Our co-conspirator son is in New Zealand hiking and saw Mt. Cook. Inspired a limerick
There once was a cartographer named Cook He sailed the world creating an atlas book He explored Newfoundland, Hawaii and New Zealand nations Propelling world-wide colonizations But ultimately was lost to a stab to his neck crook
UC#3
Very good!
James also had his own Island group, coincidentally called “Cook Islands”. They were also a spacefaring nation as witnessed by the attached commemorative stamp. One can only imagine how James would feel about sailing off to the moon. Must be a song in there somewhere.
UC#1
Captain James Cook FRS (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, cartographer and naval officer famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean and to New Zealand and Australia in particular. He made detailed maps of Newfoundland prior to making three voyages to the Pacific, during which he achieved the first recorded European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands, and the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand.
In 1745, when he was 16, Cook moved 20 miles (32 km) to the fishing village of Staithes, to be apprenticed as a shop boy to grocer and haberdasher William Sanderson. Historians have speculated that this is where Cook first felt the lure of the sea while gazing out of the shop window.
After 18 months, not proving suited for shop work, Cook traveled to the nearby port town of Whitby.
In 1779, during Cook’s third exploratory voya ge in the Pacific, tensions escalated between his men and the natives of Hawaii, and an attempt to kidnap chief Kalaniʻōpuʻu led to the death of Cook.
A new plaque that commends the spot where Captain James Cook was killed on Hawai‘i island in 1779 is back on the historic Captain Cook memorial Awili landing at Kaʻawaloa.
It reads: “NEAR THIS SPOT CAPT. JAMES COOK MET HIS DEATH FEBRUARY 14, 1779”
The original plaque’s history dates to 1928 and disappeared in 1956. Another plaque was installed by the British Consulate in the Hawaiian Islands, but was damaged in an attempted theft in 1985.
A new granite plaque was installed in 1990 after donations from private individuals. That plaque had been removed from its location after it became dislodged during an episode of high surf.
Elizabeth Cook (née Batts; 4 February 1742 – 13 May 1835) was the wife, and, for more than 50 years, widow, of Captain James Cook.
Elizabeth Batts was the daughter of Samuel Batts who was keeper of the Bell Inn at Execution Dock, Wapping. Samuel Batts was one of Cook’s mentors.
She married James Cook at St Margaret’s Church, Barking, Essex on 21 December 1762. Cook (1728–1779) was then a master in the Royal Navy but had not yet held his first independent command.
Before her death on 13 May 1835 at the age of 93, Mrs Cook went to great lengths to destroy all her private papers and correspondence with her beloved husband, considering them too sacred for other eyes. – Wikipedia
Semi-Sequitur: Mrs. Cook cooking for Capt. Cook
Hotpot didn’t quite capture the vibe…..
Execution Dock
As you recall, Mrs. Cook’s dad ran a B&B at Execution Dock.
Execution Dock was a place in the River Thames near the shoreline at Wapping, London, that was used for more than 400 years to execute pirates, smugglers and mutineers who had been sentenced to death by Admiralty courts. The “dock” consisted of a scaffold for hanging. Its last executions were in 1830.
Prisoners were transported in a cart to Wapping; with them was a chaplain who encouraged them to confess their sins. Just like the execution procession to Tyburn, condemned prisoners were allowed to drink a quart of ale at a public house on the way to the gallows.
An execution at the dock usually meant that crowds lined the river’s banks or chartered boats moored in the Thames to get a better view of the hanging.
