Captain Cook's Journal: First Voyage Round the World (Forgotten Books)

Captain James Cook FRS RN (27 October 1728 (O.S.) - 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer. Ultimately rising to the rank of Captain in the Royal Navy, Cook was the first to map Newfoundland prior to making three voyages to the Pacific Ocean during which he achieved the first European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands as well as the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand.Cook joined the British merchant navy as a teenager, and joined the Royal Navy in 1755. He saw action in the Seven Years' War, and subsequently surveyed and mapped much of the entrance to the Saint Lawrence River during the siege of Quebec. This allowed General Wolfe to make his famous stealth attack on the Plains of Abraham, and helped to bring Cook to the attention of the Admiralty and Royal Society. This notice came at a crucial moment both in his personal career and in the direction of British overseas exploration, and led to his commission in 1766 as commander of HM Bark Endeavour for the first of three Pacific voyages. (Quote from wikipedia.org)About the AuthorEdward Shepherd Creasy (1812 - 1878)Sir Edward Shepherd Creasy (1812 - 1878), historian, was educated at Eton College and the University of Cambridge and called to the Bar in 1837. He became in 1840 Professor of History at the University of London, and in 1860, Chief Justice of Ceylon, when he was knighted. His best known contribution to literature is his Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World (1851). Other works are Historical and Critical Account of the Several Invasions of England (1852), History of the Ottoman Turks, The Rise and Progress of the English Constitution, and Imperial and Colonial Institutions of the British Empire (1872). (Quote from