"Ambition leads me not only farther than any other man has been before me, but as far as I think it possible for man to go."
- Captain James Cook [1728-79]
“the ablest and most renowned navigator that this or any country has ever produced.”
- Sir Hugh Palliser [1722-1796]
Born in Marton, in Yorkshire, England, Cook learned how to survey and draw navigation charts in Canada and was the first to map Newfoundland.
In 1768 the Admiralty and the Royal Society chose Cook to lead a scientific expedition into the Pacific Ocean to observe the Transit of Venus across the Sun and to find the great southern continent, which Cook established did not exist. During this first great voyage from 1768 to 1771, Cook made the first accurate maps and charts of New Zealand and the east coast of Australia, and charted the position of many Pacific Islands. Commencing in 1772 with his second voyage and continuing later with his third voyage, he charted large parts of the North American and North Asian coasts. He discovered new Pacific islands and became the first explorer to cross the Antarctic Circle. He was killed in Hawaii.
