Captain James Cook: Biography and Major Achievements
Captain James Cook achievements
Here is everything you need to know about the life and major achievements of Captain James Cook, the celebrated British explorer, cartographer and navigator.
Captain Cook Facts
Full name: James Cook
Birthday: October 27, 1728
Place of birth: Marton, Yorkshire, England
Baptized: November 14, 1728
Died: February 14, 1779
Place of death: Kealakekua Bay, Hawaii
Died at age: 50
Cause of death: Stabbed to death by Hawaii villagers
Parents: James Cook and Grace Pace Cook
Education: Great Ayton
Siblings: Christiana, Jane, John, Margaret, Mary, William
Wife: Elizabeth Batts (married in 1762)
Children: Elizabeth, George, Hugh, James, Joseph, Nathaniel
Major discovery: Corner Brook
Nickname: ‘The first navigator in Europe’
Ship: HMS Resolution, HMS Endeavour
Most famous for: His three voyages around the world, particularly in the Pacific Ocean
Top 10 Achievements of Captain James Cook
Between 1768 and 1779, Captain Cook embarked upon three very important voyages that revolutionized our understanding of the Pacific Ocean and region. Image: Captain James Cook statue
British explorer, navigator and cartographer Captain James Cook was famed for his seamanship, apt surveying and cartographic skills. His courage, tenacity, and leadership skills were just some of the reasons why he was able to make a big splash in the world of exploration during the latter part of the 18th century.
The following are 10 greatest achievements of Captain James Cook:
He was part of the HMS Eagle that captured and sank French warships during the Seven Years’ War
James Cook entered the British Royal Navy as a volunteer just when Britain and France were about to war with each other in the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763). In his first year, 1755, with the Royal Navy, he was assigned to the HMS Eagle as an able seaman and later a master’s mate. He worked under the likes of Captain Joseph Hamar and Captain Hugh Palliser.
Around the winter of 1755, he was part of the HMS Eagle crew that captured a French warship. Their ship also successfully sank another French warship. His efforts in both operations helped earn him a promotion to boatswain.
By 1757, Cook had begun working on the King’s armada – the frigate HMS Solebay – as a master. He served under Captain Robert Craig.
While serving as a master aboard the HMS Pembroke, his surveying and cartography prowess came to the fore during the assault on Fortress of Louisbourg and the siege of Quebec City in 1758 and 1759 respectively. In the latter, he was tasked with mapping the entrance to the Saint Lawrence River. His efforts enabled British forces to silently move and catch their opponents by surprise.
Captain Cook surveyed the coast of Newfoundland
Such were the precision of Captain Cook’s maps and outlines of the coast of Newfoundland that sailors and explorers used them way into the 20th century. Captain Cook was praised for his contributions to science and exploration by his patrons, including the Admiralty and the Royal Society. Image: Cook’s landing at Botany Bay in 1770
On the back of receiving high praises for his early efforts in the Seven Years’ War, he was assigned as a master aboard the HMS Grenville that surveyed the coast of Newfoundland. He produced large-scale maps of the coasts. The maps that Cook produced were praised for their detail and accurateness, making them the first scientific maps to deploy exact triangulation for obtaining outlines.
In spite of the very difficult conditions he faced, he was still able to apply himself further by taking astronomical observations while in the area. He submitted his reports on an eclipse to the Royal society in 1767.
Captain James Cook’s first voyage to the Pacific Ocean
Oozing with sheer confidence and determination, Cook made it his life goal to venture into places no man has ever been to. Such kind of determination didn’t go unnoticed as the British Admiralty called upon Cook to lead a scientific voyage to the Pacific Ocean.
On his first voyage (1768-1771), Cook and his team of experts were tasked to make observations and scientific records of the 1769 movement of the planet Venus across the Sun. The intention was to use those observations to calculate the distance of the Earth from the Sun.
Sailing on HMS Endeavor, Cook left for the Pacific in mid-summer of 1768. On April 13, 1769, they got to Tahiti, where he and his team made observations of Venus’ transit.
Captain James Cook spent about 12 years sailing around the Pacific Ocean. His explorations were vital as his findings and chartings increased Europeans’ knowledge about the Pacific. Particularly, he is revered for charting the majority of the North American northwest coastline.
Mapped the coastline of New Zealand
Following the observations in Tahiti, Cook journeyed to New Zealand and began mapping the coastline of the island. Prior to that, he had sailed to look for signs to confirm the existence of the fabled continent known as Terra Australis.
While mapping the coastline of New Zealand, he had a few interactions with the Māori people. This made him the first European to attain this feat.
Cook was the first European to make it to the eastern coastline of Australia
After his interactions with the Māori, Cook, then a lieutenant, sailed with the HMS Endeavor to southeastern coast of Australia. That April 1770 voyage of his meant that he became the first known European to arrive at the eastern coastline of Australia.
While on Bush Island, he and his crew directly observed the indigenous population. He recorded in his journal how astonished he and his crew mates’ were at the skin color of the indigenous folks.
It must be noted that Captain Cook was not the first European to discover Australia. The Dutch had arrived there about a century and half before Cook and his men. The Dutch weren’t the first either; it was actually the Chinese, who reached there around the early 15th century.
Cook wasn’t even the first English explorer to make it to the continent of Australia. The first Englishman to do so was William Dampier (1651-1715) in 1688. Dampier was also the first person to circumnavigate the world three times.
The first European to interact with the Gweagal of Aboriginal Australia
By the end of April 1777, Cook had disembarked from his ship (at the Kurnell Peninsula in New South Wales) and stepped foot on the mainland of Australia. He holds the honor of being the first European to interact with the Gweagal people, a clan of Dharwal people of Aboriginal Australians.
After receiving some plant samples from botanists Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander, Captain Cook named the Kurnell Peninsula area Botany Bay.
The first explorer and sailor to cross the Antarctic Circle
Tasked with discovering the fabled Terra Australis continent in his second voyage to the Pacific Ocean, James Cook was appointed commander of the HMS Resolution, which sailed along with the HMS Adventurer captained by Tobias Furneaux. On January 17, 1773, Captain Cook became one of the foremost explorers to cross the Antarctic Circle while circumnavigating the globe at a very acute southern latitude.
Cook on his second voyage to the Pacific, which began in 1772, went as far south as 71°10’S. Had he gone a bit further he would have made it to Antarctica mainland.
His second voyage was commissioned in 1772. The Royal Society tasked him to find the hypothetical continent Terra Australis. Many believed that Terra Australis was down south of Australia. Kind courtesy of his reports, explorers could finally dispel the rumors of the fabled continent Terra Australis.
Captain Cook made very accurate charts of the southern Pacific Ocean
With the aid of a marine chronometer developed by Larcum Kendall, Captain Cook was able to make accurate calculation of longitudinal position of his vessel. He was also able to make very precise charts of the southern Pacific Ocean. Those charts were used by seamen way into the mid-20th century.
Cook’s longitudinal measurements were made even better kind courtesy of the input from astronomer Charles Green as well as the Nautical Almanac tables. Another important contribution of Captain Cook came in his postulation that Polynesians came from Asia. His assertion was later verified by scientist Bryan Syke.
Captain James Cook quotes | In addition to discovering the Northwest Passage, Cook’s third voyage (1776-1779) was aimed returning the Pacific Islander explorer Omai to Tahiti in 1778.
The first European to formally interact with the inhabitants of Hawaiian Islands
At 562.3 square miles (1,456.4 km2), Kauai is the fourth largest and second oldest island of the Hawaiian Islands. It is also known as the “Garden Isle” | Image: Aerial view of Kauai-Island
On his third and final voyage (1776-1779), British explorer Captain Cooked ventured into the vast Pacific Ocean on a quest to discover the Northwest Passage around the American continent. The Northwest Passage refers to the sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It goes through the Arctic Ocean along the northern coast of the North American continent.
After Pacific Islander explorer Omai was dropped at Tahiti, Cook sailed with the HMS Resolution to the Hawaiian Islands, the archipelago of eight major islands, atolls and small islets. This feat of his made him the first-known European to establish contact with the inhabitants of the islands.
Unbeknownst to many, Captain Cook actually chanced upon the islands while crossing the Pacific Ocean on his third voyage aboard the HMS Resolution. Cook and his crew arrived in January 1778 at what is now Waimea Bay in Kaua’I (the fourth-largest island of the Hawaiian Islands).
The name of the islands – Sandwich Isles (now known as Hawaiian Islands) – was named by Cook in honor of the then-First Lord of the Admiralty John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich. | Image: (left to right): Dr Daniel Solander, Sir Joseph Banks, Captain James Cook, Dr John Hawkesworth and Lord Sandwich | Portrait by John Hamilton Mortimer, 1771
Did you know: On the third voyage, Captain Cook and his HMS Resolution were accompanied by Captain Charles Clerke on board the HMS Discovery?
