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James Cook - Explorer (1728 - 1779) |
Starting out as a farm worker in Yorkshire,
James Cook would become one of the most famous
explorers and navigators. He was renowned for
his detailed maps of the Newfoundland coast
and his exploration of New Zealand and the east
coast of Australia. He was also one of the many
explorers to search for the fabled North West
Passage.
This page details facts about James Cook's life
and the events that shaped his history.
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James Cook the Explorer - Fun
Facts for Kids ! |
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James Cook Fact
1: |
James Cook was born on 27th October 1728
in the Yorkshire village of Marton. His father, also James
Cook, was a Scottish farm worker and his mother, Grace Pace,
was from the local area. |
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James Cook Fact
2: |
In 1736 James Cook and his family moved
to Great Ayton, where he attended school for five years
before working as a farm labourer alongside his father. |
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James Cook Fact
3: |
In 1745 James Cook moved to the Yorkshire
coast where, after a short stint as a shop boy, he became
an apprentice in the merchant navy. He worked for a merchant,
transporting coal down to London, and learned the basic
skills of seamanship including navigation and astronomy. |
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James Cook Fact
4: |
James Cook began to work his way up the
ranks until, on 17 June 1755, he joined the Royal Navy.
Starting out as an able seaman, he soon earned promotion
to boatswain and, in June 1757, he passed his Master’s exams. |
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James Cook Fact
5: |
James Cook was Master of the Pembroke
when he served in North America during the Seven Years War.
He took part in several assaults and sieges, and showed
particular skill in cartography and surveying. |
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James Cook Fact
6: |
During the early
to mid 1760s James Cook surveyed and mapped the coast
of Newfoundland. The scale and accuracy of the maps
he produced led the Admiralty to promote him to Lieutenant
and give him command of a scientific voyage to observe
Venus passing in front of the sun.
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James Cook Fact
7: |
This rare event would
need to be observed in the southern hemisphere so in
August 1768, James Cook left England aboard HMS Endeavour
and headed for the Pacific Ocean. Arriving at Tahiti
in April 1769, he completed his observations and moved
on to the next part of his mission, to search for a
mythical southern continent known as Terra Australis
Nondum Cognita (the unknown southern land).
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James Cook Fact
8: |
James Cook continued on to New
Zealand, where he mapped the coastline before sailing
west to Australia. He arrived at the south east
coast of Australia in April 1770, becoming the first
European to see that part of Australia, and claimed
it for Britain. He named it New South Wales. |
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James Cook Fact
9: |
James Cook made his first landfall
in an area he would name Botany Bay. This name was given
to area as a result of the discoveries made by the expedition’s
botanists. He continued his expedition northwards and
in June 1770 the Endeavour ran aground on the Great
Barrier Reef. |
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James Cook Fact 10: |
The repairs, which took almost seven
weeks, were carried out on a Queensland beach near a
river. The river is now known as Endeavour River and
the local town is called Cooktown. Following the repairs,
he resumed his expedition and, in August, landed on
an island that he named Possession Island. |
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James Cook Fact 11: |
On 22 August 1770, while on Possession
Island, James Cook declared the east coast of Australia
to be British territory in the name of King George III.
Following this, he sailed the Endeavour to Batavia (modern
day Jakarta) for a refit. While there many of his men contracted,
and died from malaria, and Dysentery. He returned to England,
arriving in July 1771. |
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James Cook Fact 12: |
In 1772 James Cook, newly promoted to
Commander, was commissioned to lead another scientific expedition
to search for Terra Australis. He left with two ships, HMS
Resolution, which he commanded, and HMS Adventure, which
was commanded by Tobias Furneaux, another officer in the
Royal Navy. |
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James Cook Fact 13: |
James Cook also took and tested a
copy of John Harrison’s timekeeper, which allowed him
to measure his longitudinal position with greater accuracy
than before. He was full of praise for this marine chronometer. |
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James Cook Fact 14: |
Cook led his expedition into the
Antarctic Circle on several occasions, each time being
forced to turn back by the freezing temperatures. Having
become separated from James Cook when they encountered
fog, Furneaux sailed to New Zealand before returning
to England while Cook continued to explore. |
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James Cook Fact
15: |
After visiting
Tahiti to resupply, he sailed south again and resumed
his exploration. With Cook’s methodical coverage
of the area, it wasn’t long before he was able to
prove that Terra Australis didn’t exist.
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James Cook Fact
16: |
James Cook arrived
back in England in July 1775. He received a promotion,
from King George III, to Post-Captain. He was also
made a Fellow of the Royal Society.
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James Cook Fact
17: |
Wanting to return
to sea, James Cook volunteered to go in search of
the Northwest Passage. Once again commanding HMS
Resolution, this time accompanied by HMS Discovery,
he sailed to the Pacific Ocean to begin his search
for a route to the Atlantic Ocean. James Cook sailed
to Tahiti before heading north and encountering
the Hawaiian Islands.
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Picture
of King George III
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James Cook Fact 18: |
James Cook left Hawaii and sailed to
North America, where he began his exploration of the west
coast. Cook anchored in the Nootka Sound on Vancouver Island.
While there, he traded with the Yuquot people. James Cook
then continued his expedition and mapped the North American
west coast as far as the Bering Strait. |
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James Cook Fact 19: |
James Cook continued north, sailing through
the Bering Strait, and followed the Alaskan Coast until
sea ice blocked his path. He returned through the Bering
Strait, via the Siberian coast, and headed back to Hawaii.
He arrived, at Kealakekua Bay, in 1779. |
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James Cook Fact 20:
On arrival, James Cook was given a warm
welcome and treated as a deity. However, relations had cooled
by the time he left a month later. Four days after leaving,
James Cook was forced to return to carry out repairs to
the Resolution’s mast.
James Cook Fact 21:
The islanders proved more hostile this
time and one of Cook’s boats was stolen. On 14 February
1779 James Cook attempted to take the king as a hostage.
Some of the islanders became agitated and, during the furore
that followed, Cook was struck on the head and stabbed to
death. |
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James Cook the Explorer
(1728 - 1779) Fun Facts Info for Kids ! |
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