Captain
James Cook (17th November 1728 to 14th February 1779)
If you’re asked to name a famous
explorer you probably think of Captain Cook. I would anyway. I’m a bit thick
and can’t think of any others. It’s 11pm as I’m writing this and I’ve had a Cadbury
Chocolate Roll so my brain’s a bit fuzzy. Here I am up at Whitby standing outside
the house where Captain Cook lodged and studied in the attic.
James was born in 1728 in a small village in Middlesborough and joined the British merchant navy as a
teenager. He was being groomed to become a captain but aged 26
he shocked his superiors by
giving up his sailing career to enlist in the Royal Navy. He was much older
than his peers but soon shot up the ranks. By the age of 37 he had come to the
notice of the Admiralty and they commissioned him to command HM Bark Endeavour
for the first of three Pacific voyages. He sailed thousands of miles across
largely uncharted parts of the globe, witnessing islands and coastlines land
not seen before, making maps from New Zealand to Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean in
great detail. This explorer, navigator, cartographer and captain was highly respected on land and ships. He could be trusted
to navigate in uncharted territory and bring home precise maps of the lands he’d
discovered. He was an all-round seaman, was effective at controlling his team
in appalling weathers, had exceptional surveying and
cartographic skills and physical courage. He often fought freezing weather,
violent currents, heavy ice floes and a crew on the brink of mutiny.
He succeeded in keeping his crew
free of the curse of the marine - scurvy (a lack of vitamin C.) He did this by
getting as much fresh food at various stops as he could, particularly pickled
cabbage (the toilets can’t have been a pleasant place to visit.
It wasn’t all plain sailing.
Aged 41 his ship Endeavour hit a coral reef and began to sink. The crew and his
priceless charts could be lost if action wasn’t taken. He ordered men to throw
cannons and heavy equipment overboard and used a sail to plug the hole in their
hull. After twenty exhausting hours pumping out water and plugging the
ever-widening leak Endeavour remained afloat. It would take two months for
James to repair his baby back to a seaworthy standard.
Aged 50 he was attacked, killed and eaten. While
docked in Hawaii for ship repairs he was enraged when the natives stole one of
his small single-sail boats. On 14th February 1779 he marched through a village
to retrieve the chief as a sort of ransom. He found him and began to lead him
away to a ship. One of the chief’s wives and two other chiefs approached James
and a large crowd began to form at the shore. As James turned his back to help
launch the boats he was clubbed on the head and fell on his face into the surf,
was stabbed with an iron dagger and then pelted with rocks. The Hawaiians
carried James’s floppy body back to their town, preserved his hands in sea
salt, roasted his body in a pit and ate part of him. They believed that the
power of a person lay in their bones so they removed certain bones and cleaned
them up. A week later these bones were formally buried at sea in Kealakekua Bay.
No descendants live on. Though James and his wife
Elizabeth had six children only three lived passed childhood. Two died at sea
whilst serving in the Royal Navy and the youngest lad died whilst at college at
Cambridge. None had married nor had children.
I found the red home where James lived and
studied up in the attic. It was home to Quaker shipowner
John Walker who James was apprenticed to for a few years. A few lads jeered a
bit as I tried to take some photos. I’m sure they would rather have preferred to
explore Whitby for noteworthy buildings/locations and graves than knock back
ten pints of Guinness.
I looked up at
the windows where James had studied in the 1700’s. Who have thought the lad who
learnt about the sea up in that attic would sail round the globe twice and
help fill in many of the blank spots on world maps?
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Pointing down to
Whitby where James lodged as a young man…
Down
in Whitby. That woman
was a hot snogger…
Wandering
around…
Lads you’re
ruining my photo…
