Captain James Cook Essay, Research Paper

Captain James Cook

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Captain James Cook was born in Marton-in-Cleveland, near Yorkshire,

England. He was born on October 27, 1728. In 1759, after the fall of Quebec, Cook

became master of the flagship “Northumberland.” He had had previous experience in

this as an apprentice at a shipowners called The Walker Brothers. He attracted the

attention of the Royal Society by calculating the longitude of Newfoundland. He also

observed solar eclipses to discover things like this.

First Voyage: Cook was made a first lieutenant and appointed commander of

an expedition to Tahiti in 1768. He was under orders by the Royal Society to observe

the transit of Venus between the earth and the sun. He was also to go on a secret

mission to discover new lands between New Zealand and Chile. He left on August 26,

1768, on a boat called “The Endeavour.” Cook watched the passage of Venus across

the disk in June, 1769. He sailed around New Zealand and explored the coasts there.

He finally reached the yet unexplored land of Australia on April 20, 1770. He named

the new land New South Wales. He studied plants there. He was almost stranded

when they encountered coral, but they repaired the boats and survived. On August 23,

1770 he claimed possession of the east coast of Australia. He returned to England in

July 1771.

Second Voyage: On his second voyage, Cook left on July 13, 1772, on a

ship named Resolution. He crossed the Antarctic circle in January, 1773. In May, 1774,

they went to Tahiti to get away from the cold and get supplies. He was supposed to

rendezvous with the Adventure at the end of October, but missed it. Cook kept his

going for his search of a southern continent. On October, 1774, he discovered New

Caledonia and Norfolk Island. He then sailed at high latitudes in the South Pacific. He

returned to England in July 1775.

Third and Final Voyage: He set out on July 1776 for his last voyage (he was

on the Pacific.) The ship he sailed on was called Discovery. They had visited Tahiti,

New Zealand, and Tonga by December 1777. In 1778 he discovered the Hawaiian

Islands. He then sailed through the Bering Strait and into the Arctic. He then went back

to the Hawaiian, the Natives killed him on February 14, 1779. He was killed because

he thought someone stole his boat. He was buried at sea.

He was a great mapmaker and explorer, and has discovered some of our

islands today. The natives did not like him because of his character, so they stole his

boat. Even though he was killed he still did a lot of good things for us.

The End