Homework#1  Cross Cultural History of Ocean Explorations－About Captain James Cook

Who was he?

James cook is a seafarer. Aughton (2002) wrote that “James cook was an exceptional seaman who undoubtedly had some of the qualifications to lead the expedition.” Tom Garrison (1998) also mentioned that “Cook was also a skillful navigator, cartographer, writer, artist, diplomat, sailor, scientist, and dietician.” and “This first marine scientist peacefully changed the map of the world more than any explorer or scientist in history.”

Main scientific accomplishments?

  According to Tom Garrison (1998), James Cook “conveyed several members of the Royal Society to Tahiti to observe the transit of Venus across the disk of the sun. Their measurements verified calculations of planetary orbits made earlier by Edmund Halley and others.” and “Because of his insistence on cleanliness and ventilation (and because his provisions included cress, sauerkraut, and citrus extracts), his sailors avoided scurvy.”

Main geographic (mapping) accomplishments?

  From 1768 to 1780, James Cook conducted three voyages. According to Tom Garrison (1998), during the first voyage, “Cook and his men found and charted New Zealand, mapped Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, marked the positions of tens of small islands.” On the second Voyage, “he charted Tonga and Easter islands, and discovered New Caledonia in the Pacific and South Georgia in the Atlantic. He was first to circumnavigate the world at high attitudes.” As to the third voyage, “He discovered the Hawaiian Islands and charted the west coast of North America.”

How did he die?

  James Cook died during the third voyage. Tom Garrison (1998) mentioned that “On 14 February 1779, after an elaborate farewell dinner with the chief of the island of Hawaii, Cook and his officers prepared to return Resolution, anchored in Kealakekua Bay. The Englishmen somehow angered the Hawaiians and were beset by the crowd. Cook, among others was killed in the fracas.” In the book “Captain Cook: His artist, His Voyage” also said that “Cook’s murder on the shore of Kealakekua Bay on February 14 was engineered by the Hawaiian priests who realised they had erred in making him a god. They decide Cook had to die to prove to the islands he was a mere mortal.”

Reference

1.     Conpress Printing Ltd. (1970). Captain Cook: His artist, His Voyage. Sydney, Australia.

2.     Peter Aughton (2002). Endeavour: The Story of Captain Cook’s First Great Epic Voyage. London, England: Windrush Press.

3.     Tom Garrison (1998). Oceanography: An Innovation to Marine Science (3^rd Ed.). Belmont, United States: Wadsworth Press.