COOK. 365 COOK. Naval Acadefiiy. He then served for two years as an ensign in the western Gulf blockading squadron, attained the rauk of ouiuuiander in 1881, was in charge of the department of sea- manship at Annapolis until 1883, and was inspec- tor of ordnance at the Boston Navy-yard from 1889 to 1893. He was subsequently assistant to Kear- Admiral Itanisay, chief of the Bureau of Navigation in Washington, and in 1896, with the rank of captain, toolc command of the cruiser Brookbin. At the beginning of the war with Spain (18981, he joined the 'Hying squadron' under Commodore Schley, and took a prominent part in the battle of Santiago (q.v. ), pursuing the Cristobal Colon until she ran ashore at Rio Tarquino, when he went aboard to receive the surrender of her commander, Captain Jlorcn. At the close of the war he was relieved of sea duty, at his own request, and was appointed to the United States Naval Examining Board. COOK, Frederick Albert (18G5— ). An American physician and explorer, born at Cal- lieoon Depot, N. Y. He graduated at New York University in 1890, was surgeon of the Peary Arctic expedition of 1891-92, and of the Belgian Antarctic expedition of 1897-99. In addition to numerous magazine articles, he has published Through the First Antarctic Night (1900). COOK, George H.vmmell (1818-89). An American geologist, born at Hanover (Morris County), N. J. He graduated in 1839 at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, N. Y, ), was a professor there in 1842-46, and in 1853 became professor of chemistry and the natural sciences at Rutgers College. His chair was changed to that of chemistry, natural history, and agriculture in 1807, analytical chemistry, geology, and agriculture in 1878, and geology and agriculture in 1880. In 1864 he was ap- pointed State Geologist of New Jersey, and in 1880 director of the New Jersey Agricultural Ex- periment Station (Somerville, Somerset County). In addition to annual reports and many papers in scientific periodicals, he published a Geology of Netc Jersey (1868). COOK, Captain .James (1728-79). A cele- brated English navigator. He was the son of a farm laborer ; was born at JIarton, Yorkshire ; was meagrely educated at the village school, and, at twelve years of age, was apprenticed to a small shopkeeper in the fisliing village of Staithes. Disagreeing with his employer, he applied to a firm of Whitby ship-owners engaged in tile Newcastle. Norway, and Baltic trades, and in their service soon rose to the rank of mate. In 175.5, at the outbreak of the French war, he volunteered for the Royal Na-y. Showing ability, in 1759 he was given a master's warrant, and, in command of the ilcrcuri/, proceeded to the North American station. During a winter at Halifax he diligently applied himself to the study of mathematics and astronomical navigation. The charts and observations which he made of the coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador, pub- lished in 1776-78 and distinguished for their accu- racy even to the present day, introduced him to the notice of the Royal Society, and this society intrusted him with the command of an expedi- tion to the Pacific, to observe the transit of Venus. He left Plymouth on August 26, 1768, and, after touching at Madeira and Rio Janeiro, doubled Cape Firn and reached Tahiti on April 13, 1769, where the transit was successfully observed, .lune 3. On the return voyage six months were spent in sailing around and charting the coast of Now Zealanil, which had not been visited by Euro])eans for more than a century. In a similar way the eastern coast of Australia was exam- ined and named New South Wales. The entire separation of Australia from New Guinea was determined. After a two month.s' stay at Bata- via, lie returned by the Cape of Good Hope, and arrived in England, June 12, 1771. The im- portant geographical results of this successful voyage won universal recognition, and two months afterwards Cook received the rank of com- mander and an appointment to organize a new expedition for the discovery of the imaginary Terra Australis Incognita. He sailed with two ships from Plymouth, July 13, 1772, and in a three years' cruise of over 20,000 leagues, en- circled the Antarctic region from New Zealand to Cape Horn. This voyage proved the non-ex- istence of any very great southern continent, and established the map of the region, with the ex- ception of details, essentially as it exists to-day. He returned to England, July 30, 1775. Taught a lesson by a mortalitj' of 46 per cent, in his first voyage around the world. Cook had made such excellent hygienic arrangements that only one man out of 118 died during the cruise. His detailed account of the measures and precautions adopted were read before the Royal Society, Avnich granted him the Copley Gold Medal for his important services to humanity and to the mari- time world. Promoted to the rank of captain, he received an appointment at Greenwich Hospi- tal, but shortly afterwards he offered to command an expedition in search of a passage round North America from the Pacific. He sailed July 12, 1776, by way of the Cape of Good Hope, and spent the following year in the South Pacific. Thence he set sail for the north in .January, 1778, and. after rediscovering the Sandwich Islands, reached America, and added to geographical knowledge by making an almost continuous run- ning survey of the coast as far as Bering Strait, where, stopped by impenetrable ice, he returned to winter at the Sandwich Islands. In an en- deavor to recover a stolen boat he was killed by savages at Hawaii, February 14, 1779. His death occasioned widespread regret, and the King pen- sioned his wife and children. An obelisk erected in 1874 marks the spot where he fell. A practical and scientific seaman, a sagacious commander, kind but strict with his crew. Cook was also dis- tinguished by indomitalile perseverance and decision. An account of Cook's first voyage ap- peared originally as part of Hawkesworth's Voy- ages (1773): the narrative of the second was written by Cook himself, under the title of A Voyage Toicards the South Pole and Round the World, Performed in His Majesty's Ships the Resolution and Adventure, in the years 1772, 1773, 177Ji, and 1773 (1777) ; the story of Cook's third voyage, partly written by Cook himself and partly by Captain .lames King, appeared in 1784. Consult: Wharton, Captain Cook's Journal During His First Voyage Round the World (London, 1897) ; SjTige, Captain Cook's Voy- ages Round the World (London, 1897) : Bes- ant. Captain Cook (London, 1890) : Kippis, Life of Captain James Cook (London. 1788) : arra- tive of the Voyages Round the World Per- formed hy Captain James Cook (2 vols., London,
