• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

The Institute of Australian Culture

Heritage, history, and heroes; literature, legends, and larrikins

  • Home
  • Articles
  • Biographies
  • Books
  • Ephemera
  • Poetry & songs
    • Recommended poetry
    • Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
    • Poetry and songs, 1901-1954
    • Rock music and pop music [videos]
    • Early music [videos]
  • Slang
  • Timeline
    • Timeline of Australian history and culture
    • Calendar of Australian history and culture
    • Significant events and commemorative dates
  • Topics

James Cook [A New Biographical Dictionary, 1805]

10 January 2016 · Leave a Comment

[Editor: This is the entry for James Cook in A New Biographical Dictionary (1805), by Stephen Jones. It is interesting to note that the text does not mention Cook’s discovery of the east coast of New Holland (Australia), although it does mention that he had unsuccessfully searched for Terra Australis Incognita (the hypothesized southern land mass, i.e. the continent of Antarctica).]

COOK (JAMES) a celebrated English navigator, was born at Marton in Yorkshire, Oct. 27, 1728, of poor parents, and apprenticed on board a vessel in the coal-trade. In the war of 1755, between England and France, he entered as a seaman in the royal navy. His behaviour in this station soon endeared him to the officers; and on the 15th of May 1759, he obtained a master’s warrant for the Mercury, which was soon after employed in the famous siege of Quebec.

During this siege a difficult and dangerous service was to be performed; namely, to take soundings in the channel of the river St. Laurence, directly in front of the French fortified camp. This he performed at the imminent hazard of his life, with which indeed he very hardly escaped; and was successively rewarded with the appointments of master of the Northumberland man of war, marine-surveyor of Newfoundland and Labradore, lieutenant in the navy, and commander of the Endeavour bark, fitted out for the purpose of taking some astronomical observations, and making discoveries in the Pacific Ocean. On this expedition he sailed from Deptford July 30, 1768, and returned to England July 12, 1771.

He sailed again April 2, 1772, in the Resolution, accompanied by Captain Furneaux in the Adventure, to determine the existence or non-existence of a southern continent. By this voyage, from which he returned in 1775, the illusions of a terra australis incognita to any purposes of commerce, colonization, or utility, were dispelled; but as a reward for captain Cook’s important improvements for preserving the healths of seamen, very happily manifested in this voyage, the Royal Society bestowed on him the medal of Sir Godfrey Copley.

Another grand question was, the practicability of a northern passage to the Pacific Ocean; to determine which, captain Cook sailed in 1776, on board the Resolution, accompanied by captain Clerke in the Discovery. This voyage served to prove that there was no practicable passage between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans towards the north; but, on his return, it unfortunately happened, that our navigator was killed in an affray with the natives of Owhyhee, one of the Sandwich Isles, Feb. 14, 1779.

His death was universally regretted, not only in Great Britain, but throughout all Europe, where his great merits and public services were known.



Source:
Stephen Jones, A New Biographical Dictionary: Containing a Brief Account of the Lives and Writings of the Most Eminent Persons and Remarkable Characters in Every Age and Nation, London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme [et al], 1805, [page 131]

Editor’s notes:
The text is as given in the book, including lower case for “royal navy” and “captain” (e.g. “captain Cook”), and the plural “healths” (instead of “health”) in “preserving the healths of seamen”.

Owhyhee = archaic spelling of “Hawaii”

terra australis incognita = (Latin) “unknown land of the south” (or “unknown southern land”); from the Latin words “terra” (earth; land), “australis” (south), and “incognita” (unknown); when used as a name for a hypothetical land, it is commonly capitalized (Terra Australis Incognita), although the phrase is also rendered in lower case

Filed Under: articles Tagged With: James Cook (1728-1779) (subject), SourceGoogleBooks, year1805

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Australian flag, Kangaroo, Wattle, 100hThe Institute of Australian Culture
Heritage, history, and heroes. Literature, legends, and larrikins. Stories, songs, and sages.

Search this site

Featured books

The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses, by Banjo Paterson A Book for Kids, by C. J. Dennis  The Bulletin Reciter: A Collection of Verses for Recitation from The Bulletin The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke, by C. J. Dennis The Complete Inner History of the Kelly Gang and Their Pursuers, by J. J. Kenneally The Foundations of Culture in Australia, by P. R. Stephensen The Australian Crisis, by C. H. Kirmess Such Is Life, by Joseph Furphy
More books (full text)

Featured lists

Timeline of Australian history and culture
A list of significant Australiana
Significant events and commemorative dates
Australian slang
Books (full text)
Australian literature
Rock music and pop music (videos)
Folk music and bush music (videos)
Early music (videos)
Recommended poetry
Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
Poetry and songs, 1901-1954
Australian explorers
Topics
Links

Featured posts

Advance Australia Fair: How the song became the Australian national anthem
Brian Cadd [music videos and biography]
Ned Kelly: Australian bushranger
Under the Southern Cross I Stand [the Australian cricket team’s victory song]

Some Australian authors

E. J. Brady
John Le Gay Brereton
C. J. Dennis
Mary Hannay Foott
Joseph Furphy
Mary Gilmore
Charles Harpur
Grant Hervey
Lucy Everett Homfray
Rex Ingamells
Henry Kendall
“Kookaburra”
Henry Lawson
Jack Moses
“Dryblower” Murphy
John Shaw Neilson
John O’Brien (Patrick Joseph Hartigan)
“Banjo” Paterson
Marie E. J. Pitt
A. G. Stephens
P. R. Stephensen
Agnes L. Storrie (Agnes L. Kettlewell)

Recent Posts

  • Australia Day [26 January 1953]
  • Australia Day [24 January 1953]
  • Australia Day [29 January 1951]
  • Australia Day [28 January 1950]
  • Danger-signals from Australia [2 January 1942]

Top Posts & Pages

  • Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
  • Australian slang
  • The Man from Snowy River [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • The Bastard from the Bush [poem, circa 1900]
  • The Bard and the Lizard [poem by John Shaw Neilson]

Archives

Categories

Posts of note

The Bastard from the Bush [poem, circa 1900]
A Book for Kids [by C. J. Dennis, 1921]
Click Go the Shears [traditional Australian song, 1890s]
Core of My Heart [“My Country”, poem by Dorothea Mackellar, 24 October 1908]
Freedom on the Wallaby [poem by Henry Lawson, 16 May 1891]
The Man from Ironbark [poem by Banjo Paterson]
Nationality [poem by Mary Gilmore, 12 May 1942]
The Newcastle song [music video, sung by Bob Hudson]
No Foe Shall Gather Our Harvest [poem by Mary Gilmore, 29 June 1940]
Our pipes [short story by Henry Lawson]
Rommel’s comments on Australian soldiers [1941-1942]
Shooting the moon [short story by Henry Lawson]

Recent Comments

  • rob buntine on No Foe Shall Gather Our Harvest [poem by Mary Gilmore, 29 June 1940]
  • Carol on Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
  • Annie Crestani on Under the Southern Cross I Stand [the Australian cricket team’s victory song]
  • Peter Pearsall on The Clarence [poem by Jack Moses]
  • Trevor Hurst on Timeline of Australian history and culture

For Australia

Copyright © 2023 · Log in