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James Cook — A Concise Biography (in English)

Early Life (1728–1755)
James Cook was born on November 7, 1728, in Marton, Yorkshire, England, to a Scottish farm laborer and his Yorkshire wife. Raised modestly and educated at a village school, he showed a talent for mathematics and practical problem-solving. As a teenager he apprenticed to a shopkeeper in the fishing village of Staithes, but the sea called more strongly than the shop. Around 1746 he moved to Whitby and apprenticed to the Quaker-owned Walker brothers, sailing coal ships along England’s east coast. There he learned navigation, cartography, and the disciplined seamanship that would define his career.

Royal Navy and Chartmaker (1755–1768)
Cook volunteered for the Royal Navy in 1755 during the Seven Years’ War. Serving in North America, he proved exceptional at surveying and charting. His detailed maps of the St. Lawrence River helped the British fleet approach and capture Quebec in 1759. After the war he spent several seasons meticulously surveying the coast of Newfoundland. These surveys—remarkably accurate for their time—won him a reputation as one of the Navy’s finest hydrographers.

First Voyage (1768–1771) — Endeavour
Chosen to lead a combined scientific and exploratory mission, Cook sailed in 1768 on HMS Endeavour.

• Scientific goal: observe the 1769 transit of Venus from Tahiti to refine estimates of the Earth-Sun distance.

• Geographic achievements: after the observation, he circumnavigated and charted New Zealand, proving it was two main islands, then tracked west to chart the previously unknown eastern coastline of Australia. In April 1770 he made the first recorded European landfall on Australia’s east coast at what he named Botany Bay.

• Peril and repair: Endeavour struck the Great Barrier Reef in June 1770; Cook beached her at the Endeavour River for repairs, then navigated the dangerous reef ribbon to safety.
  The voyage returned to Britain in 1771 with charts of enduring value and enormous collections of botanical and ethnographic specimens.

Second Voyage (1772–1775) — Resolution & Adventure
Seeking the hypothetical southern continent “Terra Australis,” Cook commanded HMS Resolution with HMS Adventure under Tobias Furneaux.

• He became the first captain to cross the Antarctic Circle (1773), probing far south through ice-strewn seas.

• He circled the globe at high southern latitudes, mapping Pacific archipelagos and, crucially, disproving the existence of a vast temperate southern continent.

• Cook enforced rigorous health measures—cleanliness, ventilation, fresh food when possible, and sauerkraut—virtually eliminating scurvy on his ships and setting a new standard for naval medicine at sea.

Third Voyage (1776–1779) — Resolution & Discovery
Cook’s final expedition aimed to find a navigable Northwest Passage from the Pacific.

• In 1778 he reached and charted the North American Pacific coast from present-day Oregon through Alaska, mapping the complex coastline with exceptional precision.

• En route he encountered the Hawaiian Islands (which he named the Sandwich Islands), the first significant European contact with the archipelago.

• After ice blocked the Arctic route, Cook returned to Hawaii. Tensions at Kealakekua Bay culminated in his death on February 14, 1779, during a violent shoreline confrontation.

Personal Life
Cook married Elizabeth Batts in 1762. They had six children, though none of his sons outlived their parents. Elizabeth survived James by more than five decades, meticulously preserving his papers and legacy.

Skills and Methods

• Cartography: Cook’s charts set a new benchmark for accuracy. He combined astronomical observations (using lunar distances and, later, the marine chronometer) with painstaking coastal surveys.

• Leadership & Health: He ran tight but comparatively humane ships. His preventive regime against scurvy—dietary experiments, cleanliness, and discipline—saved countless lives and influenced naval practice.

• Science & Ethnography: He collaborated closely with naturalists (notably Joseph Banks on the first voyage) and artists, amassing botanical, zoological, and cultural records that transformed European knowledge of the Pacific.

Legacy and Controversy
Cook’s voyages redrew the map of the Pacific: reliable charts of New Zealand, Australia’s east coast, large swathes of the South Pacific, the North Pacific littoral, and the Hawaiian chain. His work accelerated global navigation, trade, and science. At the same time, his expeditions paved the way for imperial expansion, disease spread, and dispossession of Indigenous peoples. Today, Cook is remembered both for remarkable feats of exploration and for the profound, often devastating, consequences those journeys had on Pacific communities.

Key Dates (Timeline)

• 1728: Born in Marton, Yorkshire (Nov 7).

• 1746–1755: Merchant apprentice and sailor out of Whitby.

• 1755: Joins Royal Navy.

• 1759: Quebec campaign; hydrographic surveys.

• 1763–1767: Surveys Newfoundland.

• 1768–1771: First voyage, Endeavour (Tahiti, New Zealand, east Australia).

• 1772–1775: Second voyage, Resolution & Adventure (Antarctic Circle, South Pacific).

• 1776–1779: Third voyage, Resolution & Discovery (Hawaii, North Pacific, search for Northwest Passage).

• 1779: Killed at Kealakekua Bay, Hawaii (Feb 14).

Why Cook matters
He combined fearless seamanship with scientific rigor, leaving maps that were used for generations and practices that improved sailors’ survival. His life sits at the crossroads of Enlightenment science and European imperial expansion—brilliant, consequential, and complicated.