From the beginning of the eighteenth century, the British Empire diligently got rid of criminals, exiling them to the colonies of North America. However, after the Revolutionary War, she was forced to recognize the United States as a separate state. Then, as a makeshift colony, it was decided to use Australia and the nearby islands.
These areas were poorly explored, so they decided to send experienced sailors and cartographers there. Thus, the talented English military captain James Cook became a pioneer and geographer. Everyone knows that in the end he was vilely killed by the inhabitants of the Hawaiian Islands. But how exactly this happened is unknown, because the man was famous for his extremely good-natured attitude towards the natives. Let's figure out together what kind of person he was, and how his difficult fate developed.
Mr. James Cook: a short biography of a talented self-taught
Britain, wanting to continue its naval expansion, felt the loss of the American colonies quite acutely. The criminals were not the only reason for the unrest of the crown. At this time, Canada was conquered, and brave pioneers tried to open the northern route around the American continent and Eurasia in order to find an even easier way to the land of spices. It was during this period at the English court that everyone learned who James Cook was - a navigator and ascetic, a talented cartographer and just a brave person. It was decided to send him to the shores of distant and unknown Australia.
The existence of land at the South Pole has been of concern to navigators since the very moment people first became aware of such an area covered with ice. In the middle of the eighteenth century, an expedition was organized to Australia to find out the exact cartographic data. In 1768, James Cook opened the way to the "Southern Land", but did not find any solid ground there. As a result, thick fogs and many meters of ice stopped his fragile wooden boats, and the sailor had to return. He decided that there was no land at this pole. Only at the beginning of the next century, a Russian expedition led by Thaddeus Bellingshausen would refute this delusion.
Activity of the discoverer
To understand what contribution the navigator James Cook made to science, it is not enough just to get acquainted superficially with the scheme of his travels. He made a huge number of discoveries in geographical science, while achieving everything on pure enthusiasm. On his account, not only Australia, but also the Great Barrier Reef, part of the coast of Alaska, Cook Bay, Norton, Prince William, Bristol and the infamous Hawaiian Islands, where he found his last refuge.
The navigator marked on the maps of the world part of the coast of Canada near the St. Lawrence River, noted the outlines of Newfoundland. With his characteristic scrupulousness and responsibility, the cartographer explored Tahiti and the Community Islands, the east coast of Australia and New Zealand. A little later, he again returned to the southern waters of the Pacific Ocean, visited New Caledonia and the Hybrids, Micronesia and Polynesia, the Sandwich and Marquesas Islands. Captain James Cook is the first person on the planet who, in early 1773, crossed the Antarctic Circle and discovered Antarctica.
The first years of the future navigator
A simple laborer from a village called Marton (Scotland), in the county of South Yorkshire, could not even imagine that his offspring would become famous all over the world, and descendants would remember him even three hundred years after his death. The family already had three children when, on October 27, 1728, the wife of a hired worker gave birth to a baby who in the future would become one of the greatest navigators in the world. Infancy and early life of James Cook took place on the farm, he helped his parents with the sheep from childhood.
When the boy was eight, the family moved to the larger town of Great Ayton. The smart tomboy was sent to a school that has survived to this day and now bears his name. While Jamie was studying, his father got promoted and became a manager. After five years of study, the guy returned home to help his parents, but such work did not bring him joy. Even then, the young man understood that he could not see any prospects on the farm, like his own ears.
Becoming a famous traveler
He simply could not endure the routine for a long time, therefore, immediately after coming of age, he was hired as a cabin boy on the brig of the brothers John and Henry Hecker, called Hercules, designed to transport coal. The collier was running between London and Newcastle, and James wanted something more. He diligently fulfilled all his duties. Two years later, he was transferred to another ship owned by the Walker Coal Company - the Three Brothers.
Cook already understood then: having no knowledge, he would forever remain on the hateful coal miner with eternally black hands and face. Therefore, he spent all his free time reading books. He was keenly interested in sea voyages, dangerous expeditions, studied mathematics, geography, navigation, cartography and other sciences useful for a sailor. After that, he went to the Baltic, where he spent two long years. At the request of the Walkers, he returned, but already as an assistant captain on the ship "Friendship". Everyone around him always believed in him and in him, everyone liked the character of James Cook: sociable, sociable, courageous and always doing his job perfectly.
In the fifty-fifth, impressed by the talents and achievements of the young man, the Walkers even predicted the post of captain for him, but he refused. In mid-summer, he joined the Royal Navy and received the order to the ship "Eagle" with sixty guns on board. Many wonder why James did not want to become a captain, but went to the army as an ordinary sailor. He probably just saw the prospect and real growth, since he did not want to carry coal along the coast all his life. In two or three months the guy was already a boatswain.
In the 56th, the Seven Years' War broke out and the Eagle was forced to take part in the blockade of the French coast. The following year, together with the crew of his ship, Cook gets into a rather serious naval battle, after which the ship even had to be sent home for repairs. According to the maritime laws of that time, after two years of practice, one could expect an increase. James successfully passed the Sailing Master exam. Soon he received a new appointment on a ship called the Solebey.
During the war, James Cook became famous for his endurance, courage, as well as the complaisant and kind disposition of a man on whom you can rely. His subordinates adored him, his superiors treated him with respect. In 1958, on the Pembroke, after an operation in the Bay of Biscay, he was sent to the distant and uncharted shores of North America. There he took part in the Battle of Quebec, one of the decisive battles of the French and Indian War. His task was not just to get to the desired point, but first of all to map the coast and mark with buoys the navigable fairway (deep waters) of the St. Lawrence River.
James did not take part in the battle, but he “clicked” the cards like seeds. He was transferred as a foreman to the Northumberland, as part of whose team he continued to explore the banks of the river and put their outlines on the map. Admiral Colville was amazed at the accuracy of Cook's charts, so at his request and recommendation they were added to the North American Pilot of the same year. After returning from a campaign, he met Elizabeth Butts and immediately married. His wife gave birth to six children, whose fate remains unclear.
The first expedition to find Terra Incognita
The great story of James Cook begins in 1768, when the British government, according to the official version, sent an expedition to study an amazing natural phenomenon - the passage of Venus across the disk of the Sun. But the secret directives were as follows: immediately after completing the observation of a dark spot on the solar disk, which will last only a few hours, the ship should turn around and go in search of Terra Incognita - the southern mainland, which, according to legend, is located at the pole.
Since James was a military man, the scientific expedition had to be led by someone else. The choice of the Admiralty fell on another eminent specialist, Alexander Dalrymple, geographer and first hydrographer. He firmly believed that the southern lands really exist and are densely populated. On the ship "Endeavor", ironically - again a coal miner, the expedition set out on board, having on board, in addition to sailors, an astronomer, a botanist, an artist, a doctor and just a wealthy person who wants to go on a trip.
In August 1976, the ship left Plymouth and reached Tahiti in early April. The discoverer James Cook had clear instructions from his superiors - to enter only into friendly relations with the natives, to indulge and help them in every possible way, to fulfill all the requirements and requests. This was a very strange indication, because England preferred to solve any issues with guns and muskets. The captain established the strictest rules on board, which imposed very severe punishment even for harmless misconduct. This made it possible to quickly make friends with the natives and win their trust. Therefore, they could observe Venus without hindrance, and replenish supplies for trinkets and jewelry.
Having made all the necessary observations, the ship, taking on board several natives who know these waters, set off for the shores of New Zealand. Despite the politeness of the Europeans, the natives received them with hostility, unlike the Tahitians. Stopping in one of the bays and climbing high cliffs, James discovered that the island was divided in half by the strait, which was later called Cook. In the seventieth "Endeavour" approached Australia, where, due to the abundance of various unfamiliar vegetation, the captain gave the area the name Botanical. In the middle of summer, the ship ran aground, and a huge hole formed in its side. To close it, I had to look for a suitable bay. Having coped with the problem, people were about to go out to the open sea again, but found that they were cut off from the ocean by the Great Barrier Reef - a strip of shoals and rocks.
It took a long time to go around the reef, but it turned out to find the coveted strait between Australia and New Guinea. Scurvy began among the team, people began to die. They headed for Jakarta, where malaria also fell on the unfortunate sailors, to which dysentery was added on the way home. Only twelve travelers managed to see their native shores, among whom, fortunately, our hero turned out to be. After returning, the sailor received the rank of captain of the first rank, despite the fact that the southern mainland could not be opened.
The search for the Great Land during the second expedition
To characterize what James Cook was like, his own diary, which has survived to this day, helps. In 1722, it was decided to send a new expedition in search of the Southern lands. On this occasion, the captain wrote that he was obliged to go to new territories, while keeping to the highest possible latitudes, and he was going to do just that. This time the expedition was not one, but two ships - "Resolution" (Captain Cook) and "Adventure" (Tobias Furno). The research team again included an astronomer, a botanist, an artist, and two naturalists, Johann Reinhold and Georg Forster.
From Plymouth, the travelers went south, wanting to find the island that they supposedly had seen earlier, but they did not find anything. In January of the seventy-third year, for the first time in the world, man-made ships crossed the Arctic Circle. The storm that broke out scattered the travelers, who could not find each other. Therefore, Cook himself went towards New Zealand, where an emergency meeting place was appointed in Charlotte Bay. Furneaux headed for Tasmania, but deciding that it was only part of Australia and it would not be possible to go around it, he also turned to the designated bay. In the middle of summer both ships left this convenient place to explore the Pacific Ocean in the area that adjoined Zeeland.
Interesting
In 1773, a terrible scurvy fell on the Adventure ship due to an improperly organized diet. There was nothing to do: in order not to lose the team, having shown character, James Cook went to friendly Tahiti. There, they managed to replenish the stocks of vegetables and fruits and cure almost all scurvy. So an ordinary sailor managed to find out that vitamins of plant origin have a beneficial effect on the body and stop all the symptoms of this terrible disease.
Further events developed, as if in a real horror movie. Nothing foreshadowed trouble: on the island of Huahine, they managed to acquire three or four hundred heads of pigs. Ulletea, Eua and Tongatabu seemed to the captain a true paradise, and the inhabitants - angels.
Near New Zealand, the storm again scattered the ships. There was no Adventure in Charlotte Bay, and Cook waited. During a forced three-week stay, the sailors discovered that the locals were practicing cannibalism with might and main. James decides to leave a note and move on. Only seven days later the second ship returned to the bay. On the seventeenth of December, eight sailors and two boatswains landed ashore for fruit, but they themselves became dinner for the natives. This made such a strong impression on Captain Furneaux that he sent the ship to Cape Town, and then home, leaving a detailed account of the incident to the expedition leader.
Meanwhile, "Resolution" visits Easter Island, the Marquesas Islands and Tahiti again, sailors go to Hua Hin and Raiatea, and even get into trouble in Fiji - the natives here are belligerent and unfriendly. In September, Cook opens New Caledonia, and a little later, New Georgia. But in Charlotte Bay, Adventure never finds it. It is only in Cape Town that James receives a note from Furno and promptly directs the ship back to England.
Finding the Northwest Passage in the third expedition
The third expedition of James Cook was aimed at finding a water passage in the north, connecting the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. The first ship remained the remarkable collier "Resolution". Instead of "Adventure" it was decided to send another ship - "Discovery" with Captain Charles Clerk on board. Both sailed from Plymouth, heading for Cape Town, where the docks were overhauled a couple of weeks later. Through Kerguelen and Tasmania, they arrived in Tahiti, and then crossed the equator and discovered Christmas Island. In January 1778, the Hawaiian Islands, which no one had previously known anything about, were discovered and mapped.
On the coast of Canada, the ships were in a terrible storm, but still continued to move. They passed through the Bering Strait, crossed the Arctic Circle and were going to bypass the mainland along the Chukchi Sea. However, they ran into a huge snow-white desert. It was stupid to even dream of breaking the centuries-old ice, I had to return. On the Aleutian Islands, the sailors were lucky to meet Russian hunters and trappers who had already heard about James Cook. They gave him a map of the famous Bering, surprisingly accurate and detailed.
At the end of November of the seventy-eighth year, the ships reached the Hawaiian Islands, but they did not find a normal parking lot until January of the following year. The natives showed extreme friendliness, massively concentrated around travelers, were interested in everything and stuck their nose everywhere. At first, James was mistaken for one of their deities, but soon the relationship began to deteriorate catastrophically. The natives began to steal and even attack people from the expedition.
Who really ate the explorer
Contrary to the well-known song of Vysotsky, who knew exactly what James Cook did and how his fateful trip to Hawaii ended, no one knows for sure what really happened to the navigator's body. But let's not get ahead of ourselves and deal with the details. A fatal skirmish happened when the captain with the sailors wanted to take away the longboat from the natives, which had been dragged from the ship the day before. He invited the leader on board, he agreed, but at the very edge of the water he changed his mind. The traveler tried to persuade him, but the people gathered on the shore behaved threateningly, they began to throw spears and shoot arrows at the Europeans.
On February 14, 1779, in a terrible turmoil, among the wild cries of an angry crowd of many thousands, the fifty-year-old explorer James Cook was killed, probably by a spear in the back of the head. Seeing that the captain fell lifeless, the sailors quickly retreated to the ship. The clerk, in his report on the incident, claimed that it was a fatal accident. The savages were not going to go so far and even began to form a living corridor to let the travelers out. The captain of the Discovery for several days unsuccessfully sought to peacefully release the body of the deceased, but no one wanted to listen to those who had hopelessly lost the status of gods.
Frustrated and angry, Charles Clerk ordered the ruthless burning of all coastal settlements. Frightened, driven deep into the island, the natives agreed to his terms and on February 22 delivered a basket of meat to the ship. There was also a half-decomposed human head, which was missing the lower jaw. These remains were on the same day betrayed to the abyss, as it should be for sailors. To this day, no one knows for sure whether they belonged to the captain, and whether the natives ate his meat. Clerk himself soon died of tuberculosis and never made it to England.
An English captain's legacy for geography: in memory of Cook
Thanks to this amazing person, his natural abilities and pedantic attitude to work, unique cards were obtained. They turned out to be so accurate and reliable that their use was accepted until the end of the nineteenth century. At that time, no one else had similar cartographic works, except perhaps Bering, only he explored a completely different area.
The character of James Cook has always been tolerant, but this did not help him escape from trouble. Despite this, his memory lives on in the hearts of his descendants. In addition to the strait, a large archipelago in the Pacific Ocean is named after him. In honor of the name of the ship on which the captain went, they named the command module of the Apollo 15 spacecraft. In addition, there is even a crater on the bright (visible) side of the Moon, bearing the name of James Cook.
