Like many men of the sea, James Cook was born of the land. His father was a farm labourer, but from their cottage tall masts could be seen as merchantmen navigated the treacherous estuary of the River Tees on Yorkshire’s East coast. It may have been the sight of those first billowing sails as ships tacked upriver on their way to discharge cargo at Stockton that awoke excitement in James Cook’s heart and an awareness of a wide world beyond the village of his birth. Only later with the shifting deck of a cat-bark beneath his feet and taut canvas above, did Cook realise his vocation, a calling that would carry him over the broad oceans of the world, almost farther than any man had ventured. Three times around the whole circumference of the earth, and both north and south into the ice of each polar cap.

    Looking from a 21st century perspective, these voyages do not appear startling, but it must be remembered in the last three centuries the world has been shrunk dramatically by ever-increasing speeds of travel, making it possible to reach Australia in under one day. Another factor we take for granted is instant world-wide communication by telephone and internet. Perhaps it is easier to appreciate Cook’s achievements by comparing them with those of our astronauts, both of them mastering that distance between launch and destination and its safety, but we are talking of a time when we had barely gone beyond believing the world was flat – only disproved about 250 years before Cook, the same time-span between today and Cook’s discoveries. Just like the astronauts, Cook was facing the unknown, but he had to work out the route himself. And once he was there, before he could return he had to work out the route back.

    James Cook was born into a century of great seamen when the king’s ships were commanded by the likes of Rodney or Cochrane, etc whose daring exploits engineered the belief that English captains would always triumph even when faced with the greatest adversity - outnumbered, outsailed and outgunned. Those captains deserved the title hero, serving their country courageously and for the most part selflessly, culminating in that greatest of victories  at  Trafalgar  in  1805,    earning    immortal  fame   for   Admiral   Horatio Nelson, among whose captains at that great battle was another son of Whitby, Robert Moorsom,  commanding Revenge, a ship of the line. But while His Britannic Majesty’s Navy was busy stamping its authority over the oceans of the world, the fleets becoming the envied  ‘wooden walls of England’, although James Cook had served his country in war, instead he was to earn his reputation by the pen rather than the sword, expanding the knowledge of mankind.

    James Cook was a man of inner strength, independent, determined to attain his goals. The passing of time has made a sure grip on his personality elusive, but its very nature was such that it bound his crews to him like loyal friends. Little of his character is revealed by portraits, only an impression of a solid, staid man. But who could not be so after carrying responsibility for the well being of every member of his ships’ companies thousands of miles from home in uncharted oceans? Another reason perhaps, is that he disciplined himself early in life, applying his mind to learn and understand everything that could be of use to him. He had nobody of senior rank on his voyages of exploration of whom to seek counsel or suggestion ; in fact no contact  with  any  admiralty authority  and  no  means of contacting them from the other side of the world  other  than  leaving  despatches  with captains whose ships may be bound for England, but who might take months to reach a British port. Yet Cook would have no hope of expecting a reply.

    As a captain he strove to improve the health of his men and the conditions under which they lived and worked. As an explorer he continually reached to grasp further knowledge that man could more easily understand his environment and his relationship to it. His diligence led him to chart unknown seaways and islands meticulously, his accuracy only surpassed by advances in technology, and his discoveries in effect proved the first tent-ative steps whose tracks were to be the foundation of the British Empire and subsequently the Commonwealth.

    The statue on Whitby’s West Cliff comes nearer than any portrait in evoking James Cook’s character and yearning. A sturdy six foot man, he is sculpted with feet firmly planted in his capability. One hand holds dividers, the other a chart as he stares out to sea, searching. For men like Cook are driven to discover what lies beyond the next hill, unable to suppress their desire to unravel the secret of the next horizon.

    We owe a great deal to Captain James Cook’s efforts.