Mountbatten Medallic History of Great Britain and the Sea Medal: Captain James Cook

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Mountbatten Medallic History of Great Britain and the Sea Medal: Captain James Cook

AssociatedAssociated with Lord Mountbatten of Burma (Frogmore House, Windsor, England, 1900 - 1979)

Medallist John Pinches, Medallists

DateMay 2004

Object NameMedal

MediumSterling Silver

ClassificationsMedals

Dimensions44mm

AcquisitionPresented in 2004 by Dr Joan M Burrell.

LocationView by Appointment - Aberdeen Treasure Hub

Object numberABDMS072500.26

Keywords

About MeCaptain Cook was the finest seaman ever born in England. His ability to handle a ship under the most adverse conditions, his moral courage and qualities of leadership, combined with the meticulous care with which he compiled his charts of the coasts he discovered, made him the ideal explorer.

He was born the son of an agricultural labourer living near Whitby and he grew up a tall, taciturn Yorkshireman in the north-east coastal collier trade. At the age of 29 he volunteered for the navy at Wapping and was rated a master's mate because of his experience in navigation. He made his name charting the St Lawrence river at the time of the capture of Quebec, so that in 1768 he was raised to the rank of lieutenant and chosen to command the bark Endeavour (350 tons), ostensibly to observe the transit of the planet Venus at Tahiti, but really to see if a Great Southern Continent existed in the south Pacific.

His first voyage (1768-1771) was the most important voyage of discovery since the days of Columbus because, after visiting Tahiti, he discovered the north island of New Zealand on 7th October, 1769, and the fertile east coast of Australia, which he named New South Wales, on 19th April, 1770. Considering the short time he was off these coasts, his charts are remarkably accurate. He returned home via the Torres Straits (which he rediscovered after an interval of 200 years), Batavia and the Cape of Good Hope.

On his second voyage (1772-1775) in the equally small Resolution and Adventure, he finally dispelled the myth of the Great Southern Continent, being the first man to cross the Antarctic Circle. On his way home via Cape Horn he discovered New Georgia. This voyage was notable for the first use of the chronometer and for the high standard of health enjoyed by the crew.

His last voyage (1776-1779) aimed at doing in the north Pacific what he had already done for the south and at finding out if a north west passage really existed round North America. After discovering the Hawaiian islands, he followed the coast of North America from Vancouver to the Bering Strait, where progress was checked by a field of ice. On his return to Honolulu in the Resolution and Discovery he was killed by natives on 14th February, 1779. The ships returned home by way of China, arriving at Deptford on 6th October, 1780.

Apart from making discoveries of the first importance, Cook's fame rests on the way he kept his men healthy on long voyages and the new standards he set in the precision of observations at sea. The modern map of the Pacific is his memorial.

The Mountbatten Medallic History of Great Britain and the Sea, John Pinches Medallists Ltd.