Captain James Cook - The Mall, London, UK - Statues of Historic Figures on Waymarking.com

The Admiralty Buildings at Whitehall form an excellent backdrop for this memorial statue, by Thomas Brock, of Captain James Cook (1728-1779). The 1914 bronze statue on a stone plinth commemorates the explorer and navigator.

The memorial is in two parts: a lower stone plinth about three metres (10 feet)high and a life-size statue on top of the plinth. The statue shows Cook in military uniform standing in front of a bollard with a rope wound around it. He is holding a telescope in his right hand and a rolled up document in his left hand. He has a sword on his left hip and a tri-cornered hat on his head.

The inscription on the plinth reads:
"Captain James Cook / R.N. F.R.S. / Born 1728 Died 1779 / Circumnavigator of the globe explorer of / the Pacific Ocean he laid the foundations of / the British Empire in Australia and New Zealand / charted the shores of New Foundland and traversed / the ocean gates of Canada both East and West // Unveiled by H.R.H. Prince Arthur of Connaught / on behalf of the British Empire League 7th July 1914"

At the top of the plinth, on both left and right sides are carved the prow of a boat.

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Captain James Cook FRS RN (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer, ultimately rising to the rank of Captain in the Royal Navy. Cook made detailed maps of Newfoundland prior to making three voyages to the Pacific Ocean during which he achieved the first European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands as well as the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand.

Cook joined the British merchant navy as a teenager and joined the Royal Navy in 1755. He saw action in the Seven Years' War, and subsequently surveyed and mapped much of the entrance to the Saint Lawrence River during the siege of Quebec. This helped bring Cook to the attention of the Admiralty and Royal Society. This notice came at a crucial moment both in his personal career and in the direction of British overseas exploration, and led to his commission in 1766 as commander of HM Bark Endeavour for the first of three Pacific voyages.

Cook charted many areas and recorded several islands and coastlines on European maps for the first time. His achievements can be attributed to a combination of seamanship, superior surveying and cartographic skills, courage in exploring dangerous locations to confirm the facts (for example dipping into the Antarctic Circle repeatedly and exploring around the Great Barrier Reef), an ability to lead men in adverse conditions, and boldness both with regard to the extent of his explorations and his willingness to exceed the instructions given to him by the Admiralty.

Cook was killed in Hawaii in a fight with Hawaiians during his third exploratory voyage in the Pacific in 1779.

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URL of the statue: [Web Link]

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