James Cook was born near Whitby in Yorkshire in 1728, the son of labourer James Cook and his wife Grace (nee Pace). His father's employer helped to educate the young boy by paying for his school fees. At eighteen Cook was apprenticed to John Walker who tutored him in nautical topics. He was offered a command by Walker, but chose instead to join the British Navy in 1755.

Within two years he had become a master and served in the Quebec campaign of 1758-59, when he had to chart a course essential for transporting the fleet upstream. By this time he had become an excellent Hydrographer. He married Elizabeth Batts in 1762.

In 1769, Cook was sent in the ship Endeavour to Tahiti to observe the transit of Venus across the Sun's disc. He then explored the Society Islands and New Zealand (not visited since Abel Tasman in 1642) and spent a good deal of time mapping the two islands.

He then sailed up the coast to Botany Bay, where he spent a few days before continuing his voyage through the Torres Strait, the first to do so since Torres himself in 1606, and reached London in 1771, having stopped in Batavia (Jakarta) en route.

His second voyage was to be one of the most famous expeditions ever known in sea exploration history. Cook departed in 1772 with two ships, the Resolution and Adventure on a voyage which would see him revisit Tahiti, New Zealand, garner extra knowledge about Easter Island, Tonga and the New Hebrides and pass over the Antarctic Circle (twice, also the first man to do so).

He also sailed over what was originally thought to be the mythical land of Australia several times. Cook returned triumphant in 1775. He immediately volunteered to undertake a voyage to discover the route along the northwest passage of America, and he departed eastward in 1776.

However, at this stage the exertions of the previous voyage had taken their toll, and after much hardship and unfavourable winds he spent 4 months in Tonga before sailing onwards and discovering the western Hawaiian Islands.

On he travelled until he reached the Bering Strait, and examined both American and Asian shores before being halted by pack ice. He returned and discovered the main Hawaiian Island. He left the island in 1779, but was forced to return when the Endeavour started to take in water.

Due to an internal infection, and the departure of any tact he had previously shown when dealing with islanders, Cook was killed by the Hawaiians on St Valentines Day, 1779.

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