James Cook

Born in 1728 Yorkshire England, James Cook farmed beside his Scottish father until winning an apprenticeship with a merchant sailing company at age 17. Cutting his teeth in the turbulent waters of the North and Baltic Seas, at 26, he abandoned his merchant career to join the British Royal Navy, quickly rising in prominence as a cartographer during the Seven Years’ War, where his detailed charts of the Saint Lawrence River helped Britain pull off a surprise attack against the French at Quebec.

First in British Naval History

By the early 1760s, Cook was given command of his first ship, becoming the first man in British naval history to rise from the ranks of a common seaman to the commander of a ship. Best known for his three explorations to the Pacific Ocean, during his first voyage aboard HMS Endeavour, from 1768 to 1771, Cook and his 100-man crew were charged with sailing to Tahiti to observe the transit of Venus across the sun, along with a sealed and quite secret order to find the “Great Southern Continent.” Instead, he became the first European to chart the east coast of Australia, while proving that New Zealand was made up of two islands rather than the tip of a larger land mass.

Near Sinking

Running aground on the Great Barrier Reef on June 11th, 1770, Cook’s crew fought for 20 desperate hours to stop the leak, before limping to Australia for two months of repairs. During his second voyage aboard HMS Resolution and Adventure, Cook was yet again tasked with finding the elusive southern continent, Terra Australis, crossing into the Antarctic Circle before ending the debate about a southern continent once and for all. Setting sail in 1776 aboard HMS Resolution and Discovery, the 47-year-old Cook searched for the elusive Northwest Passage in the Arctic, surveying the the upper coasts of Western Canada and Alaska, before turning south due to ice flows and a mutinous crew.

An Unfortunate Death

Making repairs on the island of Hawaii, Cook attempted to kidnap King Kalani’ōpu‘u after a group of natives stole one of his tenders, resulting in his death when he was clubbed, stoned and knifed while attempting to flee to a waiting boat, making the life and explorations of James Cook, a major contributor after the Age of Exploration.