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91-612: Captain James Cook FRS (7 November [ O.S. 27 October] 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, cartographer and naval officer famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean and to New Zealand and Australia in particular. He made detailed maps of Newfoundland prior to making three voyages to the Pacific, during which he achieved the first recorded European contact with

182-577: A destroyer flotilla or squadron , and there was a corresponding administrative appointment ashore, until at least a decade after the Second World War . The title was probably used informally up until the abolition of frigate and destroyer squadrons with the Fleet FIRST reorganisation circa 2001. Ashore, the rank of captain is often verbally described as "captain RN" to distinguish it from

273-475: A coconut, attempted to distract Cook and his men as a large crowd began to form at the shore. At this point, the king began to understand that Cook was his enemy. 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 . 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

364-627: A conveyor system leading to the power station's coal bunkers. The modern equivalent can be seen at the Tyne Coal Terminal, unloading bulk carriers. Gas Light and Coke Company had similar facilities at its large gasworks, also alongside the Thames, for handling the large quantity of bituminous coal which was needed to supply the capital with town gas . In the late eighteenth century, a number of wooden-hulled sailing colliers gained fame after being adapted for use in voyages of exploration in

455-425: A dispute over green turtles Cook ordered shots to be fired and one local was lightly wounded. The voyage then continued and at about midday on 22 August 1770, they reached the northernmost tip of the coast and, without leaving the ship, Cook named it York Cape (now Cape York ). Leaving the east coast, Cook turned west and nursed his battered ship through the dangerously shallow waters of Torres Strait . Searching for

546-632: A formal burial at sea . Clerke assumed leadership of the expedition and made a final attempt to pass through the Bering Strait. He died of 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 . The expedition returned home, reaching England in October 1780. After their arrival in England, King completed Cook's account of

637-576: A mishap occurred when Endeavour ran aground on a shoal of the Great Barrier Reef , and then "nursed into a river mouth on 18 June 1770". 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 ). The crew's encounters with the local Aboriginal people were mostly peaceful, although following

728-605: 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. Cook married Elizabeth Batts , the daughter of Samuel Batts, keeper of

819-543: A penal settlement in 1788. 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. Cook's second expedition included William Hodges , who produced notable landscape paintings of Tahiti, Easter Island , and other locations. Several officers who served under Cook went on to distinctive accomplishments. William Bligh , Cook's sailing master ,

910-463: A scale not previously charted by Western explorers. 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. During his third voyage in the Pacific , Cook encountered the Hawaiian islands in 1779. He

1001-506: 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 direct descendants – all of his children died before having children of their own. Sir Walter Besant , a biographer of Cook, described Cook as being "over six feet high" with "dark brown hair", "bushy eyebrows", and "small brown eyes". Cook's first posting

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1092-534: A vantage point, Cook saw a steep hill on a nearby island from the top of which he hoped to see "a passage into the Indian Seas". Cook named the island Possession Island , where he claimed the entire coastline that he had just explored as British territory. Cook returned to England via Batavia (modern Jakarta , Indonesia), where many in his crew succumbed to malaria , and then the Cape of Good Hope , arriving at

1183-466: Is informally referred to as "the captain" on board, even though holding a junior rank, but formally is titled "the commanding officer" (or CO). Until the nineteenth century, Royal Navy officers who were captains by rank and in command of a naval vessel were referred to as post-captains ; this practice is now defunct. Captain (D) or Captain Destroyers, afloat, was an operational appointment commanding

1274-593: Is named Captain Cook, Hawaii ; several Hawaiian businesses also carry his name. The Apollo 15 Command/Service Module Endeavour , the Space Shuttle ; Endeavour , and the Crew Dragon Endeavour ; are named after Cook's ship. Another Space Shuttle, Discovery , was named after Cook's HMS  Discovery . Captain (Royal Navy) Captain ( Capt ) is a senior officer rank of

1365-499: Is probably the only recorded incident of a train having sunk a ship. Loading the colliers was carried out by hand at first, especially where coal was transferred from keels which had brought it downstream from parts of the river that the colliers were unable to navigate. As demand increased, specialised jetties known as " staithes " began to be built in the 1890s. These were of numerous designs. Some had spouts used for unscreened or small coal, others known as "drops" had steep inclines at

1456-467: The Durham and Northumberland coalfields supplied a rapidly expanding London with vast tonnages of coal, and a large fleet of coastal colliers travelled up and down the east coast of England loaded with "black diamonds". Sir Charles Palmer pioneered the construction of iron-hulled steam colliers at his Jarrow shipyard, which began to rapidly replace the earlier wooden ships. This inadvertently led to

1547-601: The Royal Navy . It ranks above commander and below commodore and has a NATO ranking code of OF-5. The rank is equivalent to a colonel in the British Army and Royal Marines , and to a group captain in the Royal Air Force . There are similarly named equivalent ranks in the navies of many other countries. In the Royal Navy, the officer in command of any warship of the rank of commander and below

1638-472: The Royal Society . This acclaim came at a crucial moment for the direction of British overseas exploration, and it led to his commission in 1768 as commander of HMS  Endeavour for the first of three Pacific voyages. In these 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

1729-740: The Siberian coast, and then southeast 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. 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. Cook returned to Hawaii in 1779. After sailing around

1820-509: 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. 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

1911-588: 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, at the south end of Bligh Island . Relations between Cook's crew and the people of Yuquot were cordial but sometimes strained. In trading,

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2002-531: The Whitby -built cat. These were bluff-bowed, round-sterned, strongly-built ships that were in common use from the ports of Northeast England in the second half of the eighteenth century. Examples were used as research and exploration ships by the Royal Navy – the best known being HMS Endeavour . In the first half of the nineteenth century, collier brigs were the most common type and remained popular with Northeast coast shipowners. Elsewhere, sailing competition in

2093-656: The fourth-rate Navy vessel HMS  Pembroke . With others in Pembroke ' 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. Throughout his service he demonstrated a talent for surveying and cartography and was responsible for mapping much of the entrance to the Saint Lawrence River during

2184-476: 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 ". While in Newfoundland, Cook also conducted astronomical observations, in particular of

2275-458: The 20th century, with copies being referenced by those sailing Newfoundland's waters for 200 years. Following his exertions in Newfoundland, 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". On 25 May 1768, the Admiralty commissioned Cook to command a scientific voyage to the Pacific Ocean. The purpose of

2366-678: The Admiralty . From the Sandwich Islands, Cook sailed north and then northeast to explore the west coast of North America north of the Spanish settlements in Alta California . He sighted the Oregon coast at approximately 44°30′ north latitude, naming 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. He unknowingly sailed past

2457-468: The Antarctic, reaching 71°10'S on 31 January 1774. 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

2548-569: The Bell Inn in Wapping and one of his mentors, on 21 December 1762 at St Margaret's Church, Barking , Essex. The couple had six children: James (1763–1794), Nathaniel (1764–1780, lost aboard HMS  Thunderer 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

2639-725: The British vessels at Resolution Cove instead of the British visiting the village of Yuquot at Friendly Cove. After leaving Nootka Sound in search of the Northwest Passage, 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 northwest coastline on world maps for

2730-529: The C[l]othes they might have on I know not." Endeavour continued northwards along the coastline, keeping the land in sight with Cook charting and naming landmarks as he went. On 29 April, Cook and crew made their first landfall on the continent at a beach now known as Silver Beach on Botany Bay ( Kamay Botany Bay National Park ). Two Gweagal men of the Dharawal / Eora nation opposed their landing and in

2821-541: 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 in 1761–62. He succeeded in circumnavigating the world on his first voyage without losing a single man to scurvy , an unusual accomplishment at

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2912-816: 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

3003-508: The Pacific, arriving at Tahiti on 13 April 1769, where the observations of the 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 . Cook then sailed to New Zealand where he mapped

3094-741: The Royal Society still believed that a massive southern continent should exist. 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 on 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

3185-474: The Thames above the Pool of London. The wharf at Battersea Power Station is still extant, and the cranes formerly used for unloading the coal could be seen on the riverfront until their removal in 2014; due to the historic nature of the site they were intended to be returned but have instead been stored at Tilbury Docks . These are fitted with clamshell buckets and in operation loaded a hopper, which in turn fed

3276-587: The Tyne are a good example of this type. In Scotland, a system was common where wagons would be placed on a cradle and lifted into the hold of the ship, but this system was rarely used elsewhere. Two large steam cranes were built for this purpose at the Harton Low Staithes, but it was found that despite their size and power they were too slow to handle the amount of coal that was arriving at the staithes, and were replaced by elevators. The men who worked at

3367-619: 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. Cook gathered accurate longitude measurements during his first voyage from his navigational skills, with

3458-626: The archipelago for some eight weeks, he made landfall at Kealakekua Bay on Hawai'i Island , the 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

3549-592: 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

3640-466: The colliers faced competition from the railways in supplying coal for domestic use in the capital, large quantities of coal were used at the numerous power stations on the banks of the River Thames , and wharves were constructed alongside them for unloading the colliers. These vessels known as " flat-irons " with a low-profile superstructures and fold-down funnels and masts to fit under bridges over

3731-503: The coming of Cook is often used to signify the onset of the colonisation . Cook carried several scientists on his voyages; they made significant observations and discoveries. Two botanists, Joseph Banks and the Swede Daniel Solander, sailed on the first voyage. The two collected over 3,000 plant species. Banks subsequently strongly promoted British settlement of Australia, leading to the establishment of New South Wales as

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3822-452: The complete coastline, making only some minor errors. With the aid of Tupaia , a Tahitian priest who had joined the expedition, Cook was the first European to communicate with the Māori . However, at least eight Māori were killed in violent encounters. Cook then voyaged west, reaching the southeastern coast of Australia near today's Point Hicks on 19 April 1770, and in doing so his expedition became

3913-500: The confrontation one of them was shot and wounded. Cook and his crew stayed at Botany Bay for a week, collecting water, timber, fodder and botanical specimens and exploring the surrounding area. Cook sought to establish relations with the Indigenous population without success. At first Cook named the inlet "Sting-Ray Harbour" after the many stingrays found there. This was later changed to "Botanist Bay" and finally Botany Bay after

4004-532: 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

4095-588: 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 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 , which brought him to the attention of the Admiralty and

4186-425: The eclipse of the sun on 5 August 1766. 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. His five seasons in Newfoundland produced the first large-scale and accurate maps of

4277-411: 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." A U.S. coin, the 1928 Hawaii Sesquicentennial half-dollar , carries Cook's image. Minted for the 150th anniversary of his discovery of

4368-524: The end, down which a wagon would be lowered directly into the hold, minimising the breakage of coal. Some had both drops and spouts. The drops and spouts could be raised and lowered with the tide. Later, elevators began to be introduced, such as those at Bates Staithes in Blyth, Northumberland and Harton Low Staithes in South Shields . These staithes used spouts. The largely intact Dunston Staiths on

4459-542: The eventual decline of the glassmaking industry on Tyneside and Wearside , as prior to this, they had had access to large supplies of sand, used as ballast in the wooden colliers returning from London. The iron colliers had ballast tanks which meant water could simply be pumped in, greatly reducing the turnaround time as the sand no longer needed to be loaded and unloaded. Coal was also exported to Europe, and wooden colliers returned with goods such as roofing tiles in their holds. The first Palmer-built iron hulled steam collier

4550-512: The first recorded Europeans to have encountered its eastern coastline. On 23 April, he made his first recorded direct observation of Aboriginal 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

4641-532: 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. By the second week of August 1778, Cook was through the Bering Strait, sailing into the Chukchi Sea . He headed northeast up the coast of Alaska until he was blocked by sea ice at a latitude of 70°44′ north. Cook then sailed west to

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4732-599: 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 the English merchant Anthony de la Roché in 1675. Cook also discovered and named Clerke Rocks and

4823-468: The fishing village of Staithes , to be apprenticed as a shop boy to grocer and haberdasher William Sanderson. Historians have speculated that this is where Cook first felt the lure of the sea while gazing out of the shop window. After 18 months, not proving suited for shop work, Cook travelled to the nearby port town of Whitby to be introduced to Sanderson's friends John and Henry Walker. The Walkers, who were Quakers , were prominent local ship-owners in

4914-566: 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

5005-471: 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

5096-445: The island of Saint Helena on 30 April 1771. The ship finally returned to England on 12 July 1771, anchoring in The Downs, with Cook going to Deal. 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. Banks even attempted to take command of Cook's second voyage but removed himself from

5187-426: The island's coasts and were the first scientific, large-scale, hydrographic surveys to use precise triangulation to establish land outlines. 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 maps were used into

5278-422: The islands, its low mintage (10,008) has made this example of an early United States commemorative coin both scarce and expensive. The site where he was killed in Hawaii was marked in 1874 by a white obelisk. This land, although in Hawaii, was deeded to the United Kingdom by Princess Likelike and her husband, Archibald Scott Cleghorn , to the British Consul to Hawaii, James Hay Wodehouse, in 1877. A nearby town

5369-437: The king's attendants, Nuaa. 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 wounded in the confrontation. The esteem which the islanders nevertheless held for Cook caused them to retain his body. Following their practice of

5460-424: The latter part of the century was from schooners and other vessels with fore and aft rig. The first steam collier, John Bowes , was launched in 1852 and proved successful, with many others being built as a result. Sailing and steam colliers co-existed for the remainder of the nineteenth century and into the twentieth, with coal being carried by sailing vessels at the time of the First World War. For many years,

5551-425: The local school. In 1741, after five years of schooling, he began work for his father, who had been promoted to farm manager. Despite not being formally educated, he became capable in mathematics, astronomy and charting by the time of his Endeavour voyage. For leisure, he would climb a nearby hill, Roseberry Topping , enjoying the opportunity for solitude. In 1745, when he was 16, Cook moved 20 miles (32 km) to

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5642-542: The more junior Army and Royal Marines rank , and in naval contexts, as a "four-ring captain" (referring to the uniform lace) to avoid confusion with the title of a seagoing commanding officer. In the Ministry of Defence , and in joint service establishments, a captain may be referred to as a "DACOS" (standing for deputy assistant chief of staff) or an "AH" (assistant head), from the usual job title of OF5-ranked individuals who work with civil servants. The rank insignia features four rings of gold braid with an executive curl in

5733-426: The people of Yuquot demanded much more valuable items than the usual trinkets that had been acceptable 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

5824-434: The post if an opportunity for active duty should arise. 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 . 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". But he could not be kept away from

5915-453: The public was led to believe. The trip's principal goal was to locate a Northwest Passage around the American continent. After dropping Omai at Tahiti, Cook travelled north and in 1778 became the first European to begin formal contact with the Hawaiian Islands . 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

6006-435: 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. 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

6097-469: The season of worship. 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. Though this view

6188-411: The ships returned to Kealakekua Bay for repairs. Tensions rose, and quarrels broke out between the Europeans and Hawaiians at Kealakekua Bay, including the theft of wood from a Hawaiian burial ground under Cook's orders. On 13 February 1779, an unknown group of Hawaiians stole one of Cook's longboats. By then the Hawaiian people had become "insolent", even with threats to fire upon them. Cook responded to

6279-476: The siege, thus allowing General Wolfe to make his famous stealth attack during the 1759 Battle of the Plains of Abraham . Cook's surveying ability was also put to use in mapping the jagged coast of Newfoundland in the 1760s, aboard HMS  Grenville . 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

6370-442: The staithes were known as teemers and trimmers. Teemers would open the doors on the bottom of the wagons to allow the coal to fall into hoppers under the rail deck on top of the staithes, or in the case of drops, directly into the hold of the collier. The trimmers worked in the hold, spreading and levelling the coal with shovels and rakes so that its weight would be evenly distributed. Skilled trimmers could stand with their shovel under

6461-432: The stream of coal coming from a spout or the end of a conveyor and angle it so the coal would ricochet off into the part of the hold they wanted to fill. This was a dangerous job, as the holds could fill with firedamp given off by the coal, resulting in an explosion. More modern systems are designed to be able to evenly distribute the coal without the need for men working in the holds of the ships. Although, in later years,

6552-490: The study of algebra, geometry, trigonometry, navigation and astronomy – all skills he would need one day to command his own ship. 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 . In 1755, within

6643-516: The theft by attempting to kidnap and ransom the King of Hawaiʻi , Kalaniʻōpuʻu . The 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 away. One of Kalaniʻōpuʻu's favourite wives, Kanekapolei , and two chiefs approached the group as they were heading to the boats. They pleaded with the king not to go. An old kahuna (priest), chanting rapidly while holding out

6734-503: The time, they prepared his body with funerary rituals usually reserved for the chiefs and highest elders of the society. The body was disembowelled and 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

6825-657: The time. He tested several preventive measures, most importantly the frequent replenishment of fresh food. For presenting a paper on this aspect of the voyage to the Royal Society he was presented with the Copley Medal in 1776. Cook became 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. In New Zealand

6916-467: The unique specimens retrieved by the botanists Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander . This first landing site was later to be promoted (particularly by Joseph Banks) as a suitable candidate for situating a settlement and British colonial outpost. After his departure from Botany Bay, he continued northwards. He stopped at Bustard Bay (now known as Seventeen Seventy ) on 23 May 1770. On 24 May, Cook and Banks and others went ashore. Continuing north, on 11 June

7007-400: The upper ring. When in mess dress or mess undress, officers of the rank of captain and above wear gold-laced trousers (the trousers are known as "tin trousers", and the gold lace stripes thereon are nicknamed "lightning conductors"), and may wear the undress tailcoat (without epaulettes). Collier (ship type) The earliest type of collier on which there is detailed information is

7098-481: 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. Shortly after his return from the first voyage, Cook was promoted in August 1771 to the rank of commander . In 1772, he was commissioned to lead another scientific expedition on behalf of the Royal Society, to search for

7189-584: The voyage was to observe and record the 1769 transit of Venus across the Sun which, when combined with observations from other places, would help to determine the distance of the Earth from the Sun. Cook, at age 39, was promoted to lieutenant to grant him sufficient status to take the command. For its part, the Royal Society agreed that Cook would receive a one hundred guinea gratuity in addition to his Naval pay. The expedition sailed aboard HMS  Endeavour , departing England on 26 August 1768. Cook and his crew rounded Cape Horn and continued westward across

7280-523: The voyage. 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 1768–1780, along with documents and memorabilia related to these voyages. Many of the ethnographic artefacts were collected at a time of first contact between Pacific Peoples and Europeans. In 1935 most of

7371-407: The wagons landed in the Tyne while others lodged on the deck of a vessel being loaded. The wagons were recovered at low tide, the rope was repaired, and the papers of the day treated the whole incident as something of a joke. Six months later, the rope snapped again, and the wagons landed in the hold of a waiting collier and sank it. After this, it was decided a wire rope would be a better option. This

7462-770: The way for British imperialism and colonialism . James Cook was born on 7 November [ O.S. 27 October] 1728 in the village of Marton in the North Riding of Yorkshire and baptised on 14 November (N.S.) in the parish church of St Cuthbert , where his name can be seen in the church register. 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 . In 1736, his family moved to Airey Holme farm at Great Ayton , where his father's employer, Thomas Skottowe, paid for him to attend

7553-593: Was SS John Bowes of 1852 . There had been an earlier iron hull screw propelled collier, the short-lived SS Bedlington of 1841 built in South Shields. A notable incident involving a collier occurred not long after the opening of the Victoria Tunnel in Newcastle . The hemp rope which controlled the speed of wagons descending the tunnel to the river from Spital Tongues Colliery snapped, and some of

7644-580: Was briefly master of Cruizer , a small cutter attached to Eagle while on patrol. In June 1757, Cook formally passed his master 's examinations at Trinity House , Deptford , qualifying him to navigate and handle a ship of the King's fleet. He then joined the frigate HMS Solebay as master under Captain Robert Craig. During the Seven Years' War , Cook served in North America as master aboard

7735-416: 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, was challenged in 1992 by Gananath Obeyesekere in the so-called Sahlins–Obeyesekere debate . After a month's stay, Cook attempted to resume his exploration of the northern Pacific. Shortly after leaving Hawaii Island, Resolution ' s foremast broke, so

7826-502: 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. 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

7917-559: Was given command of HMS  Bounty in 1787 to sail to Tahiti and return with breadfruit . Bligh became 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 the subject of another mutiny—the 1808 Rum Rebellion . George Vancouver , one of Cook's midshipmen , led a voyage of exploration to the Pacific Coast of North America from 1791 to 1794. In honour of Vancouver's former commander, his ship

8008-447: Was killed while attempting to take hostage Kalaniʻōpuʻu , chief of the island of Hawaii , during a dispute. He left a legacy of scientific and geographical knowledge that influenced his successors well into the 20th century, and numerous memorials worldwide have been dedicated to him. He remains controversial for his occasionally violent encounters with indigenous peoples and there is debate on whether he can be held responsible for paving

8099-610: Was named Discovery . George Dixon , who sailed under Cook on his third expedition, later commanded his own. 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

8190-627: Was transferred to the Australian Museum. Cook's 12 years sailing around the Pacific Ocean contributed much to Europeans' knowledge of the area. Several islands, such as the Hawaiian group, were encountered for the first time by Europeans, and his more accurate navigational charting of large areas of the Pacific was a major achievement. To create accurate maps, latitude and longitude must be accurately determined. Navigators had been able to work out latitude accurately for centuries by measuring

8281-641: 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. 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. His first temporary command was in March 1756 when he

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