JAMES COOK: BIOGRAPHY, TRAVELS, DISCOVERIES - ARTE - 2025

James Cook (1728-1779) was an English navigator, explorer, cartographer and captain, belonging to the British Royal Navy. Although he was a student of medicine and botany, he is recognized for leading three expeditions to the Pacific Ocean, managing to establish the first contact of Europeans with Australia and the island of Hawaii. He also made the first circumnavigation of New Zealand.

His travels between 1769 and 1779 made it possible to clarify almost completely everything concerning Oceania. The existence of Terra Australis Incognita was denied and it was evidenced that only one ice sheet surrounds the South Pole. It also contributed to the rise and expansion of the British Empire, which was in its infancy.

Official portrait of James Cook. Source: Nathaniel Dance-Holland

This British explorer is also noted for applying science to the sea and having described the physical, natural and human geography of one third of the planet, as well as expanding the horizons of astronomy, zoology and anthropology.

Biography

Early years

James Cook was born on October 27, 1728, in the village of Marton, near Middlesbrough, in the English county of Yorkshire. He was the son of a farmer from Scotland, who became a farm foreman in a nearby town. His father's employer paid for James to study until he was 12, thanks to his inquisitive and capable mind.

During adolescence he worked for a few years on the farm with his father and at 17 he moved to the coast, where he was working on a coal and timber freighter in the port of Whitby. This job put him in contact with the sea and merchant ships. Thus, Cook at age 18 was an apprentice to a Quaker shipowner and at age 21 began his life in the merchant marine.

Enlistment in the navy

In 1755 Cook enlisted in the Royal Navy and there he learned to study and map coastal waters. That year was his first voyage aboard HMS Eagle, under the command of Captain Hugh Palliser.

His work mapping the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River during the Seven Years' War between Britain and France, caught the attention of the Royal Society who quickly recognized his skill in surveying and mapping.

This map was a great contribution to the success of Major General James Wolfe's landing on the Plains of Abraham.

Then on board the schooner Grenville they surveyed the shores of Newfoundland, while working on maps. This action was also an important piece to attract the attention of the Royal Society and to be appointed later in 1769 to command the Endeavor ship.

During those years, before commanding his first trip, Cook married at age 34 with Elizabeth Batts, the daughter of one of his mentors. With her he had six children. Three of them died when they were children and the others had already died by the year 1794, two of whom had entered the navy.

Years of expeditions

On board the ship Endeavor, he embarks on his first voyage across the Pacific, a scientific and military expedition to the South Seas, bound for Tahiti. They wanted to observe the transit of the planet Venus through the Sun. This trip allowed him to trace all of New Zealand in six months. She then made her way to Australia, crossing the Tasman Sea.

On his voyage, Cook claimed for Great Britain the east coast of Australia and named it New South Wales, as well as the islands of the archipelago. On his return he was promoted to commander and presented to King George III. During that first expedition it was possible to draw detailed maps of some 8 thousand kilometers of unknown coasts.

The year after his arrival, he made a second trip in search of the southern continent, but when trying to pass through the Antarctic coast they had to go back. However, they managed to get closer to just 120 kilometers from Antarctica. Later they visited New Zealand and Tahiti again.

On his return from this second voyage, Cook was finally promoted to captain and was inducted into the members of the Royal Society, in addition to being awarded one of the highest honors, receiving the Copley Gold Medal from the House of Lords..

Last trip and death

On the third and final voyage, shortly after the second, his purpose was to find the legendary junction of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, which was called the Northwest Passage. Not being able to fulfill his mission, he decides to explore the island of Hawaii, where he met his death, which remains a mystery. This event happened on February 14, 1779, at the age of 50, on the Kealakekua beach.

There is a version that indicates that Cook tried to take the leader of the region hostage. In this situation, in the midst of a series of robberies and acts of repression, a fight with the Polynesians broke out and Cook received a stab that led to his death. The second version states that the natives mistook him for a deity, which is why they sacrificed him.

Before dying, Cook published his travel notes, which gave him great recognition and fame among sailors, who found in him inspiration to carry out various expeditions in the Antarctic territory.

Travels

James Cook Travel Routes. First trip in red, second in green and third in blue.

Source: made by Andre Engels based on a public domain map from CIA.

Cook's three voyages were made respectively in the years 1769 to 1771, 1772 to 1775 and, the last, between 1776 and 1779. With them he revealed the real dimension of the Pacific, in addition to defining the existence of Oceania and documenting the geography of a third of the Earth.

First trip

The first voyage was aboard Endeavor, a ship weighing some 368 tons and less than 98 feet (30 meters) long. In the second she commanded the Resolution, a large 462-ton, 110-foot (33.73-meter) long ship. The third was with the 299-ton, Discovery spacecraft just over 90 feet (almost 28 meters) long.

During the first maritime exploration that was destined for Tahiti, New Zealand and Australia, it successfully transited one of the areas with the highest risk of navigation in the world, the Great Barrier Reef of Queensland, taking the Coral Sea and the Torres Strait.

The bark of the ship touched a coral spur, for which it had to be repaired in Queensland. Fortunately, she did not grow up and was soon back in England.

During that first trip, their landing in present-day Jakarta, formerly Batavia, the capital of the Dutch East Indies, stands out, where the crew contracted dysentery but without causing any death, since in general they were very healthy.

Second trip

On the second voyage, Cook set out in search of Terra Australis Ignota, an imaginary continent with origins in classical Greece and which used to appear on the maps of the 15th to 18th centuries used by European sailors.

Although he found no trace of this unknown territory, he managed to make the first circumnavigation and penetration of Antarctica. This tour allowed him to map Tonga and Easter Island during winters.

Third travel

In his last trip he tried to elucidate if there was a passage to the northwest around Canada and Alaska or to the northeast next to Siberia, between the Atlantic and the Pacific. However it was not successful because said legendary passage did not exist.

Discoveries

Among the geographical maps that James Cook came to make are the irregular coasts of Newfoundland, the west and south coasts between the Burin Peninsula and Cape Ray, as well as the entrance to the Saint Lawrence River, adjacent to Québec. The entire coastline of New Zealand was mapped with minimal errors. Also from the southeastern coast of Australia and the north, where Cook gave different names to various places.

Among his most notable discoveries are New Caledonia in the Pacific, the South Sandwich Islands and South Georgia Island in the Atlantic. Also the Cook Strait, which separates the North Island from the South Island in New Zealand.

He also checked the Torres Strait, located between Australia and New Guinea, which meant an important naval route between the Pacific and Indian Oceans. It was also possible to deny the existence of the Northwest Passage, where the Pacific and Atlantic oceans allegedly met.

Other great contributions for which Cook is recognized were the establishment of new standards in navigation, cartography, as well as new parameters for the relationship with indigenous peoples. During his travels, the first scientific expeditions were made to document the flora and fauna of Australia.

Another factor that has led to Cook's recognition was the care of men at sea. During his travels no one in his crew was affected by scurvy.

The theory is that this was due to the cleanliness and ventilation that the British explorer demanded in the boat, in addition to insisting that everyone manage an adequate diet with watercress, sauerkraut and establishing the regulated administration of lime juice. With these practices scurvy was almost totally extinguished in the English navy.

References

1. James Cook. (2019, October 8). Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Recovered from es.wikipedia.org
2. Villiers, AJ (2019, February 22). James Cook. Encyclopædia Britannica. Recovered from britannica.com
3. (2014). History - Captain James Cook. Recovered from bbc.co.uk
4. Biographies and life. (sf). James Cook. Recovered from biografiasyvidas.com
5. Serrano, E. (2018, October 27). James Cook, the conqueror of the antipodes. Recovered fromvanaguardia.com
6. The country. (1978, October 26). The extraordinary voyages and discoveries of Captain James Cook. Recovered from elpais.com