COOK, CAPTAIN JAMES, was the eon of an agricultural labourer and farm-bailiff, resident at Marton in Yorkshire, six miles from Stockton-npou-Tees, and was born October 27, 1723. At an early age he was apprenticed to a haberdasher at the fishing-town of Staiths, near Whitby. Here his genius soon showed its true bent ; and having procured a discharge from his master, he apprenticed himself to a firm engaged in the coal trade at Whitby, is whose service he con tinued, rising gradually, till he attained the situation of mate. Being in the Thames in 1755, when men were greatly sought after, he resolved to take his chance as a volunteer iu the royal navy. He was soon distinguished as a skilful and trustworthy seaman ; and such effectual interest, backed by the favourable testimony of Captain (afterwards Sir) Hugh Palliser, was made in his behalf at the Admi ralty by some Yorkshire gentlemen, that in May 1759 ha was appointed master, first of the 'Grampus' sloop, and afterwards of the 'Mercury,' in which he was present at the siege and capture of Quebec by Wolfe. He gave eminent proofs of skill and resolution, in taking soundings of the river opposite to the French fortified camp, preparatory to an attack thereon, a difficult and dangerous service, which he performed so well that be was afterwards employed to lay down a chart of the river from Quebec to the sea. This chart was published, and for a long time was the only one in use.
In the same autumn he was promoted to he master of the 'Northure berland ' man.of-war, in which he served till 1762, when the ship returned to Eoglend. During the winter of 1759-60, which he passed at Halifax in Nova Scotia, he employed the leisure which the season gave him in beginning the study of mathematics, with a view to qualify himself for the higher departments of his profession. In 1763 he went out to survey the Newfoundland Islands; and in 1764, on the appointment of Sir Hugh Palliser to be governor, Cook was appointed marine surveyor of Newfoundland and Labrador. The fruit of his labours during the four years in which he held that office was embodied in his valuable charts of those countries.
The credit which he acquired in the discharge of his functions at Newfoundland, was the cause of his selection, in 1767, as a fit person to conduct a voyage undertaken into the South Pacific Ocean, for astronomical and geographical purposes. On this occasion Mr. Cook
was promoted to the rank of lieutenant. For an account of the origin and objects of this undertaking, and the course of the voyagers as far as Otaheite, we refer to the article BANKS, Sin JOSEPH. The transit of Venus having been satisfactorily observed on the 3rd of June, Cook resumed his voyage July 13, 1769, and after cruising for a month among the other Society Islands, sailed southward in quest of the unknown continent, Terra Australis Incognita, which was formerly supposed to exist somewhere, as a counterpoise to the great mass of land in the northern hemisphere. Lofty mountains were seen October 6th, and it was supposed that the object of their search was found. The land however proved to be New Zealand, which had not been visited by Europeans since it was discovered by Tasman in 1642. Cook spent six months in sailing round it, and found it to consist of two large islands, divided by a narrow channel. The warlike and savage temper of the natives hindered him from doing much to ex plore the interior. Sailing westward, he reached New Holland, or, as it is now called, Australia, April 19, 1770, and ran down its eastern side from lat. 38° to ita northern extremity at Torres Strait, lat. 101°, where he took possession of the coast which he had explored in the name of Great Britain, and denominated it New South Wales. He then shaped his course towards New Guinea, and by passing between them proved what had been disputed, that Australia and New Guinea were distinct islands. Of the various interesting adventures and narrow escapes which occurred to the navigators during their long sojourn among savage tribes and unknown seas, especially that diffi cult and tedious navigation of near 2000 miles along one of the most dangerous coasts in tho world, we have no room to speak. Cook continued his voyage by Timor and the south coast of Java to Batavia (Oct. 9), where he was compelled to stay two months and a half to repair the ship, which had received most dangerous injuries among tho coral-reefs of New South Wales. The pestilential climate of Batavia proved very fatal to the ship's crew, already weakened by the hard ships of their long voyage. Seven died at Batavia, and twenty-three more on the voyage to the Cape of Good Hope. The 'Endeavour' anchored in the Downs on the 12th of June 1771.