Captain James Cook

Captain James Cook was a well known British explorer and navigator with a little formal education. He was born on the 27th October 1728 and died on the 14th February 1779. His parents were James Cook and Grace Pace. He was married to Elizabeth Batts and had 6 children. Their names were James Cook, Nathaniel Cook, Elizabeth Cook, Joseph Cook, George Cook and Hugh Cook.

Captain James Cook sailed around to far reach of the world reaching all seven continents during his lifetime. He traveled on three very lengthy journeys with two different sailing ships, encountering hardship and triumph along the way.

In 1766, the Royal Society hired James Cook to travel to an island in the Pacific Ocean to observe and record the transit of Venus across the Sun. Cook led the expedition with his new ship, the Endeavour, with a crew of about 80 and a team of 11 scientists.On his first voyage he rounded Cape Horn, the most dangerous part of the sea on Earth in 1768, with good weather and no troubles with wind. He took excellent care of his ship and crew when on the voyage. They did their work along with catching of sharks and dolphins, shooting of birds and dealing with the storms that came along their way.

Captain Cook’s First Voyage

Then he rounded, an island called George III, now known as Tahiti in 1769. They were one of the first to receive such things as tattoos. This is probably where sailors first received their trademark sign, the tattoo on their upper arm. It was here in Tahiti where James Cook successfully observed the eclipse of Venus, Earth, and the Sun on June 3 and also mapped the Tahitian coast.

Captain Cook’s First Voyage cont…….

Cook than arrived at Poverty Bay in New Zealand and here the native Maori people did not welcome them and became hostile. From there he turned north again and Cook circumnavigated the two islands. He discovered the South Island and all the way, accurately charted the coast. He then sailed west, reaching the south-eastern coast of the Australian continent and became the first recorded Europeans to have encountered its eastern coastline. On the 22nd of August 1770, he landed on Possession Island, where he claimed the whole island British territory and named the island as Cape York. He also claimed all of Eastern Australia for Britain and named the new territory, New South Wales. Cook and his Endeavour crew made their way to England slowly and landed on July 13, 1771.

Captain Cook’s First Voyage cont…….

Captain Cook’s SHIP ENDEAVOUR

Shortly after his return, he was promoted to the rank of commander and then notified that he had been chosen to lead the mission to find out if the southern hemisphere had any land or only had water. On his second voyage, Commander James cook sailed with 2 ships called Resolution and Adventure.

Captain Cook’s Second Voyage

The two ships arrived at Cape Town, South Africa and then continued south, crossing the Antarctic Circle. Captain Cook also became one of the first people to cross the Antarctic Circle, one of the five major circles of latitude that marks maps of the Earth. Because of ice they were forced to sail north and reached Dusky Bay, New Zealand in March. Cook then pushed south and landed in Eastern Islands in 1774 and then in Marquesas. He sailed west from Tahiti to confirm the discoveries of the explorer Quiros. He also discovered many of the Tuamoutu Islands, Society Islands, Tonga, and Fiji Islands until reaching what he named the New Hebrides (Vanuatu). From here he sailed south and found New Caledonia. Before rounding Cape Horn Cook claimed the Kerguelen Island as for Britain, and returned to England in July 1775.

Captain Cook’s Second Voyage cont…….

Captain Cook’s SHIP RESOLUTION

The purpose of the third voyage was to seek out an existing Northwest Passage (the passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean) and map all he found. He sailed in his ship called Resolution again with another ship called Discovery. He sailed to New Zealand and confirmed the existence of Kerguelen Island and he also discovered the Cook Islands, Christmas Island and some smaller Hawaiian Islands. He also discovered the Earl of Sandwich, Sandwich Island. From there both the ships anchored in Kealakekua Bay, on the Kona coast of the island of Hawaii. Here his boats were stolen for iron, the boats were burnt and all the iron was taken. Here Cook was stabbed to death. Resolution and Discovery returned home in October 1780 commanded by John Gore, a veteran of Cook's first voyage, and Captain James King. Cook's account of his third and final voyage was completed upon their return by King.

Captain Cook’s Last Voyage

Captain Cook’s Voyage Map

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.

Captain Cook’s Death

Acknowledgements

A special thanks to www.wikipedia.org & www.cptcook.com which helped me with this presentation.

Thanks from I.K