The famous explorer, cartographer

Childhood and adolescence Childhood and adolescence The first expedition ( ) The first expedition ( ) The second expedition ( ) The second expedition ( ) The third expedition ( ) The third expedition ( ) Memories Memories

James Cook - the famous English naval officer, explorer, cartographer and discoverer. Born in 1728 in Marton (Yorkshire) in the family wage-worker. He died in 1779 at the battle with Hawaiian the islanders. James Cook - the famous English naval officer, explorer, cartographer and discoverer. Born in 1728 in Marton (Yorkshire) in the family wage-worker. He died in 1779 at the battle with Hawaiian the islanders. He headed three world expeditions on the study of the oceans. During these expeditions made a number of geographical discoveries. Surveyed and charted the:

Canada Australia New Zealand coast North America Pacific Ocean Atlantic Ocean Indian Ocean

All the childhood and youth of the future explorer passed in a cozy farmhouse. However, at a time when James went to a small village school, there were no signs that someday he would become a great sailor.

But after a while he preferred to leave the merchant navy and became a sailor of the Royal Navy. And two years later - the captain of your own ship which plied the waters around America. His father wanted his son to a merchant and apprenticed to a haberdasher. Thirteen James showed character, departed from the owner and hired a cabin boy on a coal ship "Free-Fishing".

Expedition sailing ship "Endeavour" lasted three years since 1768, in Astronomical observations were made from the island of Tahiti and were successful. In 1768, the Royal Society of London decided to send in an astronomical expedition to the Pacific Ocean to observe the passage of Venus across the disk of the sun. After much debate, he was appointed head of the expedition of the Royal Navy Lieutenant James Cook.

Observations of Venus were the main but not the only task of the expedition. The British government was interested in the unknown "Southern Continent", which was supposed to detect unusually rich deposits of gold, silver and other minerals. Alas, nothing like Cook could not be found.

But the captain had found something completely different - the real Australia. He discovered and mapped the Great Barrier Reef, the island has defined the position of New Zealand. All of this allowed us to refine the map of the oceans, greatly expanded the geographical representation of this part of the globe. Cook denied the allegations that New Zealand is the northern tip of "South of the continent," and suggested that the mainland is located in close proximity to the South Pole is covered with ice. Now it is called the Antarctic.

This time there were two ships - “Resolution" and "Adventure". The expedition included a group of scientists - Forster, Wells, Bailey and others, as well as an artist Hodges. In total sail under the command of Cook left about 200 people.

The way his ship lay in high Antarctic latitudes. January 17, 1774 he crossed the Antarctic Circle, and went on. During this voyage he skirted Antarctica practically around the perimeter, with short overhangs for a holiday in Tahiti and New Zealand. Nothing but ice and icebergs, he could not be found. But this is what was the answer to the main question - no unknown "southern continent" does not exist. So far in the polar latitudes of the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic oceans before him had sailed one.

Doom for researchers was the third expedition. This time Cook tried to find out whether it is possible to reach China through the so-called north-west route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. He had to pass through the sea and the straits of the Canadian Arctic archipelago. Having passed the Bering Strait into the Arctic Ocean, Cook tried to go east along the coast of Alaska, but the way his ship was blocked by solid ice.

Alas, this figure was not meant to Cook. In February 1779 he made a stop in Hawaii. Islanders gave him royal honors. But in the future relationships much deteriorated. What exactly happened between Hawaiians and the team remains a mystery. It is believed that the locals have stolen the sailors one of the boats. In response, the Cook tried to capture the local leader. According to others, Cook tried to negotiate with the savages, and the leader was gone by itself. In general, the history of the dark. All this has led Aboriginal furious. As a result, an angry mob attacked and stabbed Cook in front of his own team. The only thing that could make the crew members is to bury the body of his illustrious captain at sea. As you can see, the natives do not eat Cook.

Only after the death of Cook found peace where he could not find it in his lifetime - in blue and the distant ocean. In 1780, the expedition returned to England. In memory of the great explorer, the archipelago was named after him

Bay on the southern coast of Alaska Islands in the Pacific Ocean The strait between the islands of New Zealand Mountain on the south island of New Zealand