This is my second article about discovery of New Zealand and James Cook. You can find the first one here.

Captain James Cook was born in England in a poor farmer’s family. Cook didn’t receive any formal education and began his career sailing as a 19 years old sailor. During his life he completed three important journeys, which made famous not only Cook himself but also the whole England. During his fist journey he reached Tahiti, discovered and mapped East Coast of Australia and New Zealand. His second journey began in 1772. Cook became the first explorer to cross Antarctic Circle. The goal of his third expedition was to find a passage between Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. He and his crew reached the beginning of arctic ices but they couldn’t find a passage. During this expedition Cook inspected Islands in the northern part of Pacific Ocean including Hawaii. When he first set foot on Hawaii (it happened on January 8th 1778), Cook was very surprised by the ceremonial celebrations in his honor. Natives thought that Cook was actually god Lono, whose comeback was predicted by Polynesian legends. For the whole month Cooks crew “tested” the hospitality of the natives and then sailed off. But Cooks fleet had to return to the Islands soon after leaving because one of the ships had a broken mast. This time, when fleet arrived at the shores, Natives weren’t so happy to meet people who took their goods. The relations between the crew and natives became very strained after a lifeboat was stolen from one of the ships. Cook decided to descend to shore accompanied by a small part of his crew, and take the chief hostage until the islanders return the stolen boat. The aggression of assembled crowd (according to ship’s logbook there gathered more than twenty thousand natives) provoked Cook to act inadequately, which was taken as a threat by natives. The islanders attacked the captain and his crew and torn their bodies. The remaining sailors fled to the ship, and afterwards, armed with firearms, avenged the death of their captain and friends by bloody massacres.

The achievements of this expedition weren’t recognized at all. When the ships returned home, England was in the middle of war with American colonies, and the expedition ships were immediately put to war.

Cook’s family fate was also very sad. Missis Cook outlived all her children and died at the age of 93 spending all her life surrounded by artifacts gathered by her husband during his voyages. Family shield with Pacific Ocean’s logo remained without heir.