COOK, James, English navigator: b. Mar ton, North Riding of Yorkshire, 27 Oct. 1728; d. Hawaii, 14 Feb. 1779. After a meag.re educa tion he was apprenticed to a shopkeeper at Staithes, a small town on the sea-coast. Here he acquired a taste for the occupation of a sailor, and at the commencement of the French War in 1755 entered the royal navy. In 1759 he was Made master of the Mercury, which belonged to the squadron sent against Quebec, and performed the hazardous service of taking soundings in the river Saint Lawrence opposite the French encamptnent. He also made a chart of the river Saint Lawrence below Quebec in a very satisfactory manner. The charts and ob servations which he made of the coasts of New foundland and Labrador, published in 1776-78 and distinguished for their accuracy, introduced him to the notice of the Royal Society.
This organization appointed him in 1768 to the command of a vessel destined to convey to the Pacific Ocean persons employed by govern ment to make observations on the trans,it, of Venus. He left Plymouth on 26 Aug. 1768, touched at Madeira and Rio de Janeiro and doubled Cape Horn. The transit of Venus, 3 June 1769, was advantageously observed at Tahiti; the neighboring islands were explored* and Cook then sailed for New Zealanoi. Six months were employed in examining the shores of the islands; after which he took his depar ture for Australia, the eastern coatt of which he attentively surveyed as well as of New South Wales. On his return in 1771 he was raised to the rank of master and cummander in the navy. An account of the voyage, drawn up by Dr. Hawkesworth, was speedily published, and a -second expediticin was planned to explore the Antarctic regions.
On this occasion two ships were eniployed the Resolution, of which Captain Cook had the command, and the Adventure, under Cap tain Fumeaux. After proceeding as far south as the latitude of 71 degrees, where a barrier a ice opposed any further progress, discover ing the island of New Georgia in lat. 54° S., and visiting Tahiti and other places, encircling over 20,000 leagues, Captain Cook returned to Great Britain in 1775. The captain had taken such
e3ccellent precautions for his crew that only one man had died. He comrminicated to the Royal Society a paper describing the regulations and remedies whic.h he had adopted and was chosen. a fellow of that body, and his experitnents were rewarded by the Copleian gold meaal. Government rewarded him with the rank of post-captain in the navy, and the appointment of captain in Greenwich Hospital. The narra tive of this voyage was drawn up by Captain Cook himself, and was published at London in 1777. In July 1776 he sailed on an expedition to ascertain whether any communication existed between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans in the Arctic regions. In this voyage he again com manded the Resolution, which was accompanied by the Discovery, and e]cplored a considerable extent of the western coast of North America. He also discovered the Sandwich Islands, and to Hawaii, one of this group, he returned from his American survey to pass the winter of 1778. In February Captain Cook sailed for Kam chatka, but was compelled by an accident to put back to Hawaii. A boat having been stolen by one of the islanders, the captain went on shore to seize the king of Hawaii, and kem him as a hostage the bmt was restored. The people, however, were not disposed to subtnit to tint insult; their resistance brought on hostilities, and m attempting to reach his boat Captain, Cook and some of his attendants became victims to the fury of the irritated islanders and were slain, 14 Fel). 1779.• A, contplete ae-: count of this third voyage appeared in 1784. The first two volumes were by Captain Cook himself, and the third by Capi James King. A medal in commemoration of him was struck by order of the Royal Society; his eulogy was pronounced in the Florentine Academy and was made a prize subject by one of the French scientific societies. Consult Kippis, (Life of Captain James Cook' (1788); Besant, 'Captain Cook' (1890) ; Wharton, 'Captain Cook's Journal During His First Voyage Round the World' (1897) ; Synge, (Captain Cook's Voyages Round the World) (1897); Kitson, 'Captain James (1907).