone knows how long, perhaps for Ever," he wrote.
Their mission was to reach Tahiti before June 1769, establish themselves among the islanders, and construct an astronomical observatory. Cook and his crew would observe Venus gliding across the face of the Sun, and by doing so measure the size of the solar system. Or so hoped England's Royal Academy, which sponsored the tri
The size of the solar system was one of the chief puzzles of 18th century science, much as the nature of dark matter and dark energy are today. In Cook's time astronomers knew that six planets orbited the sun (Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto hadn't been discovered yet), and they knew the relative spacing of those planets. Jupiter, for instance, is 5 times farther from the Sun than Earth. But how far is that … in miles? The absolute distances were unknown.
Venus was the key. Edmund Halley realized this in 1716. As seen from Earth, Venus occasionally crosses the face of the Sun. It looks like a jet-black disk slowly gliding among the Sun's true sunspots. By noting the start- and stop-times of the transit from widely spaced locations on Earth, Halley reasoned, astronomers could calculate the distance to Venus using the principles of parallax. The scale of the rest of the solar system would follow.
But there was a problem. Transits of Venus are rare. They come in pairs, 8 years apart, separated by approximately 120 years. Halley himself would never live to see one. An international team did try to time a Venus transit in 1761, but weather and other factors spoiled most of their data. If Cook and others failed in 1769, every astronomer on Earth would be dead before the next opportunity in 1874.
Cook's expedition is often likened to a space mission. "The Endeavor was not only on a voyage of discovery," writes Tony Horwitz in the Cook travelogue Blue Latitudes, "it was also a laboratory for testing the latest theories and technologies, much as spaceships are today."
In particular, the crew of the Endeavor were to be guinea pigs in the Navy's fight against "the scourge of the sea"--scurvy. The human body can store only about 6 week's worth of vitamin C, and when it runs out seamen experience lassitude, rotted gums, hemorrhaging. Some 18th century ships lost half their crew to scurvy. Cook carried a variety of experimental foods onboard, feeding his crew such things as sauerkraut and malt wort. Anyone who refused the fare would be whipped. Indeed, Cook flogged one in five of his crew, about average in those days, according to Horwitz.
By the time Cook reached Tahiti in 1769, he'd been sailing west for 8 months--about as long as modern astronauts would spend en route to Mars. Five crewmen were lost when the ship rounded stormy Cape Horn, and another despairing marine threw himself overboard during the 10-week Pacific passage that followed. The Endeavor was utterly vulnerable as it angled toward Tahiti. There was no contact with "Mission Control," no satellite weather images to warn of approaching storms, no help of any kind. Cook navigated using hourglasses and knotted ropes to measure ship's speed, and a sextant and almanac to estimate Endeavor's position by the stars. It was tricky and dangerous.
Remarkably, they arrived mostly intact on April 13, 1769, almost two months before the transit. "At this time we had but very few men upon the Sick list … the Ships compney had in general been very healthy owing in a great measure to the Sour krout," wrote Cook.
Tahiti was as alien to Cook's men as Mars might seem to us today. No spacesuit was required to survive. On the contrary, the island was comfortable and well provisioned for human life; the islanders were friendly and eager to deal with Cook's men. Banks deemed it "the truest picture of an arcadia (idyllic and peaceful) … that the imagination can form." Yet the flora, fauna, customs and habits of Tahiti were shockingly different from those of England; Endeavor's crew was absorbed, amazed.
No wonder Cook and Banks had so little to say about the transit when it finally happened on June 3, 1769. Venus' little black disk, which could only be seen gliding across the blinding sun through special telescopes brought from England, couldn't compete with Tahiti itself.
Banks' log entry on the day of the transit consists of 622 words; fewer than 100 of them concern Venus. Mostly he chronicled a breakfast-meeting with Tarróa, the King of the Island, and Tarróa's sister Nuna, and later in the day, a visit from "three handsome women." Of Venus, he says, "I went to my Companions at the observatory carrying with me Tarróa, Nuna and some of their chief attendants; to them we shewd the planet upon the sun and made them understand that we came on purpose to see it. After this they went back and myself with them." Period. If the King or Banks himself was impressed, Banks never said so.
Cook was a little more expansive: "This day prov'd as favourable to our purpose as we could wish, not a Clowd was to be seen … and the Air was perfectly clear, so that we had every advantage we could desire in Observing the whole of the passage of the Planet Venus over the Suns disk: we very distinctly saw an Atmosphere or dusky shade round the body of the Planet which very much disturbed the times of the contacts particularly the two internal ones."
The "dusky shade round the body of the Planet" was a problem. Intense sunlight filtering through Venus' atmosphere fuzzed the edge of the disk and decreased the precision with which Cook could time the transit. For this reason, his measurements disagreed with those of ship's astronomer Charles Green, who observed the transit beside Cook, by as much as 42 seconds.
In October of 1769 Cook was the first European to land on New Zealand. The Islands had been sighted previously by Dutch Captain Able Tasman, in 1642 some 127 years before Cook. New Zealand is named after the Dutch province of Zeelandt (meaning Sea Land).
On August 22, 1770, Cook claimed for Great Britain the eastern coast of New Holland (now Australia). He claimed the part of New Holland the Dutch had not technically mapped. The name "Australia" was not used until the early 1800s. During his return trip to England in 1771, Cook was the first ship commander to prevent the outbreak of scurvy by serving his crew fruit and sauerkraut to prevent the disease.
On April 11, 1769, the Endeavour arrived on the shores of Tahiti, seven weeks early. After viewing the passing of Venus between the earth and sun for several weeks, Cook opened a sealed envelope with the Royal Navy's orders. He was to seek out the fabled southern continent and claim it for England. Early mapmakers in the 1570s assumed there were two major continents at each of the earth's poles. Dutch explorers searched for the southern continent in the seventeenth century. Since the continents had not yet been found, the Royal Navy trusted that Cook would find the southern one if it existed. He left Tahiti on July 13 and headed southwest.
When Cook reached New Zealand on October 6, the native Maori people proved to be unfriendly and his crew was forced to fire on them. The Endeavour spent a few months exploring New Zealand and proved it was not part of the great southern continent. On April 9, [1770], Cook explored and documented the location of Australia. While sailing around this great continent, the Endeavour ran aground on the Great Barrier Reef (extending 150 miles from Australia's northeast coast and the largest reef in the world) on June 11. It took a day to free the ship after the crew threw fifty tons of ship's ballast, iron cannons, firewood, and barrels overboard. Once free, the crew quickly made repairs to the badly leaking ship to keep it from sinking. After months of exploring the coastline of Australia, Cook concluded that this continent was not the great southern continent.
The Endeavour made its way to Java in the East Indies in October, 1770. Once there, Cook's men became very ill with Malaria and dysentery. Despite all his efforts to keep his crew safe and healthy, they were no match for these diseases. He lost 30 men and had to sign on new crew in South Africa in order to make it back home to England. The Endeavour made it back to Dover, England, on July 13, 1771, after a three-year voyage. Cook was formally presented to his majesty, King George III following the historic journey and made a naval commander.
On Cook's second journey he sailed farther south than any other European. He circled Antarctica in his famous ship Resolution, but the ice surrounding the continent prevented the sighting of land. The existence of the Antarctica remained unproved until 1840. He returned to England in 1775 and was promoted to Captain.
Cook's second voyage began on July 13, 1772 from Plymouth, England. He took two Whitby colliers (refitted coal ships), the Resolution and the Adventure. The Adventure measured 97 feet in length with 80 crewmen and scientists aboard. The Resolution, Cook's flagship, was 111 feet in length with 110 crewmen and scientists aboard. His orders were to find the southern continent. He plan was to search for the continent and circumnavigate the globe. He was bound to find the fabled continent this way.
Prior to Cook's day, an accurate measurement of longitude was virtually impossible. There was no way to determine the exact time of day, the ship's position, and the exact time at a fixed point on shore. After 1735, a device invented by Englishman John Harrison made this possible. He invented a sea clock called a chronometer, which kept perfect time under rough sea conditions. Because of this instrument, Cook was one of the first ship's commanders to know his exact position on the globe while sailing uncharted seas. He carried four chronometers aboard the Resolution and the Adventure.
The ships headed south around the Cape of Good Hope and toward Antarctica. They crossed the Antarctic Circle for the first time in January 1773. Too much ice blocked Cook's way to find the continent of Antarctica and eventually his ships headed for warmer waters to the east.
After stops in New Zealand and Tahiti, Cook discovered more islands in the south Pacific. By November 1773, the Resolution was underway once again in search of the southern continent. After reaching the Antarctic Circle in January 1774, Cook had sailed farther south than any other explorer. But he never sighted the continent of Antarctica. Having been separated from its sister ship, the Adventure made its way back to England. Cook returned to warmer waters and continued explorations of the Pacific. He arrived back in England on July 29, 1775.
In July of 1776 Cook set sail on his third voyage, again in Resolution His mission was to look for a possible northern sea route between Europe and Asia. In 1778 he became the first know European to reach the Hawaiin Islands. Later in 1778 Cook sailed up the northwest coast of North America, and was the first European to land on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. He continued up the coast through the Bering strait, and entered the Arctic Ocean. Great walls of ice blocked the expedition, so Cook headed back for the Hawaiian Islands.
Cook's final voyage began on July 12, 1776. He was aboard the Resolution with a crew of 112. His sister ship was the Discovery with 70 men aboard. The purpose of his third voyage was to find the fabled Northwest Passage. Unlike other explorers who attempted to find this area of the world, Cook attempted a route from the Pacific side. Cook visited some of his favorite islands in the Pacific and made stops in New Zealand and Tahiti.
On January 18, [1778], Cook sighted the Hawaiian Islands for the first time. He named them the Sandwich Islands after his friend, the Earl of Sandwich.
After two weeks of trading and good relations, the ships departed heading north. By March 7, Cook reached the coast of present-day Oregon and followed the coastline north to Alaska and west through the Bering Strait. By August, Cook concluded there was no Northwest Passage and decided to head for warmer waters for the winter.
By January 17, [1779], the two ships once again landed off the shores of the Hawaiian Islands. The Englishmen appeared to have worn out their welcome with the natives. Tensions were increasing as Captain Cook decided to depart the islands on February 4. As fate would have it, a storm broke the foremast of the Resolution and Cook was forced to return to the Hawaiian Islands on February 11 to make repairs. The natives were not happy to see the visitors once again. One of the ship's boats was stolen, and Cook took a Hawaiian chief as hostage until the boat was returned.
Who sent James Cook on his voyages and what was their motivation?
As a young teenager, Cook was apprenticed to a seafaring family. In 1755, he joined Great Britain's Royal Navy and soon proved himself an expert navigator. Just after making officer rank, Lieutenant Cook was chosen by the Royal Society of London to undertake a scientific journey to Tahiti to observe and document the planet Venus as it passed between the earth and the sun. These observations would help scientists calculate the distance of the earth from the sun.
On August 25, [1768], Cook departed England aboard the Endeavour with 94 crewmen and scientists. He was carrying secret orders from the Royal Navy to be opened upon completion of his scientific mission.
Who did James Cook meet on his voyages and how did he get along with them?
On Cooks first journey, he reached New Zealand on October 6, where the native Maori people proved to be unfriendly and his crew was forced to fire on them.
On Cooks second voyage, the natives rowed out to meet his ships and were very friendly. After discovering so many islands in the Pacific where the people had a common language and similar customs, Cook marveled at how the Polynesian people had spread themselves from island to island. Europeans were not the only ocean-faring people. Indeed, the Polynesians had made their own explorations thousands of years before. The Hawaiians thought that Cook was a god and that his men were supernatural beings.
On Cook's third journey, the natives of Hawaii were not happy to see the visitors once again. One of the ship's boats was stolen, and Cook took a Hawaiian chief as hostage until the boat was returned. On February 14, Cook was heading back to his ship with his hostage when he and his men were surrounded by shouting, angry natives. As Cook signaled his boats off shore to come in to assist, he was stabbed in the back by one of the natives. As he fell, dozens of natives attacked his body with knives and clubs.
When in Kealakekua, one of the ships long boats was stolen by lesser chiefs for the iron, it was burnt and iron taken. In addition one of two of the watchmen were killed. In order for the return of the long boat to take place, Cook devised a plan for its return. They'd land and take hostage of the Cheif and hold him until the return of the boat. Unknown to him that boat was already in ashes.Upon arrival, he did meet with the High Cheif who intially agreed to go with him to his ship, however, when near the landing the Cheif's wife came to him begging him not to go. Here is where the scuffle begins. Panic sets in, and a musket is fired and the fight is on. In this turmoil, Cook is hit and begins to bleed. (This account has been documented in Ruling Chiefs of Hawai'i by Samuel M. Kamakau, Historian via Charles K Ka'upu). There are many accounts of what happened next. Some say that Cook was bludgeoned to death once the natives realized he was not a man, others say it merely because they were tired of his domineering and inhuman rule, some say it was Cook who struck a man across the face, or maybe it was simply a misunderstanding. This still was another people's land and the language barrier did exist between the two very different cultures. What truly happened is a discussion that still goes on today betweeen those who knew Cook and his mission and the natives of Hawaii. Regardless of this debatable issue, Cook was dead and morale was now at an all time low and instead of moving onward with the mission the crew returned home in August of 1780.
The contributions of James Cook were extraordinary. He was the first explorer to map the coastline of Australia. He charted much of the Pacific Ocean and discovered several island groups. He used a chronometer to chart his exact position on the globe. He was one of the first sea captains to discover the cure for scurvy. He sailed farther south than any other explorer before him, and he proved once and for all that there was no Northwest Passage.
It was during this voyage that Cook first approached eastern Australia. An attempt to land on 28 April 1770 failed due to rough surf so Cook sailed the Endeavour around to a calm bay, what is now known as Botany Bay, where on 29 April 1770 Cook and his crew first set foot on Australian soil.
Cook's voyage continued north along the coast, where he narrowly avoided being wrecked on the Great Barrier Reef and was forced to undertake repairs in what is now called Cooktown in far north Queensland.
Cook and his crew eventually returned home in July 1771 bringing with them many botanical specimens and reports of their encounters with the many Indigenous peoples they met throughout the journey.
The second voyage - HMS Resolution and Adventure
In July 1772 Cook embarked on his second expedition to the South Pacific, this time with the intention of proving conclusively the existence of the great southern continent.
This epic voyage took two ships, HMS Resolution (commanded by Cook) and HMS Adventure, through the Atlantic, around the Cape of Good Hope in Southern Africa and into the pack ice of the Antarctic Circle. In March 1773 Cook arrived once more in New Zealand. Over the next months Cook charted many South Pacific islands and made important anthropological discoveries about the people of the area. Sailing into the pack ice of the Antarctic again Cook concluded that the great southern land did not exist. Although he did not sight land, due to ice impeding the ship's progress, Cook's expedition was the first to the Antarctic.
In July 1775 Cook arrived back to England having circumnavigated the globe via Cape Horn in South America.
The third voyage - HMS Discovery
Captain Cook's third and final voyage to chart the north-west passage between the Atlantic and Pacific departed England in 1776. Commanding HMS Discovery, Cook and his crew sailed to New Zealand and then headed north to the Cook Islands and then Hawaii (named the Sandwich Islands by Cook). Cook went on to chart the coast of British Columbia and Alaska before returning to Hawaii for the winter.
Cook's Fate
On 14 February 1779, some local people stole one of the ship's boats. Cook reacted by taking their chief hostage, which resulted in violence during which Cook was killed.
This was a tragic end to the life of one of the world's greatest navigators and explorers. Although he made few original discoveries, Cook mapped vast areas of the globe, from the Arctic to the far south, he dispelled the myth of the great southern continent and he pioneered navigation and sailing techniques saving the lives of sailors through his understanding of conditions such as scurvy.
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