He went further than all his predecessors, exploring seas, islands and continents. His maxim was to go not only further than any man had gone before, “but as far as I think a man can go”. That was the ambition of a young man from a humble Yorkshire family who could only receive a limited education, and who at the age of 13 had to abandon his studies to work on the family farm. As resources were scarce, he served as an apprentice tavern keeper, but little James had a fascination with sailing and embarked as a cabin boy on a coal ship. In less than five years, he was already an officer on a merchant ship. The treacherous waters of the North Sea and the Baltic were no longer a challenge for James Cookwho applied as a volunteer to the Royal Navy. The world no longer had limits for him.
During the Seven Years’ War, which infected the Atlantic with privateers and filibusters, Cook proved to be a skilled cartographer. He toured the coasts of Newfoundland, mapped them and, thanks to the detailed charts of the St. Lawrence River, allowed the British to conquer Canadian lands.
His skill caught the attention not only of the Royal Navy but of the Royal Geographical Society; He was the right man to explore the limits of the empire. The task assigned to the first expedition was to find Terra Australis, which the Dutch had described a century earlier. Willem Janszoon and Andreas TasmanBesides Spanish Luis Váez de Torres.
It was a new world waiting to be discovered, described and conquered. An exotic, exuberant, almost incredible new continent that made Cook the hero of a scientific community enraptured by so many novelties. On board the HMS Endeavor drew the limits of Australia and Tasmaniaplaces that the empire used as a prison to free England from criminals and undesirables.
On his second trip in charge of the HMS Resolution and the Adventure, the captain and his crew circumnavigated the world from the Antarctic Circle to the Equator, from New Zealand to Tahiti. He measured the planet, shaped the continents and described its wonders. Cook had become a reference, a very valuable and popular person to risk his life in unknown seas. He was offered an honorary position at Greenwich, but Cook missed the sea and once again set sail for the unknown. He didn’t know it would be the last time.
The Australian lands had been left behind and he traveled north to the Hawaiian Islands, which he called the Sandwich, in honor of John Montaguknown as Lord Sandwichthe senior admiral of the British Navy who spread his name across archipelagos, islands and bays and also gave his noble title to the sandwich.
When on January 17, 1778, James Cook docked the HMS Resolution, in Kealakekua Bay, thousands of natives came out to greet him, identifying the captain with the god Lono, deity of the earth. The reception was apotheotic and the British enjoyed the hospitality of the locals and especially the favors of the natives, who made their stay on those islands that seemed like Paradise Lost unforgettable.
The English ships left on February 4, but a hurricane destroyed the mast of the HMS Resolution and they decided to return to Hawaii to repair it as well as enjoy, once again, the pleasures that had been so generously offered to them… but this time everything was different. Why did the god Lono and his followers return? He had taken advantage of his generosity, his men had abused his women. Why did they come back?
The hostility was evident from the beginning, which disconcerted the members of the ship.
On February 14, 1779, in the same Kealakekua Bay, some Hawaiians stole a British boat. Continuing with the custom that they had adopted in different circumstances, every time the natives stole property from the English, they took hostages until the stolen objects were returned as soon as possible. This time, Cook himself tried to take the king hostage Kalaniopu’u, but the beach was full of natives who prevented the kidnapping. To intimidate them, the English fired their guns, but instead of intimidating them, it made them more violent. One of the aborigines stabbed Captain Cook, causing his death along with four members of his crew.
The corpses of enemies used to be distributed among local chiefs in a anthropophagic rite that sought to incorporate the warrior spirit of the defeated.
The English tried to recover the body of their captain and after negotiating with the natives, they agreed to hand over the mortal remains of Cook, recognized by his hand that had a large scar. “The bones had been stripped of meat and appeared to have been cooked and salted…”
Years later, the Hawaiian queen Lydia Kamakaeha (1838-1917) on a visit to England during a tea organized in his honor by some British ladies, he commented, between scones and cucumber sandwiches, that English blood ran through his veins. The aristocratic ladies cleared their throats and exchanged knowing glances. One of them dared to murmur: “he must have been a sailor…”, to which the queen quickly replied: “Oh no, get it straight, one of my ancestors ate Captain Cook.”
The explorer’s rescued remains rest at Westminster Abbey.
Source: Ambito
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