Captain James Cook

1728 – 1779 · died at about 51^[1][2]

Exploration

Fun Facts About Captain James Cook

• At 16, Captain James Cook was apprenticed as a shop boy to a grocer and haberdasher. After 18 months he proved not suited for shop work and moved to the port of Whitby.^[1]
• The official goal of Cook's first voyage was to observe the 1769 transit of Venus from Tahiti. Secret orders also told him to search for the supposed southern continent, Terra Australis.^[1]
• Cook's famous ship Endeavour started life as a merchant collier, the Earl of Pembroke, which the Royal Navy renamed.^[1]
• Cook was awarded the Royal Society's Copley Gold Medal for a paper on preventing scurvy, a disease common among sailors.^[1]
• On Cook's third voyage, the ship's master was William Bligh, and George Vancouver was among the midshipmen.^[1]
• Cook's arrival in Hawaii coincided with the Makahiki, a harvest festival for the god Lono, and many Hawaiians thought Cook was an embodiment of Lono.^[1]
• Captain James Cook was alive at the same time as Antonio Vivaldi — their lives overlapped for 13 years (1728–1741).^[1][2][3][4]
• Captain James Cook shares a birthday with Marie Curie: both were born on November 7.^[1][2][5][6]

Captain James Cook was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer who led three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans between 1768 and 1779. He completed the first recorded circumnavigation of the main islands of New Zealand, and led the first recorded visit by Europeans to the east coast of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands.^[1]

Contemporaries

Benjamin Franklin

51 yr overlap

Immanuel Kant

51 yr overlap

Adam Smith

51 yr overlap

Frederick the Great

51 yr overlap

Leonhard Euler

51 yr overlap

Voltaire

50 yr overlap

Carl Linnaeus

50 yr overlap

Catherine the Great

50 yr overlap

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

50 yr overlap

George Washington

47 yr overlap

Joseph Haydn

47 yr overlap

John Adams

44 yr overlap

Their World

Questions About Captain James Cook

When was Captain James Cook born?

Captain James Cook was born on November 7, 1728, and died on February 14, 1779.

How old was Captain James Cook at death?

Captain James Cook was born on November 7, 1728, and died on February 14, 1779, at age 50.

What was Captain James Cook known for?

Captain James Cook was known for: Mapped the Pacific, reached Australia. Captain James Cook was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer who led three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans between 1768 and 1779. He completed the first recorded circumnavigation of the main islands of New Zealand, and led the first recorded visit by Europeans to the east coast of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands.

Who was alive at the same time as Captain James Cook?

Captain James Cook's closest contemporary was Benjamin Franklin. Their lives overlapped for 51 years.