# The Life and Voyages of Captain James Cook/Chapter 1

THE LIFE OF COOK.
Birth, Parentage, and early Employments of Cook, to his entering the British Navy.
Captain James Cook, the prince of navigators, one of the brightest ornaments of his country, possessed not the advantage of an illustrious parentage; but, like not a few of the great and noble, he rose to eminence by the splendour of his talents, and the worth of his character. His father, who had the same name, followed the humble occupation of an agricultural labourer. He is said to have come from the village of Ednam, near the banks of the Tweed, well known as the birth-place of Thomson the poet. The circumstances which induced him to quit his native home, and settle in Cleveland, in the north-east part of Yorkshire, are not known; but when he left his father's house, quite a youth, his mother bestowed her parting blessing in these words, "God send you grace!" and when he married a young woman whose christian name was Grace, and who appears to have been a native ​of Cleveland, he observed, jocosely, that in one sense at least, the prayer of his pious mother had been answered. The young couple resided for a time in the small township of Morton, in the parish of Ormesby, not far from Guisborough; and the baptism of their son John, who lived to the age of twenty-three, is entered in the parish register at Onnesby, under the date of January 10th, 1726-7. From hence they removed to the village of Marton, about a mile to the westward; and here their son James was born, October 27th, 1728. His baptism is thus entered in the parish register at Marton: "1728. nobr/• 3. James ye/• Son of James Cook day labourer baptized."
The house in which he was born was a small thatched cottage, of two apartments, which was demolished by the late Major Rudd, about the year 1786, when he was erecting his mansion house, laying out pleasure grounds, and making improvements in the village. The site of the cottage is in the grounds behind the hall. Timothy Lax, an old shoemaker of the village, who died lately at the age of fourscore, and whose wife's mother, Ann Mainsforth, who lived to the age of ninety-six, was present at the Captain's birth, conducted the author to the place where the cottage stood. No vestige of the walls is left; but a willow tree grows at the spot. It should have been a weeping willow, to express the regret which every stranger feels at the destruction of a dwelling, which ought to have been carefully preserved, and decorated with evergreen shrubs and fragrant flowers, in honour of the hero who drew his first breath under its roof, and who, had he not been prematurely cut off, might Kave breathed his last in a palace, as a peer of the ​realm. The cottage was at one time the village alehouse, with the sign of the Bear, and was kept by one William Pearson. When young Cook was but a few months old, his father removed to another cottage, a little further to the south-west, but in the same village. During his residence at Marton, he was chiefly employed as a day labourer, by Mr. Mewbum, a farmer.
At his native place, our illustrious navigator received the first rudiments of his education, being taught to read by Dame Walker, the schoolmistress of the village. Being honest, frugal, and sober themselves, his parents studied to bring up their offspring in the fear of God, and in habits of industry and goodness. Their upright conduct soon procured them a better situation; for, about the year 1736, they removed to the neighbouring parish of Ayton, where the father became hind, or foreman, on the farm of Airyholm, belonging to Thomas Skottowe, Esq.
During their residence here, which was for several years, young Cook, at Mr. Skottowe's expense, was put to a day school at Ayton, taught by a Mr. Pullen, and was instructed in writing and arithmetic, in addition to reading. The school-house, situated in the upper part of Ayton, bears an inscription, stating that it was built by Michael Pos-(illegible text)te in 1704, and rebuilt in 1785; consequently, its appearance has been altered since it had the honour of Cook's presence. With some of his school-fellows the author has conversed, and obtained from them a part of this narrative. Nothing worthy of notice appeared in his character or acquirements at school, except a resolute adherence to his own plans, in preference to any proposed by ​his comrades. When the boys of the village assembled in the evening, to plan an expedition in search of birds' nests, or devise some other project for amusement. Cook might be seen in the midst of them, proposing his plan, and insisting on its superiority to any other; and even when the current of opinion was in favour of another scheme, he would still pertinaciously adhere to his own, and proceed in the direction chosen by himself, at the risk of being almost deserted by his companions. In such juvenile transactions, we may trace the germ of that unshaken perseverance, that inflexible firmness, with which, in mature life, he pursued the objects of his research.
During the intervals of his attendance at Ayton school, and for two or three years after he had left it, young Cook was employed along with his father, in agricultural labours on Mr. Skottowe's farm; and he is said to have been a stable-boy for a short period. His turn of mind, however, being suited to some better employment, he was placed, at the age of sixteen or seventeen, with Mr. William Sanderson, shopkeeper, in Staiths, a considerable fishing town, ten miles north-west from Whitby; with a view to learn the business of haberdasher, or country shopkeeper. Here, besides the concerns of the shop, a fresh set of objects engaged the youth's attention. His new residence was close to the German ocean, on the bosom of which crowds of vessels were seen passing and repassing; his new companions were young fishermen and sailors, ever ready to rehearse the adventures of a seafaring life; his leisure hours were often spent in making short excursions in fishing cobles; and thus, by degrees, he became so attached to a seafaring pro​fession, that he felt little inclination to prosecute the business of a shopkeeper. Accidents apparently trivial are frequently ordered by an allwise Providence to bring about the most important results; and when young Cook had been about a year and a half with Mr. Sanderson, a circumstance occurred which gave a new and powerful impulse to his growing desires for a change of employment. One day, while he was attending in the shop, a young woman, who had purchased some articles, gave him a new shilling in payment. Struck with the beauty of the coin, he resolved to keep it as a pocket piece, replacing it with one of his own. But the master, whose eye it had caught at the time of payment, missing it from the till, hastily charged him with purloining it. This charge the lad indignantly repelled, explaining to his master the true reason of its disappearance. He did wrong in making any such exchange, without naming it to his master; yet there can be no doubt that he was not prompted by avarice; and in this affair we see an early instance of that fondness for curiosities which he felt so strongly in his later years. It is worthy of remark, that the coin which so forcibly attracted his notice was what is called a South-Sea shilling, of the coinage of Geo. I, marked on the reverse S S C, for South Sea Company; as if the name of the piece had been intended to indicate the principal field of his future discoveries.
The altercation which took place about the shilling increased young Cook's aversion to shopkeeping, and strengthened his predilection for a seafaring life; and Mr. Sanderson, who was a worthy man, finding him bent on going to sea, did ​not oppose his wishes; but, with the consent of his parents, conducted him to Whitby, where he introduced him to Mr. John Walker, a respectable shipowner and master mariner, to whom he was bound an apprentice for three years. Mr. Sanderson and his family, of whom a son and daughter, Mr. John Sanderson and Mrs. Dodds, survived till this history was begun, continued ever after to have a friendly regard for our hero. The house and shop where he lived with Mr. Sanderson, have long ago been swept away by the sea, which has made considerable depredations on the lower part of Staiths; but the counter behind which Cook served, with its venerable till, may still be seen there, in the shop of Mr. Richard Hutton.
Our young navigator faithfully served his apprenticeship to Mr. Walker, first in the Freelove, of about 450 tons, employed in the coal trade, that great nursery for seamen; and afterwards, during his last year's service, in the Three Brothers, a fine new ship of nearly 600 tons; which, by Mr. Walker's direction, he assisted in rigging and fitting for sea. This vessel, after making two coal voyages, was engaged for several months as a transport, and employed in carrying some troops from Middleburgh to Dublin, and conveying other troops from thence to Liverpool. In the spring of 1749, the ship was paid off at Deptford; and was subsequently employed in the Norway trade, in which Cook finished his term of service in the month of July, being then nearly twenty-one years old. In the course of his apprenticeship, he spent several intervals at Whitby, chiefly in the depth of winter, when the coal vessels are usually laid up. At such times, according to a custom then general ​among Whitby shipowners, he lodged in his master's house, which was situated in Grape Lane; being the house lately occupied by Wakefield Simpson Chapman, Esq., and now by Samuel Wharton, Esq. The place where Cook slept, although it has undergone alterations, is still viewed with no small interest. Under the roof of Mr. Walker, a worthy member of the Society of Friends, the youth would naturally be confirmed in those habits of regularity and temperance in which he had been brought up, and which were eminently conducive to his future greatness. His sober deportment and studious turn of mind made him respected by all the family; and he was a particular favourite with Mary Prowd, a trusty old nurse or housekeeper, many years employed in Mr. Walker's house. In the winter evenings, she allowed him a table and a candle, that he might read or write by himself, while the other apprentices were engaged in idle talk or trifling amusements. That eagerness for knowledge, which afterwards grew so rapidly, had even then begun to take deep root in his mind; and he found it a great advantage to be in the service of a gentleman who was ready to encourage him m every thing laudable. It is probable, that during part of the winter months, he attended a day school, or evening school, to learn the first principles of navigation; according to a laudable custom, which has long prevailed among the young seamen of Whitby.
His practice as a seaman, from the close of his apprenticeship until he entered the navy, exhibits nothing memorable. He went before the mast, as the phrase is, for above two years, serving on board of various ships. In 1750, he was in the Maria, ​belonging to Mr. John Wilkinson of Whitby, employed in the Baltic trade, under the command of Captain Gaskin, a relation of Mr. Walker. Next year he served in a Stockton ship; and in February, 1752, Mr. Walker engaged him as mate of the Friendship, of about 400 tons; his character, as an intelligent, active, and steady seaman, being now well established. This situation Mr. Cook held three years; during which, as well as in his previous service, he was acquiring that expertness in seamanship, and that intrepidity in danger, which are so necessary for a British seaman; and for which Whitby sailors, in particular, have often been distinguished. The vessel was employed in the coal trade, one of the best schools for making good seamen; and so well was Captain Walker satisfied with the ability, faithfulness, and good conduct of his mate, that he was about to promote him to the command of the Friendship, when new and unexpected circumstances led Mr. Cook to bend his talents and services in another direction. The name of the last vessel in which he served Mr. Walker, was a kind of memorial of the connexion between them; for their friendship lasted during life, and even unto this day the memory of Captain Cook is revered by Mr. Walker's descendants, some of whom still reside at Whitby.
Staiths.
Whitby, from the Angel Inn Yard. ☞ Mr. Walker's House is the farthest to the right, directly under the Abbey Towers.