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.

2024: Cook has become a controversial figure, representing all the worst of imperialism. The Daily Mail reported "Captain Cook statue is sawn down in Melbourne with the words 'the colony will fall' sprayed in red on the plinth just hours before Australia Day".

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...

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Captain Cook - E1

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

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Captain Cook - E1 - lost plaque

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

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Captain Cook - The Highway

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

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Captain James Cook statue

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

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Show all 9

Other Subjects

John Kenley

John Kenley

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

Person, Exploring, Tragedy

1 memorial
Charles F. des Voeux

Charles F. des Voeux

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

Person, Exploring, Tragedy

1 memorial
William Strong

William Strong

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

Person, Exploring, Tragedy

1 memorial
William Reed

William Reed

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

Person, Exploring, Tragedy

1 memorial
William Pilkington

William Pilkington

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

Person, Exploring, Tragedy

1 memorial