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Captain Cook

by Walter BESANT (1836 - 1901)

Ch. 2: Before the Mast, Pt. 1

James Cook (1728-1779), British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the Royal Navy was the son of a farm laborer. Apprenticed to a grocer, he ran away to sea. He saw hard service in the Baltic as a merchant seaman, while applying himself to the study of mathematics, navigation, and astronomy. In 1755 he volunteered for the Royal Navy, working his way up to captain. This little biography by Walter Besant, chronicles Cook's three voyages of discovery and his violent death in Hawaii. Cook replaced vague mythology with accurate observations of people and places, animals and plants. Of his achievements Besant writes, "We seek St. Brendan's Island and Terra Australis Incognita; and we find New Zealand and Cape Horn, the Continent of Australia, and the great Pacific Ocean, studded with islands as the firmament is studded by the stars." (Pamela Nagami, M.D.),

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Listen next episodes of Captain Cook:
Ch. 10: The Third Voyage, Pt. 1 , Ch. 10: The Third Voyage, Pt. 2 , Ch. 10: The Third Voyage, Pt. 3 , Ch. 10: The Third Voyage, Pt. 4 , Ch. 11: His Death, Pt. 1 , Ch. 11: His Death, Pt. 2 , Ch. 11: His Death, Pt. 3 , Ch. 11: His Death, Pt. 4 , Ch. 12: The End of the Voyage , Ch. 13: The Ship's Company , Ch. 14: The Last , Ch. 2: Before the Mast, Pt. 2 , Ch. 3: In the Royal Navy, Pt. 1 , Ch. 3: In the Royal Navy, Pt. 2 , Ch. 4: The Great Unknown Ocean , Ch. 5: Cook's Three Predecessors , Ch. 6: Cook's First Voyage, Pt. 1 , Ch. 6: Cook's First Voyage, Pt. 2 , Ch. 7: A Breathing Space , Ch. 8: The Second Voyage, Pt. 1 , Ch. 8: The Second Voyage, Pt. 2 , Ch. 9: Last Stay at Home