AUSTRALIA - Famous People

James Cook

James cook was a British explorer and cartographer, born on November, 7^th 1728 in Marton and died in Hawaï in 1779.
He was a fine navigator and organised three trips during which he was the first to land on the east coast of Australia in 1768.

James Cook came from a relatively poor family. Son of James Cook, a farmer and Grace. He was born in city attached to the local church of St Cuthberts in Marton, where his name appears in the register of baptisms. At the age of 13, he began working with his father in the farm management
When aged 17 , Cook was apprenticed to a draper in a fishing village. According to the legend, Cook first felt the call of the sea looking out of the window from the store. After a year and a half , William Sanderson, the business owner decreed that Cook was not made for trade and led him to the harbour where he presented him to John and Henry Walker, traders and owners of several ships. Cook was hired as an apprentice merchant in the navy fleet . At the same time, he studied.

Once the three years of learning ended, Cook worked on commercial vessels. He quickly rose through the ranks, and was offered the command of a ship called Friendship . However Cook thought that his career would advance more quickly in the navy. Yet this meant to start at the bottom of the hierarchy and it was as a simple sailor that he was committed to the HMS Eagle. He was quickly promoted. After two years, he passed his MA examination, enabling him to command a ship of the Royal Fleet. After his service in the UK, he joined in the British Royal Navy. The young James Cook drew the attention of his superiors at a crucial moment of his personal career and he was rewarded with the direction of the British expeditions in overseas territories. He was then appointed commander of the first of his three expeditions to the Pacific Ocean. Two other expeditions followed, establishing the first accurate maps of many islands and coasts.

He showed a talent for cartography and mapping. He set coast maps, he established the first accurate maps of large-scale coast of islands along the way of his expeditions. But he is mainly remembered for having discovered Australia.

BAZIN VALENTIN & ALLAN GUSTIN