"James Cook was born in Middlesbrough, the son of a farmer and moved to Whitby when he was 17. He joined the merchant navy working for a firm of coal shippers and became proficient at maths and astronomy.
Eventually he joined the Royal Navy and became one of the few men who rose through the ranks to become an officer.
During his time in the navy he had become an expert map maker and his charts of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec helped General Wolfe and the British army to capture Quebec from the French in 1759.
It was known that there would be a transit of Venus in 1769 and that it would provide an ideal opportunity to study Venus as it crossed the sun. In addition by observing the transit from three different places on the earth it would be possible to estimate the distance between the earth and the sun.
Because of his experience of cartography and his expertise in astronomy James Cook was chosen to captain a ship to Tahiti. This island in the Pacific had been chosen as one of sites to be used for viewing the transit. Due to his experiences with collier ships he chose to take a Whitby built colliery ship on the voyage called the Endeavour.
Although the viewing conditions were ideal there was some disappointment with the observations made. In reality however the result of all the observations around the world was a figure that was only .08 percent different to the modern accepted figure."http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1769_Transit_of_Venus_observed_from_Tahiti
"Although the observations of Venus were an important part of the mission, there was in fact a secret second part that was only revealed after the Venus transition had been recorded.
There had been rumours for many years that there was an undiscovered southern continent. Cook was given instructions to search for this continent.
They sailed south to New Zealand, confirming that the two main islands were indeed not connected to a continent and then sailed on to the eastern coast of Australia that had never been seen by Europeans before. Cook named it New South Wales and claimed it for Britain before returning to England.
In 1772 Cook set sail on a second voyage again to look for the southern continent. This time he used two Whitby Colliers, the Resolution and the Endeavour. He sailed close to the Antarctic coast, but had to turn back because of the cold.
However during this voyage they had a success of a different kind. Cook tested a copy of a timekeeper, or sea clock, designed by John Harrison. Its successful performance meant that Cook and all future navigators were able to fix longitude much more accurately than before.
Cook went on to make a third voyage, this time to try and find the fabled North West passage. He again took two ships, this time The Resolution and The Discovery. He however was unsuccessful, his way being blocked by an unbroken wall of ice.
He then again turned south and this time explored the island of Hawaii. Initially he was treated as a god, but there was a dispute over a stolen rowing boat and in the ensuing argument Captain Cook was stabbed and died of his wounds."
http://www.rmg.co.uk/captain-cook
The statue of Captain Cook
"It was presented to the town of Whitby by the Hon. Sir Gervase Becket, M.P. and unveiled in 1912.
The sculptor John Tweed made the seven feet six inches high bronze figure of Cook on its freestone pedestal.
He is shown wearing a frock coat and is standing legs apart carrying charts in one hand and a pair of dividers in his other."
The inscription on it reads:
FOR
THE LASTING MEMORY
OF A GREAT YORKSHIRE
SEAMAN THIS BRONZE
HAS BEEN CAST, AND IS
LEFT IN THE KEEPING
OF WHITBY; THE BIRTH-
PLACE OF THOSE GOOD
SHIPS THAT BORE HIM
ON HIS ENTERPRISES,
BROUGHT HIM TO GLORY,
AND LEFT HIM AT REST.
The monument can be seen today on Whitby’s West Cliff and he is looking out to his beloved sea.
http://www.captcook-ne.co.uk/ccne/cookne/whitby.htm
When I visited here on 28th May 2012, I didn’t realise that another transit of Venus was imminent. It seems appropriate to post this way mark on the day this transit starts. The next transit of Venus will not happen until 2117.
Oh and what about the tattoos? The island of Tahiti had only been discovered a few years before Cook sailed there. The sailors on his ship started to copy the islanders’ tradition of pricking their skin and dying it and the idea soon spread throughout the world.