Cook's Life and Times

1728

Cook born on 27th October at Marton-in-Cleveland - Second son of James Cook and Grace Pace

1736

Move to Aireyholme Farm, Great Ayton; attends the village school

1744

Assistant to William Sanderson, shopkeeper in Staithes

1746

Apprenticed to John Walker, master-mariner, Whitby

1747

Muster Roll Act passed. All ships Cook served on are then recorded

1752

Promoted Mate on board Friendship

1755

Volunteers for Royal Navy and joins HMS Eagle

1756-63

The Seven Years War against the French. At the capture of Louisburg (1758) and Quebec (1759)

Learns new surveying techniques

1762

Marries Elizabeth Batts at St. Margaret’s, Barking

1763

Appointed Surveyor of Newfoundland

1768-71

First Voyage: promoted Lieutenant to command of HM Bark Endeavour August, sails from Plymouth

1769

Observes Transit of Venus in Tahiti

1769-70

Tupaia, navigator and priest, joins Endeavour intending to sail to Britain, but dies in Batavia. Completes circumnavigation and chart of New Zealand

1770

Lands at Botany Bay, Australia. Charts the east coast of Australia; ship grounds on coral Endeavour Reef. Returns via Batavia (Jakarta) and Cape Town

1771

Visits family in Yorkshire, Dec 1771-Jan 1772. Visits Walker in Whitby

1772-75

Second Voyage: Resolution and Adventure

1773

Crosses Antarctic Circle for the first time in January. Makes first island sweep during the Antarctic winter. ‘Mai joins Adventure in Huahine and sails to Britain. The ships separated and Resolution crosses the Circle again in December 1773 and January 1774

1774

Explores Easter Island, the Tongan Islands, and New Caledonia and the New Hebrides in Melanesia

1775

Promoted post-captain. Appointed to Greenwich Hospital, the charitable naval establishment for pensioners

1776-80

Third Voyage: Resolution and Discovery

1777

Lands in Tasmania, revisits New Zealand, Tahiti and Tonga. ‘Mai returned to Huahine

1778

First sighting of Hawai’ian islands on way to Northwest coast of America

1778

First probe through Bering Strait. Halted by ice, returns to winter in Hawaii

1779

Leaves Kealakekua Bay (4th February), returns when Resolution damaged

14th February Cook and 4 marines killed in an affray over a stolen cutter. Captain Clerke takes command

1779

The ships land at Kamchatka, Siberia, for supplies and repairs

Continue search for Northwest Passage

Halted by ice. Clerke dies and is buried in Kamchatka

1780

Resolution and Discovery return home under Captain John Gore and Lieutenant James King after 4 years and 3 months away