James cook biography

Also, he discovered that scurvy could be cured by consuming fruits rich in vitamin C. Cook used to give doses of lime juice to his crew members on a daily basis to prevent them from getting this ailment. They claimed that Cook and his crew were stealing from their boats. Cook retaliated, but he was stabbed in the back. This was his last stop.

As the ship captain and experienced cartographer, Captain Cook filled in numerous gaps on world maps. His contributions to 18th century science have helped propel more discoveries. Art History U. Getting Acquainted with Ships Whitby was a great place, crammed with a large number of ships. Cook Rises through the Ranks By , Cook had risen to a position of mate.

Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales. Elton John. Ralph Fiennes. Daniel Day-Lewis. Maggie Smith. Alan Cumming. Clerke assumed leadership of the expedition and made a final attempt to pass through the Bering Strait.

James cook biography

James King replaced Gore in command of Discovery. After their arrival in England, King completed Cook's account of the voyage. At that time the collection consisted of artefacts collected on Cook's three voyages throughout the Pacific Ocean, during the period —, 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.

The provenance of the collection shows that the objects remained in the hands of Cook's widow Elizabeth Cook, and her descendants, until Alexander, and William Adams. 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.

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 degrees relative to the Sun each day.

Thus longitude corresponds to time: 15 degrees every hour, or 1 degree every 4 minutes. 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 in — He tested several preventive measures, most importantly the frequent replenishment of fresh food.

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. Cook carried several scientists on his voyages; they made significant observations and discoveries.

The two collected over 3, plant species. Artists also sailed on Cook's first voyage. Sydney Parkinson was heavily involved in documenting the botanists' findings, completing drawings before his death near the end of the voyage. They were of immense scientific value to British botanists. Several officers who served under Cook went on to distinctive accomplishments.

Bligh became known for the mutiny of his crew , which resulted in his being set adrift in 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 , 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 Minted for the th anniversary of his discovery of the islands, its low mintage 10, has made this example of an early United States commemorative coin both scarce and expensive.

Cooks' Cottage , his parents' last home, which he is likely to have visited, is now in Melbourne , Australia, having been moved from England at the behest of the Australian philanthropist Sir Russell Grimwade in One of the earliest monuments to Cook in the United Kingdom is located at The Vache , erected in by Admiral Hugh Palliser , a contemporary of Cook and one-time owner of the estate.

Cook's widow Elizabeth was also buried in the church and in her will left money for the memorial's upkeep. The th 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 A granite vase just to the south of the museum marks the approximate spot where he was born.

Also named after Cook is James Cook University Hospital , a major teaching hospital which opened in with a railway station serving it called James Cook opening in A statue erected in his honour can be viewed near Admiralty Arch on the south side of The Mall in London. In , the Cooktown Re-enactment Association first performed a re-enactment of Cook's landing at the site of modern Cooktown , Australia, and have continued the tradition each year, with the support and participation of many of the local Guugu Yimithirr people.

They celebrate the first act of reconciliation between Indigenous Australians and non-Indigenous people, when a Guugu Yimithirr elder stepped in after some of Cook's men had violated custom by taking green turtles from the river and not sharing with the local people. He presented Cook with a broken-tipped spear as a peace offering, thus preventing possible bloodshed.

Cook recorded the incident in his journal. Cook was a subject in many literary creations. Letitia Elizabeth Landon , a popular poet known for her sentimental romantic poetry, [ ] published a poetical illustration to a portrait of Captain Cook in Cook appears as a symbolic and generic figure in several Aboriginal myths , often from regions where Cook did not encounter Aboriginal people.

Maddock states that Cook is usually portrayed as the bringer of Western colonialism to Australia and is presented as a villain who brings immense social change. Cook has been depicted in numerous films, documentaries and dramas. The period to marked the th anniversary of Cook's first voyage of exploration. Several countries, including Australia and New Zealand, arranged official events to commemorate the voyage, [ ] [ ] leading to widespread public debate about Cook's legacy and the violence associated with his contacts with Indigenous peoples.

In July , a statue of Cook in Victoria, British Columbia , Canada, was torn down in protests about the deaths of Indigenous residential school children in Canada. Alice Proctor argues that the controversies over public representations of Cook and the display of Indigenous artefacts from his voyages are part of a broader debate over the decolonisation of museums and public spaces and resistance to colonialist narratives.

Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read View source View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. British explorer and naval officer — For other uses, see Captain Cook disambiguation and James Cook disambiguation. Portrait by Nathaniel Dance-Holland , c. Marton , Yorkshire , England. Kealakekua Bay , Hawaii.

Elizabeth Batts. Start of Royal Navy career. First voyage — Main article: First voyage of James Cook. Second voyage — Main article: Second voyage of James Cook. Third voyage — Main article: Third voyage of James Cook. Main article: Death of James Cook. Sydney University Press. ISBN Archived from the original on 3 August Retrieved 4 December Art UK.

Archived from the original on 4 January Retrieved 28 December London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Archived from the original PDF on 5 June Retrieved 5 March Encyclopaedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 31 July Archived from the original on 19 August Retrieved 5 September Life in the Royal Navy — Archived from the original on 21 July Retrieved 22 September Newfoundland Historical Society Pamphlet Number 3.

Archived from the original PDF on 13 May Retrieved 27 August Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. ISSN Archived from the original on 8 January Retrieved 2 November Narrative of the voyages round the world, performed by Captain James Cook; with an account of his life during the previous and intervening periods.

Chapter 2. Archived from the original on 3 October Retrieved 3 October National Library of Australia. Archived from the original on 12 March British Broadcasting Corporation Home. As one of the very few men in the 18th century navy to rise through the ranks, Cook was particularly sympathetic to the needs of ordinary sailors. James Cook was born on 27 October in a small village near Middlesbrough in Yorkshire.

His father was a farm worker. At the age of 17, Cook moved to the coast, settling in Whitby and finding work with a coal merchant. In , Cook enlisted in the Royal Navy, serving in North America where he learnt to survey and chart coastal waters. In , the planet Venus was due to pass in front of the Sun, a rare event visible only in the southern hemisphere.