Captain Cook's World

James Cook - sailor, surveyor, cartographer and explorer - was born in Whitby in 1728 and died in Hawaii in 1779. In the course of his life he sailed into every ocean and was one of the first English explorers, in some cases the first, to set foot on most of the world's major continents; he was the first to cross both the Arctic and Antarctic circles. Like Nelson, he has acquired iconic status and his ships - Endeavour and Resolution - are as well known as Victory. "Captain Cook' World" is an atlas which maps the life and voyages of this celebrated explorer. A set of 128 specially-drawn charts, with their accompanying texts, trace his life from his childhood in Yorkshire, through his time in the North Sea coal trade, his days with the Royal Navy in Canada, and his three great voyages around the world in Endeavour and Resolution. Included on the maps are the locations visited, named and charted by Cook, the routes of his voyages, and the sites that have been marked in his honour. Introductions to the voyages and lengthy captions to the maps tell the story in narrative form.