James Cook was born into humble, working-class origins on October 27, 1728, in Marton, Yorkshire, England. He was the second of eight children born to James Cook Sr., a Scottish day labourer and later farm foreman, and Grace Pace, a local Yorkshire woman.
Yet apart from Admiral Horatio Nelson, James Cook remains the most famous of all Britain’s captains. He was a natural leader of men, a peerless seaman and navigator, a superb cartographer, an acute and accurate observer, and the foremost explorer of his own, or any age.
Cook undertook three great voyages in 1768 to 1771, 1772 to 1775 and 1776 to 1779 that explored the entire world, but it was his last voyage that culminated in his grisly death at the hands of Hawaiian natives, when he was just 51.
This lecture will follow the detailed events of his last voyage: The discovery of islands and peoples previously unknown, the great search for the mysterious Northwest Passage around the freezing top of Arctic Canada, and the exploration wonders of Australia, New Zealand, Tonga, Tahiti, Hawaii, America, Alaska, Canada and Russia.
The lecture will comprise a 2-hour presentation illustrated by copious Powerpoints.
