Person    | Male  Born 7/11/1728  Died 14/2/1779

Captain James Cook

Maritime explorer and cartographer. Born near Middlesbrough. The first to map Newfoundland, explored around Australia and the Hawaiian Islands and made the first circumnavigation of New Zealand.

Killed in Kealakekua Bay by Hawaiian villagers during a fracas concerning the theft of one of Cook's small boats. Cook was held in high esteem by the chiefs so his body was given the same funeral rites that one of their elders would have received. It was disembowelled, baked and the bones cleaned. Following appeals from his comrades the remains were eventually returned for burial at sea.

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Captain James Cook

Commemorated ati

Barking Abbey

Barking Abbey Was founded by St Erkenwald in the year 666. Destroyed by the D...

Read More

Captain Cook - E1

{Left-most panel:} He surveyed the St Lawrence River in 1759. In three voyag...

Read More

Captain Cook - E1 - lost plaque

This terracotta-coloured plaque is now in Australia (see eHive) with one of t...

Read More

Captain Cook - The Highway

The plaque gives Cook's address as 126 Upper Shadwell. Horward's 1799 map gi...

Read More

Captain James Cook statue

The original inscription stopped after "New Zealand." In 1928 the British Em...

Read More

Show all 9

Other Subjects

Daniel Bryant

Daniel Bryant

Role on the lost expedition: Royal marine on SS Erebus. See John Franklin.

Person, Exploring, Tragedy

1 memorial
William (Mole man) Lyttle

William (Mole man) Lyttle

Known as the ‘Mole Man’ because he spent forty years digging a series of tunnels under his, and his neighbours' houses in Hackney. It was estimated that he had shovelled out over 100 cubic metres o...

Person, Exploring, Ireland

1 memorial
Frederick Hornby

Frederick Hornby

Role on the lost expedition: Officer on SS Terror. See John Franklin.

Person, Exploring, Tragedy

1 memorial
Dr. Edward Adrian Wilson

Dr. Edward Adrian Wilson

Born Cheltenham. One of Scott's four companions who died with him, returning from the South Pole. Cheltenham honours Wilson with a statue on the Promenade and an exhibition in the town museum.

Person, Exploring, Medicine, Arctic & Antarctic

2 memorials
John Ratcliffe

John Ratcliffe

Mariner and colonist. His family name appears to have originally been Sicklemore, and why he chose to call himself Ratcliffe remains a riddle. He was captain of the 'Discovery', one of three ships ...

Person, Exploring, USA

1 memorial