Painting by George Carter "The Death of Captain James Cook"
Envy, cowardice, pride and careerism ate the captain
On February 14, 1779, on the island of Hawaii, during an unexpected skirmish with the natives, Captain James Cook (1728-1779), one of the greatest discoverers of new lands who lived in the 18th century, was killed. No one knows what really happened that morning at Kealakekua Bay. It is known, however, that the Hawaiians did not eat Cook, contrary to Vysotsky’s famous song: it was customary for the natives to bury especially important people in a special way. The bones were buried in a secret place, and the meat was returned to the captain’s “relatives”. Historians argue whether the Hawaiians considered Cook a god (more precisely, the incarnation of the deity of abundance and agriculture, Lono) or simply an arrogant stranger.
But we will talk about something else: how did the team even allow the death of their captain? How did envy, anger, pride, criminal relationships, cowardice and passivity lead to a tragic set of circumstances? Fortunately (and unfortunately), more than 40 conflicting accounts of Cook's death have survived: this does not make it possible to clearly clarify the course of events, but it tells in detail about the motives and motivations of the team. About how the death of one captain blew up the ship's microcosm of the heroic navigators of the 18th century - in the historical investigation of Lenta.ru.
Encounter with the Hawaiians
The background is as follows: Cook's third circumnavigation of the world began in 1776. With the Resolution and Discovery ships, the British were to find the Northwest Passage: a waterway north of Canada connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Having rounded southern Africa, the sailors sailed to New Zealand and from there headed north, discovering the Hawaiian Islands along the way (in January 1778). Having regained strength, the expedition set off for Alaska and Chukotka, however solid ice and the approach of winter forced Cook to return to Hawaii (December-January 1779).
The Hawaiians greeted the British sailors very cordially. However, over time, the free treatment of local women and the overly active replenishment of water and food supplies aroused discontent, and on February 4 Cook decided to prudently set sail. Alas, that same night a storm damaged the Resolution's foremast, and the ships returned to Kealakekua Bay. Openly hostile Hawaiians stole tongs from one of the ships: in retaliation, the British stole a canoe, which they refused to return as a result of negotiations.
Then, on February 14, a longboat disappeared from the Resolution: and then Cook armed himself with a gun and, together with a detachment of ten Marines(led by Lieutenant Molesworth Phillips) demanded one of the local leaders to come to the ship (either as a hostage, or, more likely, to negotiate in a calmer environment).
At first the leader agreed, then, yielding to his wife’s pleas, he refused to go. Meanwhile, thousands of armed Hawaiians gathered on the shore and pushed Cook back to the shore. For some unknown reason the crowd moved to active actions, and in the confusion that began, someone hit Cook on the back with a stick. The captain fired in retaliation, but did not kill the Hawaiian - and then the natives rushed at the British from all sides.
Already in the water, Cook was hit in the back with a spear or throwing dagger, and the captain (along with several sailors) died. Cook's body was dragged ashore, and the British retreated disorderly to the ships.
Death of Cook. Engraving from 1790
After another fight, negotiations took place, which ended in peace: the Hawaiians ceremonially returned Cook's body (in the form of pieces of meat), which infuriated the crew. An error in intercultural communication (the British did not understand that the locals had buried the captain with maximum dignity) led to a punitive raid: the coastal settlement was burned, the Hawaiians were killed, and the islanders eventually returned the remaining parts of Cook's body, buried at sea on February 21. The position of head of the expedition passed to the captain of the Discovery, Charles Clerk, and when he died of tuberculosis off Kamchatka, to the second mate of the Resolution, James King.
Who is guilty?
But what really happened that morning at Kealakekua Bay? How was the battle in which Cook died?
Here is what First Officer James Burney writes: “Through binoculars we saw Captain Cook hit with a club and fall from the cliff into the water.” Bernie was most likely standing on the deck of the Discovery. And here is what the captain of the ship Clark said about the death of Cook: “It was exactly 8 o’clock when we were alarmed by a rifle salvo fired by Captain Cook’s men, and strong cries of Indians were heard. Through the telescope, I clearly saw that our people were running towards the boats, but who exactly was running, I could not see in the confused crowd.”
Eighteenth-century ships were not particularly spacious: the Clerk was unlikely to be far from Burney, but he did not see individual people. What's the matter? The participants of Cook's expedition left behind a huge amount of texts: historians count 45 manuscripts of diaries, ship's logs and notes, as well as 7 books printed in the 18th century.
But that's not all: the ship's log of James King (author official history third expedition) were accidentally found in government archives in the 1970s. And not all the texts were written by members of the wardroom: the fascinating memoirs of the German Hans Zimmermann speak about the life of the sailors, and historians learned a lot of new things from a completely plagiarized book by a dropout student, John Ledyard, corporal of the Marines.
So, 45 memoirs tell about the events of the morning of February 14, and the differences between them are not purely accidental, the result of gaps in the memory of sailors trying to recreate the terrible events. What the British “saw with their own eyes” is dictated difficult relationships on the ship: envy, patronage and loyalty, personal ambitions, rumors and slander.
The memoirs themselves were written not only out of a desire to bask in the glory of Captain Cook or to make money: the texts of the crew members are replete with insinuations, irritated hints at hiding the truth, and, in general, do not resemble the memories of old friends about a wonderful journey.
Death of Cook. Canvas by the Anglo-German artist Johann Zoffany (1795)
Tension in the crew had been building for a long time: it was inevitable during a long voyage on cramped ships, an abundance of orders, the wisdom of which was obvious only to the captain and his inner circle, and the expectation of inevitable hardships during the upcoming search for the Northwest Passage in polar waters. However, the conflicts spilled over into open form only once - with the participation of two heroes of the future drama in Kealakekua Bay: a duel took place in Tahiti between Marine Lieutenant Phillips and Resolution third mate John Williamson. All that is known about the duel is that three bullets passed over the heads of its participants without causing them harm.
The character of both Irishmen was not sweet. Phillips, who suffered heroically from the Hawaiian guns (he was wounded while retreating to the boats), ended his life as a London bum, playing cards in small quantities and beating his wife. Williamson was disliked by many officers. “This is a scoundrel who was hated and feared by his subordinates, hated by his equals and despised by his superiors,” one of the midshipmen wrote in his diary.
But the crew’s hatred fell on Williamson only after Cook’s death: all eyewitnesses agree that at the very beginning of the collision the captain gave some kind of signal to Williamson’s people who were in the boats off the shore. What Cook intended to express with this unknown gesture will forever remain a mystery. The lieutenant stated that he understood it as “Save yourself, swim away!” and gave the appropriate command.
Unfortunately for him, the other officers were convinced that Cook was desperately calling for help. The sailors could provide fire support, drag the captain into the boat, or at least recapture the corpse from the Hawaiians... Williamson had a dozen officers and marines from both ships against him. Phillips, according to Ledyard's recollection, was even ready to shoot the lieutenant on the spot.
Clark (the new captain) was immediately required to investigate. However, the main witnesses (we do not know who they were - most likely the bosses on the pinnace and skiff, who were also offshore under Williamson's command) withdrew their testimony and accusations against the third mate. Did they do this sincerely, not wanting to ruin an officer who found himself in a difficult and ambiguous situation? Or were their superiors putting pressure on them? We are unlikely to know this - the sources are very scarce. In 1779, while on his deathbed, Captain Clark destroyed all papers related to the investigation.
The only fact is that the leaders of the expedition (King and Clark) decided not to blame Williamson for the death of Cook. However, rumors immediately spread on the ships that Williamson had stolen documents from Clark's locker after the captain's death, or even earlier had given brandy to all the marines and sailors so that they would remain silent about the lieutenant's cowardice upon returning to England.
The truth of these rumors cannot be confirmed: but it is important that they circulated for the reason that Williamson not only avoided the tribunal, but also succeeded in every possible way. Already in 1779 he was promoted to second, and then to first mate. His successful career the navy was interrupted only by the incident of 1797: as captain of the Agincourt, in the Battle of Camperdown, he once again misinterpreted a signal (this time a naval one), avoided attacking enemy ships and was court-martialed for dereliction of duty. A year later he died.
In his diary, Clark describes what happened to Cook on the shore according to Phillips: the whole story boils down to the misadventures of the wounded marine, and not a word is said about the behavior of other members of the team. James King also showed favor towards Williamson: in the official history of the voyage, Cook's gesture was described as a matter of philanthropy: the captain tried to keep his people from brutally shooting the unfortunate Hawaiians. Moreover, King places the blame for the tragic collision on Marine Lieutenant Rickman, who shot a Hawaiian on the other side of the bay (which enraged the natives).
It would seem that everything is clear: the authorities are covering up the obvious culprit in Cook’s death - for some reason of their own. And then, using his connections, he makes a stunning career. However, the situation is not so clear-cut. Interestingly, the team is roughly evenly split between Williamson haters and defenders - and the composition of each group deserves close attention.
British Navy: hopes and disappointments
The officers of the Resolution and Discovery were not at all pleased with the great scientific significance of the expedition: most of them were ambitious young people who were not at all eager to spend their best years on the sidelines in cramped cabins. In the 18th century, promotions were mainly given by wars: at the beginning of each conflict, the “demand” for officers increased - assistants were promoted to captains, midshipmen to assistants. It is not surprising that the crew members sadly sailed from Plymouth in 1776: literally before their eyes, the conflict with the American colonists flared up, and they had to “rot” for four years in the dubious search for the Northwest Passage.
British navy by standards XVIII century was a relatively democratic institution: people far from power, wealth and noble blood could serve and rise to commanding heights there. To look far for examples, one can recall Cook himself, the son of a Scottish farm laborer, who began his naval biography cabin boy on a coal-mining brig.
However, one should not think that the system automatically selected the most worthy: the price for relative democracy “at the entrance” was the dominant role of patronage. All officers built support networks, looked for loyal patrons in the command and in the Admiralty, earning a reputation for themselves. That is why the death of Cook and Clark meant that all contacts and agreements reached with the captains during the voyage went to waste.
Having reached Canton, the officers learned that the war with the rebel colonies was in full swing, and all the ships were already equipped. But no one cares much about the disastrous (the Northwest Passage was not found, Cook died) geographical expedition. “The team felt how much they would lose in rank and wealth, and also deprived of the consolation that they were being led home by an old commander, whose well-known merits could help matters last voyage to be heard and appreciated even in those troubled times,” King writes in his journal (December 1779). In the 1780s, the Napoleonic War was still far away, and only a few received promotions. Many junior officers followed the example of midshipman James Trevenen and joined the Russian fleet (which, recall, fought against the Swedes and Turks in the 1780s).
In this regard, it is curious that the loudest voices against Williamson were midshipmen and mates who were at the very beginning of their careers in the navy. They missed their luck (the war with the American colonies), and even one single vacancy was a fairly valuable prize. Williamson's rank (third mate) did not yet give him great opportunities to take revenge on his accusers, and his trial would create an excellent opportunity to remove a competitor. Combined with personal antipathy towards Williamson, this more than explains why he was vilified and called the main scoundrel for Cook's death. Meanwhile, many senior members of the team (Bernie, although he was a close friend of Phillips, draftsman William Ellis, Resolution first mate John Gore, Discovery master Thomas Edgar) did not find anything reprehensible in Williamson’s actions.
For approximately the same reasons (career future), in the end, part of the blame was shifted to Rickman: he was much older than most of the members of the wardroom, began his service already in 1760, “missed” the beginning of the Seven Years’ War and did not receive a promotion for 16 years. That is, he did not have strong patrons in the fleet, and his age did not allow him to form friendships with a company of young officers. As a result, Rickman turned out to be almost the only member of the team who did not receive any more titles at all.
In addition, many officers, of course, tried to avoid attacking Williamson uncomfortable questions: on the morning of February 14, many of them were on the island or in boats and could have acted more proactively if they heard shots, and retreating to the ships without trying to recapture the bodies of the dead also looks suspicious. The future captain of the Bounty, William Bligh (master on the Resolution), directly accused Phillips' Marines of fleeing the battlefield. It is a fact that 11 of the 17 Marines on the Resolution were exposed to corporal punishment(on Cook's personal orders) also makes you wonder how willing they were to sacrifice their lives for the captain.
"Landing at Tanna". Painting by William Hodges. One of the characteristic episodes of contact between the British and the inhabitants of Oceania
But, one way or another, the authorities put an end to the proceedings: King and Clark made it clear that no one should be put on trial. Most likely, even if the trial of Williamson did not take place thanks to the influential patrons of the ambitious Irishman (even his long-time enemy Phillips refused to testify against him at the Admiralty - under the flimsy pretext that he allegedly had bad personal relations with the accused), the captains preferred to make a Solomon decision .
None of the surviving crew members should have become a scapegoat for the crime. tragic death the great captain: circumstances, vile natives and (as is read between the lines of the memoirs) the arrogance and rashness of Cook himself, who hoped almost single-handedly to take the local leader hostage, were to blame. “There is good reason to suppose that the natives would not have gone so far had not, unfortunately, Captain Cook fired upon them: a few minutes before they had begun to clear a path for the soldiers to reach that place on the shore , against which the boats stood (I have already mentioned this), thus giving Captain Cook the opportunity to get away from them,” says Clerk’s diaries.
Now it becomes clearer why the Clerk and Bernie saw such different scenes through their telescopes. This was determined by the place in the complex system of “checks and balances”, status hierarchy and the struggle for a place in the sun, which took place on board the ships of the scientific expedition. What prevented the Clerk from seeing the captain’s death (or talking about it) was not so much the “confused crowd” as the officer’s desire to remain above the fray and ignore evidence of the guilt of individual members of the crew (many of whom were his protégés, others protégés of his London superiors).
What is the meaning of what happened?
History is not just objective events that happened or did not happen. We know about the past only from the stories of the participants in these events, stories that are often fragmentary, confusing and contradictory. However, one should not draw a conclusion from this about the fundamental incompatibility of individual points of view, which supposedly represent autonomous and incompatible pictures of the world. Scientists, even if they cannot authoritatively state how “it really happened,” can find probable causes, common interests, and other solid layers of reality behind the apparent chaos of “witness testimony.”
This is what we tried to do - to unravel the network of motives a little, to discern the elements of the system that forced the team members to act, see and remember exactly this way and not otherwise.
Personal relationships, career interests. But there is another layer: the national-ethnic level. Cook's ships represented a cross-section of imperial society: representatives of peoples and, most importantly, regions, to varying degrees remote from the metropolis (London), sailed there, in which all the main issues were resolved and the process of “civilizing” the British took place. Cornish and Scots natives American colonies and the West Indies, Northern England and Ireland, Germans and Welsh... Their relationships during and after the voyage, the influence of prejudices and stereotypes on what is happening, scientists have yet to understand.
But history is not a criminal investigation: the last thing I wanted was to finally identify who was responsible for the death of Captain Cook: be it the “coward” Williamson, the “inactive” sailors and marines on shore, the “evil” natives or the “arrogant” navigator himself.
It is naive to consider Cook’s team a squad of heroes of science, “white men” in identical uniforms. This a complex system personal and professional relationships, with their own crises and conflict situations, passions and calculated actions. And by chance this structure explodes in dynamics with an event. Cook's death confused all the cards for the expedition members, but forced them to burst out with passionate, emotional notes and memoirs and, thus, shed light on relationships and patterns that, with a more favorable outcome of the voyage, would have remained in the darkness of obscurity.
But the death of Captain Cook can be a useful lesson in the 21st century: often only similar extraordinary events (accident, death, explosion, escape, leak) can reveal the internal structure and modus operandi of secret (or at least not publicizing their principles) organizations , be it the crew of a submarine or the diplomatic corps.
(1728-1779) English navigator and researcher
Captain James Cook, a famous English navigator and traveler, traveled the entire Pacific Ocean, visited Australia, New Zealand and many southern islands, which later became English colonies. If we try to briefly outline the routes of his travels, it turns out that he practically never left the ship.
James Cook was born in Yorkshire into the family of a day laborer, began serving as a cabin boy on merchant ships at the age of 18, switched to military service in 1755 and by the age of thirty was already considered an outstanding navigator.
After that, he made three famous expeditions: in 1768-1771 - to Tahiti, New Zealand and Australia, in 1772-1775 - to the South Pacific Ocean and in 1776-1779 - to the South and North Pacific Ocean, trying find North Strait and for the first time marking the Siberian tip of Asia on the map.
In 1768, James Cook set off on his first trip around the world. He was supposed to deliver a scientific expedition to the island of Tahiti to observe how Venus passes across the solar disk. For this purpose, he was provided with the ship Endeavor with a crew of 80 people; in addition, there were three scientists on board.
Cook successfully delivered the scientists to Tahiti and, after they made the necessary observations there, headed northwest. After a long journey, he discovered an archipelago consisting of two big islands. This was New Zealand. James Cook explored it and went further to Australia. In 1770, he discovered the Great Barrier Reef, landed in Botany Bay, explored the east coast of Australia and claimed it as British property under the name New South Wales. During this expedition significant scientific materials. This was done by James Cook's companions - botanist Joseph Banks and zoologist Sydney Parkinson. Then the navigator passed through the Torres Strait to the island of Java and, rounding the cape Good Hope, returned to England, having completed a trip around the world in a western direction.
During his second voyage (1772-1775), James Cook set out in search of the "Southland" and for a more detailed survey of New Zealand and other islands of the Southern Hemisphere. Cook crossed the South Arctic Circle, but because of the ice he had to return. After numerous attempts to break through the ice, the navigator came to the conclusion that the vast Southern Land did not exist. However, he mapped a number of unknown islands in the South Pacific: southern group New Hebrides, about. New Caledonia, Norfolk Island, South Sandwich Islands.
Third and last trip James Cook began in 1776. He sailed from England on two ships - the Resolution and the Discovery. The purpose of the expedition was to try to find a way around North America- the so-called Northwest Passage. And again Cook went out into the Pacific Ocean.
In early 1778, he discovered the Hawaiian Islands. From here the navigator went north, to the east coast of America. He managed to reach the Bering Gulf, located near Alaska, and there he was forced to retreat under ice pressure. Shortly after James Cook returned to the Hawaiian Islands, he was killed during a confrontation with locals over a stolen boat.
The British people honor their hero as a skilled navigator and great explorer. Many of the places he discovered were named after him, and his detailed reports and observations became the basis for many expeditions.
In 1934, the house in which the boy James Cook lived in Great Outton, Yorkshire, was donated to the Australian government. It was carefully disassembled and transported to Melbourne, where it became a museum.
Expeditions and finds
James Cook's first expedition
IN fundamental work English historian J. Baker “History geographical research and discoveries" one of the chapters is called "The Age of Cook". Despite the obvious exaggeration of the achievements of the outstanding navigator, one cannot help but give him his due: each of his three voyages around the world deserves mention.
James Cook. Portrait by Nathaniel Dance-Holland, c. 1775. National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London
James Cook served as a navigator in Canada during the war with the French. IN free time engaged in self-education. When the Royal Society (academy) and the British Admiralty organized a major scientific expedition to the Southern Hemisphere in 1768, James Cook was put in charge.
The official purpose of the expedition was considered to be “observations of the passage of the planet Venus through the solar disk, June 3, 1769.” ABOUT main goal Cook did not know the expedition. He was given a sealed envelope, which was supposed to be opened upon arrival on the island of George III (later renamed Tahiti), where astronomical observations were to be made.
For long-distance voyages, Cook chose the three-masted barque Endeavor (Attempt) with 22 guns. In the summer of 1768, they set off from Plymouth, crossing the southwest Atlantic. There were 80 crew members and 11 scientists on board.
In the bay of Rio de Janeiro, an incident characteristic of that time occurred: they were mistaken for pirates, and several crew members were arrested. Subsequently, the voyage was successful. We passed Cape Horn in February in excellent weather.
A small fort was built in Tahiti to keep them safe. Established friendly relations with the natives. However, one of them, snatching a gun from the guard, tried to run away. The British caught up with him and killed him. Only Cook's skillful diplomacy made it possible to avoid further conflicts.
The authoritative expedition did not make any special astronomical discoveries. “We saw an atmosphere or luminous nebula around the entire planet,” Cook wrote, “which reduced the accuracy of determining the moments of contact ... as a result of which there were more discrepancies in our observations than could be expected.” (At the same time, the “lone amateur” M.V. Lomonosov, conducting similar observations, gave not assumptions, but scientifically based evidence of the existence of an atmosphere on Venus.)
Cook also had troubles with his team. Several sailors stole a large batch of nails (apparently, they used them to pay for the “intimate services” of native women). One thieving sailor was captured and whipped, but he did not give up his accomplices. The result of specific communication with local residents was a venereal disease that spread among the crew, due to which they had to make a special stop for treatment.
But this, of course, was not the main result of staying on the island. Botanical and geological research was carried out there, a volcano was discovered and it was found that wandering local musicians had already composed several songs about the arriving sailors.
On June 3, James Cook opened a package with secret instructions. He was asked to go in search of Terra Australis Incoqnita (Southern Unknown Land), the location of which was supposed to be approximately 40° - 35° south latitude. The local priest Tupia wished to go to England. He became an indispensable intermediary in Cook's communication with the inhabitants of the Pacific Islands.
After long search in October 1769, the British saw land at 30°30 south latitude in the west that was not marked on the map (it was the eastern coast of the North Island of New Zealand). The newcomers met a warlike Maori tribe.
During the bargaining, a bloody skirmish occurred. The officer, angry with the native, shot him. Nevertheless, Cook was able to establish good relations with the Maori. The ship proceeded north along the coast of the island, rounded it and declared it the possession of Britain. Cook explored the strait that received his name, once again finding himself on the eastern shore. It turned out that this is an island, and not a protrusion of the Southern mainland, as previously thought.
True, there was also land to the south. Cook began to go around it, now moving south. And this land was surrounded on all sides by water. Thus, Cook mapped the “island duo” - New Zealand, which is larger in area than the island of Great Britain. IN this region In the Pacific Ocean, contrary to expectations and maps, there were no traces of Unknown Australia.
Near the Great Barrier Reef near Australia, the Endeavor was holed and nearly sank. It took two months for a hole to be repaired in a nearby bay.
Heading west, Cook reached a vast land (Tasman called it Van Diemen's) and walked along it to the north. The dark-skinned, hairy, naked aborigines gave the impression of complete savages. Cook examined almost all (except southern outskirts) eastern coast of New Holland (Australia), named it New South Wales and declared it an English possession.
After spending a little over three years at sea, Cook returned to his homeland. “I made no great discoveries,” he wrote, “but I explored a significant part of the Great South Seas to a much greater extent than all my predecessors.”
James Cook in Search of the Southern Unknown Land
Image of a kangaroo, from illustrations for the journal of the Endeavour's voyage
James Cook began this circumnavigation of the world in 1772 with two ships: Resolution and Adventure. Scientific support The expedition was composed of German naturalists Johann Forster and his son Georg.
The main goal: to discover the Unknown Southern Continent (in the existence of which Cook had lost faith) and establish British rule there.
Passing further and further south, the ships kept getting caught in a storm. Around 51° south latitude, ice floes and then ice fields began to appear. It was cold, even though it was November (Antarctic spring). Floating ice mountains, sparkling in the sun, turned into terrible ghosts during fogs, and during storms they threatened to crush ships like nutshells.
It was extremely difficult and dangerous to advance. But Cook did not stop searching. In mid-February 1773, his ships crossed the Antarctic Circle to latitude 67°15 for the first time in the history of navigation. Solid ice stretched ahead. No sign of sushi. I had to head north. In the fog, both ships separated.
"Resolution" continued to search for new lands for some time. Then, at the designated location in New Zealand, the ships met again. And then it became clear that there was a sharp difference in the condition of the two teams: on the flagship all the people were healthy, but on the Adventure the majority were in a deplorable condition, two dozen patients did not get out of bed, suffering from scurvy, one was near death.
Captain Furneaux, leading an independent route, stopped following Cook’s firm instructions: to eat sauerkraut daily for the whole crew. This seemed like a whim of the strict leader of the expedition, as well as his requirement to keep the cabins clean and regularly ventilated. Why do this when it’s already cold?
Now it became clear to everyone how reasonable Cook's demands were. Even on his first voyage around the world, he realized, having lost a third of the crew, what an insidious enemy of sailors - scurvy. And after consulting with experienced doctors, I learned about measures to combat it. Dry cod and crackers, which sailors usually fed on during long hikes, did not save from scurvy. Cook abandoned an exclusively traditional menu and managed to overcome a dangerous disease.
The ships continued sailing together in June. But already in October, in inclement weather near New Zealand, they were separated again - this time completely. After waiting for the Adventure in the designated bay, Cook headed his ship south.
Meanwhile, the Adventure team suffered a severe shock. Late to the meeting place, they saw an inscription on a tree there: “Look below.” Having dug a hole, they took out a bottle with a letter in which Cook reported on his further route.
In preparation for the voyage, Furneaux sent a boat with ten sailors ashore for provisions. None of them returned. The next day, a detachment under the command of assistant captain Barney was sent to search for them. This is what he wrote in his report:
“On the shore we found two dozen baskets closed and tied with twine... filled with fried meat and fern roots, which are used by the natives as bread. Continuing to examine the contents of the baskets, we found shoes and a hand. According to the letters "T. X." tattooed on his arm. We immediately established that it was the hand of sailor Thomas Hill.”
There were no natives on the shore, smoke was smoking over the neighboring bay, and the sailors went there in a boat. A large group of Maori were sitting around a fire. The sailors fired a volley, the crowd took flight. The British landed on the shore. What they saw was terrible: the heads and entrails of their comrades lay on the ground. The dogs purred as they ate the bloody remains. Taking two hands and one head with them, the sailors returned to the ship.
...This story and others like it aroused unhealthy passions in Europe. There were terrible fables about cannibalistic savages. The belief spread that these monsters in human form ate their own kind out of gastronomic perversions. (When a century later on New Guinea Miklouho-Maclay went to live; everyone was frightening him with cannibals.)
However, in this case and many others like it, food interests have nothing to do with it. The natives believed that the soul, abilities, and strength of a killed enemy were transferred to the one who tasted his body. They did not kill people specifically for meat. But if there were dead bodies left after the battle, it was customary to eat them. Physiologically, this was justified: the Maoris did not raise livestock, and almost all wild animals on the island were destroyed. The lack of animal proteins with monotonous plant foods caused strong need in meat. (By the way, the naive cannibals were perplexed: how can whites kill so many people in war that they have to be buried in the ground? This is monstrous cruelty and stupidity!).
In the tragedy with the unfortunate sailors of the Adventure, they themselves were the culprits. During the trade, having accused or caught one native of petty theft, the sailors began to beat him. His relatives tried to intercede for him. The sailors fired a volley into the crowd and killed two. Without allowing the newcomers to reload their guns, the Maori attacked them and killed them all.
Cook also sent his people to trade with the Maoris, prohibiting violence. But he knew that these were cannibals. One sailor brought a boiled human head to the ship, bought for three nails. To cries of disgust and indignation, Cook objected: they are doing this out of hunger. If you teach them to grow potatoes and raise domestic animals, cannibalism will stop!
He was right, but only partly. It is not so easy to master new forms of farming, and his attempts of this kind were not successful. Refuse long traditions it's difficult for people. And the ritual of “eating human flesh” existed among the natives for more than one millennium.
James Cook developed normal relations with local residents. His ship prepared for long-distance voyage and headed south again. There was thick fog near the Antarctic Circle in calm weather. The dank dampness exhausted the team day after day. And the ice fields closed ever closer. The ship could be in a death trap.
The courageous navigator was forced to retreat. They sailed into warm waters, visited Easter Island, plowed the ocean again, “closing” questionable lands and clarifying the position of many islands, and explored the New Hebrides archipelago. On one of the islands there was a skirmish with the natives, and Cook was forced to give the command: “Fire!” Two islanders were killed and two were wounded. Realizing the power of the aliens' weapons, local residents chose to establish business relations with them.
On his further voyage, Cook discovered a large island - New Caledonia - and several small ones. His general conclusion about the tribes he met, he was favorable: “I must say that the islanders, although they are undoubtedly cannibals, have a naturally good disposition and humanity.”
On the way back to his native shores, he explored Tierra del Fuego, which turned out to be a group of islands. He gave another mountainous land, even closer to the Antarctic Circle, the name of Lord Sandwich, head of the British Admiralty. It was not Cook’s servility that was revealed here, but his subtle irony. This is how he characterized Sandwich Island:
"This new earth terrible. Very high sheer cliffs were dotted with gaping caves. At their feet the waves raged, and their peaks were hidden behind the clouds... As far as we were able to establish, this whole island was deserted and terrible... The only inhabitants of these places were large cormorants nesting in the rocks. We didn’t even find shapeless amphibians or elephant seals here.”
Cook's last voyage
"The Death of Captain Cook." Painting by Sean Linehan
Cook's second circumnavigation of the world lasted three years. On this he could end his voyages. He was given what he deserved, given a quiet position with a good salary. But ten years after the completion of the second expedition, he again decided to go on an exploratory voyage.
By this time, Britain, which had become the “mistress of the seas” and expanded its colonial possessions, was concerned about the development by the Russians Far East and adjacent waters with transition to North America. The Spaniards, in turn, moved north along the western American coast. There remained hope of finding a northern sea route to Alaska.
Cook volunteered to become the commander of this expedition. His candidacy was immediately approved, and Resolution and Discovery were placed at his disposal. They set sail south in July 1776, via the Cape of Good Hope, reached New Zealand and visited where their comrades from the Adventure were killed. There was a temptation to take revenge. But, having found out the cause of the previous conflict, the commander abandoned the punitive action.
Continuing his voyage, Cook discovered several islands in the archipelago that received his name. In the Hawaiian archipelago, he discovered a group of quite plausible islands, giving them the name Sandwich (apparently, this lord was not such a hopeless person after all).
From Hawaii, Cook headed to the American continent, explored its northwestern outskirts and visited Alaska, where he met the Russian industrialist Potap Zaikov. Secondly after the Russians, English ships passed the northwestern tip of Alaska, calling it Cape Prince of Wales.
After sailing to Chukotka, Cook turned back and went north of the American coast. He hoped that he would finally be able to find access to the Atlantic Ocean. However, they got in the way heavy ice at a cape called Ice Cape (Ice Cape). I had to go back on course.
They moved from polar latitudes to tropical latitudes, and discovered the largest of these islands (Hawaii) on the Hawaiian archipelago. The appearance of white people huge ships Stunned the natives, they came in droves to Cook, paying homage to him as a deity.
The white newcomers behaved like owners, took many gifts, without giving gifts to the natives and violating their prohibitions. There were clashes during exchanges (and deceptions), and the Hawaiians sometimes took some things without permission, not considering theft a great sin.
During one conflict, Cook and a dozen sailors went ashore and took the leader and his sons hostage. The natives wanted to recapture the prisoners. Cook fired and a fight began; two or even three dozen Hawaiians were killed, as well as several Englishmen, including Cook.
The Hawaiians divided his body into parts that were intended for ritual cannibalism. The British carried out a brutal punitive operation, after which they received some parts of the body of the killed commander: head, hands. Characterizing the morals of the “civilizers,” it can be noted that at that very time, two heads of Hawaiians, chopped off by punitive sailors, were hanging on the Resolution’s yardarm.
Charles Clarke, who took over as commander, sent the ships north into the Chukchi Sea; bad weather and ice soon forced them to turn back. Clark died and was buried in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Discovery captain John Gore led the ships around Asia and Africa through the Pacific and Indian Oceans, passed the Cape of Good Hope, entered the Atlantic and completed the expedition off the coast of England on October 4, 1780.
...James Cook's circumnavigation of the world marked the end of the era of exploration of the World Ocean. True, this development was superficial, in the literal sense of the word. There was almost no more or less complete data on sea currents and depths, bottom structure, chemical and biological characteristics of water areas, temperature distribution with depth, etc. These studies are still being carried out.
Despite heroic efforts, Cook never discovered the Unknown Southern Land. Returning from his second trip around the world, he wrote:
"I went around South ocean at high latitudes and did it in such a way that he undeniably rejected the possibility of the existence of a continent here, which, if it could be discovered, would only be near the pole, in places inaccessible for navigation... The end is over further searches The southern continent, which for two centuries has invariably attracted the attention of some maritime powers...
I will not deny that there may be a continent or significant land near the pole. On the contrary, I am convinced that such a land exists there and, perhaps, that we have seen part of it (“Sandwich Land”)... These are lands doomed by nature to eternal cold, devoid of heat sun rays... But what should the countries be like that are located even further to the south ... If anyone shows determination and perseverance to resolve this issue, and penetrates further south than me, I will not envy the glory of his discoveries. But I must say that his discoveries will bring little benefit to the world.
The risk involved in sailing these unexplored and ice-covered seas in search of the mainland is so great that I can confidently say that no man will ever venture further south than I have done. The lands that may be in the south will never be explored."
This assumption of his was refuted by Russian sailors. And the most remarkable thing is that their discovery was scientifically predicted.
Since the beginning of the eighteenth century, the British Empire carefully got rid of criminals, exiling them to the colonies of North America. However, after the Revolutionary War, she was forced to recognize the United States as a separate state. Then it was decided to use Australia and nearby islands as an improvised colony.
These areas were poorly explored, so they decided to send experienced navigators and cartographers there. Thus, the talented English military captain James Cook also became a pioneer and geographer. Everyone knows that in the end he was vilely killed by the residents of the Hawaiian Islands. But how exactly this happened is unknown, because the man was famous for his extremely good-natured attitude towards the natives. Let's figure out together what kind of person he was and how his difficult fate unfolded.
Mr. James Cook: a short biography of a talented self-taught man
Britain, wanting to continue its naval expansion, experienced the loss of the American colonies quite acutely. Criminals were not the only cause for concern for the crown. At this time, Canada was conquered, and brave pioneers tried to open a northern route around the American continent and Eurasia in order to find an even simpler road to the land of spices. It was during this period that everyone at the English court learned who James Cook was - a sailor and ascetic, a talented cartographer and simply a brave man. It was decided to send him to the shores of distant and unknown Australia.
The existence of sushi South Pole has been a concern for navigators since the moment people first learned about such an area covered with ice. In the mid-eighteenth century, an expedition to Australia was organized to find out accurate cartographic data. In 1768, James Cook discovered the path to the "Southland", but did not find any solid ground there. As a result, thick fogs and multi-meter ice stopped his fragile wooden boats, and the sailor had to return. He decided that there was no land at this pole. Only at the beginning of the next century, a Russian expedition led by Thaddeus Bellingshausen will refute this misconception.
Activities of the discoverer
To understand what contribution the navigator James Cook made to science, it is not enough to just superficially familiarize yourself with the outline of his travels. He made a huge number of discoveries in geographical science, and achieved everything through pure enthusiasm. He has covered not only Australia, but also the Great Barrier Reef, part of the Alaskan coast, Cook Inlet, Norton Inlet, Prince William Inlet, Bristol Inlet and the infamous Hawaiian Islands, where he found his last refuge.
The navigator marked part of the coast of Canada near the St. Lawrence River on world maps and noted the outlines of Newfoundland. With his usual thoroughness and responsibility, the cartographer explored Tahiti and the Community Islands, the east coast of Australia and New Zealand. A little later he returned to southern waters Pacific Ocean, visited New Caledonia and the Hybrids, Micronesia and Polynesia, the Sandwich and Marquesas Islands. Captain James Cook is the first person on the planet to cross the Antarctic Circle and discover Antarctica in early 1773.
The first years of the future navigator
A simple farm laborer from a village called Marton (Scotland), in South Yorkshire, could not even imagine that his offspring would become famous throughout the world, and would be remembered by his descendants even three hundred years after his death. The family already had three children when, on October 27, 1728, the wife of a hired worker gave birth to a baby who would in the future become one of the world's greatest navigators. Infancy and early years James Cook's life was spent on a farm; from childhood he helped his parents with sheep.
When the boy turned eight, the family moved to the larger town of Great Ayton. The smart tomboy was sent to a school that has survived to this day and now bears his name. While Jamie was studying, his father was promoted and became a manager. After five years of study, the guy returned home to help his parents, but such work did not bring him joy. Even then, the young man understood that he had no prospects on the farm, like his ears.
Becoming a Famous Traveler
He simply could not maintain the routine for a long time, so immediately after coming of age he hired himself as a cabin boy on the brig of the brothers John and Henry Hecker called “Hercules” intended for transporting coal. The collier shuttled between London and Newcastle, and James wanted something more. He diligently performed all his duties. Two years later he was transferred to another ship owned by the Walker coal company - “Three Brothers”.
Cook already understood then: without knowledge, he would forever remain a hateful coal miner with forever black hands and face. Therefore, he spent all his free time reading books. He was keenly interested sea voyages, dangerous expeditions, studied mathematics, geography, navigation, cartography and other sciences useful for a sailor. After that, he went to the Baltic, where he spent two long years. At the request of the Walkers, he returned, but as an assistant captain on the ship Friendship. Those around him always believed in him and in him, everyone liked the character of James Cook: sociable, sociable, courageous and always doing his job perfectly.
In '55, the Walkers, impressed by the talents and achievements of the young man, even promised him the post of captain, but he refused. In mid-summer he joined the Royal Navy and received orders for the Eagle, a ship with sixty guns on board. Many are perplexed why James did not want to become a captain, but joined the army as an ordinary sailor. He probably just saw the prospect and real growth, since he had absolutely no desire to transport coal along the coast all his life. After two or three months the guy was already a boatswain.
In 1956, the Seven Years' War broke out and Eagle was forced to take part in the blockade of the French coast. IN next year Together with the crew of his ship, Cook gets into a rather serious naval battle, after which the ship even had to be sent home for repairs. According to the maritime laws of that time, after two years of practice one could expect a promotion. James successfully passed the Sailing Master exam. Soon he received a new assignment on a ship called Solebey.
During the war, James Cook became famous for his endurance, courage, as well as his flexible and kind disposition as a person you could rely on. His subordinates adored him and his superiors treated him with respect. In 1958, on the ship Pembroke, after an operation in the Bay of Biscay, he was sent to the distant and uncharted shores of North America. There he took part in the Battle of Quebec, one of the decisive battles French and Indian War. His task was not just to go to the desired point, but first of all to map the shore and mark with buoys the navigable fairway (deep waters) of the St. Lawrence River.
James did not take part in the battle, but he “clicked” the cards like seeds. He was transferred as a foreman to the Northumberland, as part of whose crew he continued to explore the banks of the river and plot their outlines on the map. Admiral Colville was amazed at the accuracy of Cook's diagrams, so at his request and recommendation they were added to the North American pilot of the same year. After returning from the campaign, he met Elizabeth Butts and immediately married. His wife gave birth to six children, whose fate remains unclear.
The first expedition to find Terra Incognita
The great story of James Cook begins in 1768, when the British government, according to the official version, sent an expedition to explore the amazing natural phenomenon– passage of Venus across the disk of the Sun. But the secret directives read as follows: immediately after completing observation of the dark spot on solar disk, which will last only a few hours, the ship should turn around and go in search of Terra Incognita - the Southern continent, which, according to legend, is located at the pole.
Since James was a military man, scientific expedition someone else had to lead. The Admiralty's choice fell on another outstanding specialist, Alexander Dalrymple, geographer and first hydrographer. He firmly believed - southern lands actually exist and are densely populated. On the ship Endeavor, ironically again a coal miner, the expedition set off, having on board, in addition to the sailors, an astronomer, a botanist, an artist, a doctor and just wealthy person who wants to go on a trip.
In August 1976, the ship left Plymouth and reached Tahiti in early April. The discoverer James Cook had clear instructions from his superiors - to enter into only friendly relations with the natives, to indulge and help them in every possible way, to fulfill all demands and requests. This was a very strange instruction, because England preferred to solve any issues with cannons and muskets. The captain established the strictest rules on board, which imposed very severe punishment even for harmless offenses. This made it possible to quickly make friends with the natives and gain their trust. Therefore, they could observe Venus without hindrance, and replenished their supplies with trinkets and decorations.
After spending everything necessary observations, the ship, taking on board several natives who knew these waters, set off for the shores of New Zealand. Despite the politeness of the Europeans, the natives received them with hostility, unlike the Tahitians. Stopping in one of the bays and climbing high cliffs, James discovered that the island was divided in half by the Strait, which was later called Cook Strait. In the seventies, the Endeavor approached Australia, where, due to the abundance of various unfamiliar vegetation, the captain gave the area the name Botanical. In mid-summer, the ship ran aground, and a huge hole appeared in its side. To seal it, I had to look for a suitable bay. Having dealt with the problem, people were about to go out to the open sea again, but found that they were cut off from the ocean by the Great Barrier Reef - a strip of sandbanks and rocks.
It took a long time to go around the reef, but we managed to find the coveted strait between Australia and New Guinea. Scurvy began among the crew, people began to die. They headed to Jakarta, where the unfortunate sailors also suffered from malaria, to which dysentery was added on the way home. Only twelve travelers managed to see their native shores, among whom, fortunately, was our hero. After returning, the sailor received the rank of captain of the first rank, despite the fact that the Southern Continent was never discovered.
Searches for the mainland during the second expedition
His own diary, which has survived to this day, helps characterize what James Cook was like. In 1722, it was decided to send a new expedition in search of the Southern Lands. On this occasion, the captain wrote that he was obliged to go to new territories, while staying at the highest possible latitudes, and he was going to do just that. This time the expedition sailed not with one, but with two ships - the Resolution (Captain Cook) and the Adventure (Tobias Furneaux). The research team again included an astronomer, a botanist, an artist and two naturalists - Johann Reinhold and Georg Forster.
From Plymouth, travelers went south, wanting to find the island they had supposedly seen earlier, but they never found anything. In January of the seventy-third year, for the first time in the world, ships created by man crossed the Arctic Circle. The storm that broke out scattered the travelers, who were never able to find each other. Therefore, Cook himself went towards New Zealand, where an emergency meeting place was appointed in Charlotte Bay. Furneaux headed towards Tasmania, but deciding that it was only part of Australia and it would not be possible to go around it, he also turned to the designated bay. In midsummer both ships left it comfortable spot to explore the Pacific Ocean in the area adjacent to Zealand.
Interesting
In 1773, a terrible scurvy fell on the ship Adventure due to an improperly organized diet. There was nothing to be done: in order not to lose the team, showing character, James Cook headed to friendly Tahiti. There they managed to replenish supplies of vegetables and fruits and cure almost all scurvy patients. So an ordinary sailor managed to find out that vitamins plant origin have a beneficial effect on the body and relieve all the symptoms of this terrible disease.
Further events developed as if in a real horror film. There were no signs of trouble: on the island of Huahine they managed to acquire three or four hundred head of pigs. Uletea, Eua and Tongatabu seemed to the captain to be a true paradise, and the inhabitants - angels.
Near New Zealand, a storm scattered ships again. The Adventure was not in Charlotte Bay, and Cook began to wait. During a forced three-week stay, the sailors discovered that the locals were practicing cannibalism with might and main. James decides to leave a note and move on. Only seven days later the second ship returned to the bay. On the seventeenth of December, eight sailors and two boatswains went ashore for fruit, but they themselves became lunch for the natives. This made such a strong impression on Captain Furneaux that he sent the ship to Cape Town, and then home, leaving the expedition leader a detailed report on what happened.
Meanwhile, the Resolution visits Easter Island, the Marquesas Islands and Tahiti again, the sailors visit Hua Hin and Raiatea, and even get into trouble in Fiji - the natives here are belligerent and unfriendly. In September Cook opens new caledonia, and a little later, New Georgia. But Adventure never finds anything in Charlotte Bay. Only in Cape Town, James receives a note from Furneaux and immediately sends the ship back to England.
Finding the Northwest Passage on the Third Expedition
James Cook's third expedition was aimed at finding a water passage in the north connecting the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. The first ship remained the wonderful coal miner Resolution. Instead of the Adventure, it was decided to send another ship, the Discovery, with captain Charles Clerk on board. Both sailed from Plymouth, heading for Cape Town, where the docks were extensively refurbished within a couple of weeks. Through Kerguelen and Tasmania they arrived in Tahiti, and then crossed the equator and discovered Christmas Island. In January 1778, the Hawaiian Islands, about which no one had previously known anything, were discovered and mapped.
On the coast of Canada, the ships found themselves in a terrible storm, but still continued to move. They passed through the Bering Strait, crossed the Arctic Circle and were going to go around the mainland along the Chukchi Sea. However, we ran into a huge snow-white desert. It was stupid to even dream of breaking the centuries-old ice, so I had to return. On the Aleutian Islands, the sailors were lucky enough to meet Russian hunters and trappers who had already heard about James Cook. They gave him a map of the famous Bering, surprisingly accurate and detailed.
At the end of November 1978, the ships reached the Hawaiian Islands, but a normal anchorage was found only in January of the following year. The natives showed extreme friendliness, concentrated en masse around the travelers, were interested in everything and poked their noses everywhere. At first, James was mistaken for one of their deities, but soon the relationship began to deteriorate catastrophically. The natives began to steal and even attack people from the expedition.
Who really ate the researcher?
Contrary to the famous song of Vysotsky, who knew exactly what James Cook did and how his fateful trip to Hawaii ended, no one knows exactly what happened to the sailor’s body. But let's not get ahead of ourselves and look into the details. The fatal clash occurred when the captain and the sailors wanted to take away the longboat, which had been stolen from the ship the day before, from the aborigines. He invited the leader on board, he agreed, but already at the very edge of the water he changed his mind. The traveler tried to persuade him, but the people gathered on the shore behaved threateningly, they began to throw spears and shoot arrows at the Europeans.
On February 14, 1779, in terrible chaos, amid the wild screams of an angry crowd of thousands, fifty-year-old explorer James Cook was killed, probably with a spear to the back of the head. Seeing that the captain fell lifeless, the sailors quickly retreated to the ship. The clerk, in his report on the incident, stated that it was a fatal accident. The savages were not going to go that far and even began to form a living corridor to let the travelers out. The captain of the Discovery spent several days unsuccessfully seeking the peaceful return of the body of the deceased, but no one wanted to listen to those who had hopelessly lost the status of gods.
Frustrated and angry, Charles Clerk ordered the merciless burning of all coastal settlements. Frightened, driven deep into the island, the aborigines agreed to his conditions and on February 22 delivered a basket of meat to the ship. There was also a half-decomposed human head, which was missing lower jaw. These remains were thrown into the abyss that same day, as befits sailors. To this day, no one knows for sure whether they belonged to the captain, or whether the natives ate his meat. Clerk himself died soon from tuberculosis and did not reach England.
An English Captain's Legacy for Geography: In Memory of Cook
Thanks to this amazing man, his natural abilities and pedantic attitude to work, were received unique cards. They turned out to be so accurate and reliable that it was customary to use them until the end of the nineteenth century. At that time, no one else had similar cartographic works, except perhaps Bering, but he explored a completely different area.
James Cook's character has always been tolerant, but this did not help him escape from trouble. Despite this, his memory lives on in the hearts of his descendants. In addition to the strait, a large archipelago in Pacific Ocean. The command module of Apollo 15 was named after the name of the ship the captain sailed on. In addition, there is even a crater on the bright (visible) side of the Moon named James Cook.
Cook, James - famous English navigator (1728-1779). The son of a farmer, he was apprenticed to a merchant, but, having quarreled with the owner, he began his seafaring career at the age of 13 with seven years of service on a coal ship. From 1755 he entered English fleet; in 1759 he was already an officer; during the Seven Years' War he took part in the siege of Quebec; in 1763-67 he was engaged in surveying and inventorying the shores of Newfoundland.
In 1768, Cook was sent as captain of the ship Endeavor to the islands of Tahiti for scientific research, among other things, to observe the passage of the planet Venus through the disk of the sun and calculate the distance of the sun from the earth. Having completed this task with the help of the astronomers who were with him and having made a description of the islands, which he called the Partnership Islands, Cook turned south, explored and mapped the coast of New Zealand, which was then considered part of the proposed southern continent, reached the eastern coast of Australia, surveyed it for about 2000 miles and declared the country British property. Making one discovery after another, he passed through the Torres Strait, proving that Australia was separated from New Guinea, and then returned to Europe through Batavia and the Cape of Good Hope (1771).
Portrait of James Cook. Artist N. Dance, 1775-1776
Here he was entrusted with a new expedition on two ships (“Resolution” and “Adventure”) to resolve the issue of the existence southern continent(Antarctica). James Cook left Plymouth in 1772 and headed south via Kapstadt, but ice floes forced him to turn towards New Zealand. The following year he sailed south again; a storm separated him from another ship entrusted to him. Cook reached 71° 10" south latitude, when he had to stop further navigation due to ice and turn north. At the same time, he discovered many Pacific islands from the Marquesas in the east to New Caledonia and the New Hebrides in the west, after which, rounding the South America, he discovered several more islands in the south Atlantic Ocean and returned to England (1774).
Cook's third voyage took place after the English Parliament appointed a prize for the discovery of the northern passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. Cook took on this task in 1776 with two ships (Resolution and Discovery). He followed through the Cape of Good Hope, New Zealand and Tahiti, and from here to the north. Having discovered the islands here in 1778, called the Sandwich Islands (Hawaiian Islands), and sailing further along the coast of North America, Cook passed through the Bering Strait, but at 74° 44 " northern latitude ice blocked his further path.
Upon returning to the Hawaiian Islands, Cook first entered into friendly negotiations with the local residents, but on February 13, 1779, one English boat was detained by the natives. The next day Cook went ashore to try to get her back. The natives were alarmed; An accidental shot by an Englishman killed their leader. Then the savages attacked the Europeans. In the battle, 4 sailors and Cook were killed. It was not even possible to collect his remains, which were eaten by the residents. Only the admiral's bones were later found.
Three voyages around the world by James Cook. The first is indicated by red arrows, the second by green, the third by blue
James Cook's three voyages around the world discovered more lands and revealed the structure and location of oceans, seas, continents and islands better than any other expedition. Cook holds a place in the history of geography equal to Columbus and Magellan. Descriptions of all three of his journeys, full of deep scientific interest, have been published many times not only in English, but also in many European languages, including in Russian. London royal society, whose member Cook was from 1775, published a number of his very valuable special works, all the more amazing because Cook did not have a proper scientific education.