R.N., F.R.S.

— Navigator, Explorer, Chartmaker, Scientist, Humanist / 1728 - 1779 —

James Cook was born in Yorkshire, England, on October 27, 1728. He was apprenticed to serve on sailing ships built in Whitby, near his birthplace, to carry coal along the English coast. At age 26, he joined the Royal Navy, took part in actions against France and, through his natural flair for mathematics and science, was promoted "King's Surveyor" and given command of vessels performing survey work on the coast of Newfoundland. Chosen as commander to lead an expedition of discovery to the Pacific Ocean, he sailed on his first voyage of exploration (1768-71) to find the continent of Australia as well as to Haiti, New Zealand and New Guinea where he charted coast in waters previously unknown to the Western World. On his return, he was honored by a grateful nation, made a fellow of the Royal Society, and received by the King.

His second voyage (1772-75) to Antarctica and the South Pacific added the Friendly Isles, New Caledonia, Easter Island, Cook Island and New Georgia to the map.

In 1776, Captain Cook set out on his third voyage, aboard his flagship "Resolution", to find a north-west passage from the Pacific to the Atlantic. He surveyed the coast of Northwest America and Alaska, but, failing to find the passage to the Atlantic, turned south from the Bering Sea and sailed to the Sandwich Isles where, on the island of Hawaii, he met his death on February 14, 1779.

James Cook, a farm hand's son who became a Captain in the Royal Navy and gold medalist of the Royal Society, lives in history is the greatest explorer-navigator the world has known. His real memorial is on the map of the world.

This monument, created by Derek Freeborn after the statue in Whitby, were James Cook began his career as a seaman, was donated by the British Petroleum Company as a contribution to the Bicentennial celebration of the United States of America.

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