Biographical study of Captain James Cook

Abstract

Captain James Cook is most perhaps famously remembered for his almost complete eradication of scurvy, and his skills as a great navigator and seaman. Despite this his beginnings as a seafarer are rather surprising for a historically important figure, in fact Cook seemed to come into the position he was in purely by chance. Cook made three significant voyages, both significant in the form of discovery, and in the improvement of navigation. Perhaps most famously discovering and claiming the East Coast of Australia for Britain. In short Cook was a pioneering man, being at the forefront of discovery and invitation.


James Cook was born in Marton-in-Cleveland, Yorkshire and was the son of a farm labourer, which was perhaps strange for someone who was to become a seafarer, and not only that but an officer in the Royal Navy. By the age of eighteen he was an apprentice to the ship owner, and coal shipper John Walker in Whitby, this being his first real contact with the sea. As ...