Captain James Cook

(1728 - 1779)

James Cook was the most famous sea captain of the 18th century. In 1776 he set off for the Pacific Ocean to find a way round Canada into the Atlantic. On his way north from Tahiti, Cook discovered the Hawaiian islands.

1737

His father works on a farm. James is clever at school.

1745

Cook works in a shop at Staithes, North Yorkshire. He wants to go to sea.

1746

He moves to Whitby to work on a ship. He works hard and learns Maths in the evenings. For many years he takes ships down the dangerous east coast to London.

1755 – 1766

He joins the Royal Navy and makes good maps of the East of Canada.

1768 – 1771

The Navy sends Cook to look for land in the Pacific. He sails round the world for the first time, makes good maps of New Zealand and discovers the east coast of Australia.

1772 – 1775

Second great voyage, this time round the world from East to West.

1776 – 1779

Third voyage to the Pacific. Cook dies on a Hawaiian beach, 14th February 1779. The ships return to England in October 1780.

Red Line New 3, Ernst Klett Verlag, Stuttgart, 1997, page 91