At the age of 16, James Cook
signed up with the merchant navy, learning skills in the things that would prove most useful during his naval career. Having achieved the
rank of captain, Cook was sent south of the equator aboard HMS Endeavour. The goal
of the mission was to observe Venus moving in front of the sun – albeit with an
ulterior motive of finding a rumored “southern continent.” Thus began a series
of expeditions to the Pacific, where Cook and his crew made the first known
circumnavigation of New Zealand and became the first Europeans to visit eastern
Australia. After searching for the Northwest Passage, Cook found and explored
the Hawaiian Islands, where he was killed by the not so friendly natives in
1779.
