Captain James Cook, FRS, RN (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the Royal Navy. Cook made detailed maps of Newfoundland prior to making three voyages to the Pacific Ocean, during which he achieved the first European contact with 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 saw action in the Seven Years' War, and subsequently surveyed and mapped much of the entrance to the Saint Lawrence River during the siege of Quebec. This helped bring Cook to the attention of the Admiralty and Royal Society. This notice came at a crucial moment in both Cook's career and the direction of British overseas exploration, and led to his commission in 1766 as commander of HM Bark Endeavour for the first of three Pacific voyages.
In three 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 a scale not previously achieved. As he progressed on his voyages of discovery 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.
Cook was killed in Hawaii in a fight with Hawaiians during his third exploratory voyage in the Pacific in 1779. He left a legacy of scientific and geographical knowledge which was to influence his successors well into the 20th century and numerous memorials worldwide have been dedicated to him.
Other articles related to "james cook, cook, james":
... The parents of the navigator Captain James Cook, James Cook and Grace Pace, were married in the Stainton parish church on 10 October 1725, and the parish ... James Cook, the explorer, was born at nearby East Marton three years later ...
... Effy becomes involved in a love triangle with James Cook and Freddie McClair ... virginity to – and enters a sexual affair with – James Cook ... to date Pandora until he finds out that she has been cheating on him with James Cook but ultimately, he forgives her ...
... Sesquicentennial half dollar bears an image of Cook ... A nearby town is named Captain Cook, Hawaii as well as several businesses ... Apollo 15 Command/Service Module Endeavour was named after Cook's ship, HMS Endeavour, as is the space shuttle Endeavour ...
... Lieutenant James Cook was the first European to explore the more habitable east coast ... Cook had been sent to chart the transit of Venus from Tahiti, but he also charted much of the Australian and New Zealand coastlines ... unknown to European science, that Cook named the inlet Botany Bay ...
... The Whig candidate James M ... Cook was declared elected State Treasurer with a majority of only 228 votes, but Attorney General Chatfield contested the result in the New York Supreme Court in favor of Welch, claiming that ... Cook" in Kings (1), "J ...
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