The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1893-08-17

Captain James Cook sprang from
the most humble family, his father
being a simple day laborer who
could only afford to give the prom
Using boy the simplest education.
Marion was the name of the little
Yorkshire village in which the
Cooks lived, but it was surrounded
by beautiful scenery, and was not
far from Stockton-on-Tees, which
was a more pretentious place, and
where the Yorkshire lad got his
first notions of going TO sea.
The future discoverer of the
Sandwich Islands used to wander
along the banks of the Tees and
watch the white sails of the mer-
chantmen as they came homeward
after long cruises in foreign parts,
and the freedom which the sailor
seemed to enjoy made him yearn
for life on the ocean.
The coast, too, was the home of
fishermen, and their rude smacks
fascinated young Cook until he re-
solved one day to run away to sea
and search out the hidden parts of
the world.
He was also an omniverous
reader, and would sit up far into
the nj ght pouring over works on
navigation, and almost before he
knew how to read at all he was
found spelling out the names on
the old maps and charts which ex-
listed in very primitive form at
that day.
Time came, however, for the
Yorkshire boy to be at work, and
his father apprenticed him, as was
the custom, to draper and grocer
in a small village named Straithes,
near Whitby. Boys who could get
apprenticed in those days were
considered lucky, and many flu
ture great fortune was laid in that
way. But young Cook was not
satisfied to stand behind a counter
and wait on the simple country
folk. 1t took him from the sea and
shut him up in a prison, and from
the first day he longed to escape.
The house in which Cook was to
have labored and lose his genius to
the world is still standing with the
year 1858" over the door, but the
boy was not destined to be cooped
up within it's dull walls. He soon
tired of the drudgery of Diapers
clerk, and of his own accord en-
gagged himself for seven years with
the owners of ships attached to the
coal trade. This was not much of
a step toward a life in foreign ports,
but it was the best the boy could
do; and while in this service he
learned a great deal CT the sea and
laid the groundwork for the sue
cesses which came to him some
years later.
The coasting trade was danger
Gus, and the sturdy Yorkshire boy,
whose muscles had been hardened
by an out-of-door life on the banks
of the Tees, discovered that he was
just the person to get along in that
service. What is more, at the end
of the seven years he had 80 pleased
his employers that he was advanced
to the dignity of mate, which was
the first real step toward the goal
of his ambition.
At this time (the middle of the
last century, England and France
were graphing for the mastery on
this continent, and their arms were
about to clash together on the
Heights of Abraham. The English
were sore pressed for sailors in
their navy, and the press gangs
were at work night and day. Yes
sells coming home from long cruises
were boarded and their crews taken
off and forced into the royal navy
for service in America. Fishermen
were seized in their little boats and
obliged to tread the decks of troop
ships, which carried soldiers across
the water to drive the French from
Canada.
Captain James Cook, to save
himself from impressment, resolved
to offer his services to the British
navy, and in a. short time he was
on his way to American shores.
The Eagle was warship of eighty
guns, and was commanded by Sir
Hugh Palliser. Sir Hugh noticed
that his young recruit was person
of courage and judgment, and he
at once promoted him to a position
on the quarterback, and, thus
equipped Cook reached America in
time to help land the English sol
diers at the foot of the Heights of
Abraham.
During this hazardous service he
did not lay down the study of
mathematics and the science of
navigation. He yearned for a wider
field, and all the time kept his
mind on the distant parts of the
sea and the lands which he was
certain must lie therein.
His opportunity came in the year
1853, when he was commissioned
to take command of the expedition
sent out to observe the transit of