James Cook

James Cook was a British naval officer, hydrographer and navigator whose precise surveys helped transform European knowledge of the Pacific and Southern Ocean. Before his famous expeditions, he mapped the St. Lawrence River and Newfoundland; between 1768 and 1779, he commanded three major voyages, charting New Zealand and Australia’s east coast, crossing the Antarctic Circle, and surveying parts of the North American coast. His work combined astronomical observation, careful cartography and naval exploration, including observations of the 1769 transit of Venus and a search for a Northwest Passage.