Capt. james Cook sails around Antarctica
James Cook worked on a farm when he was 8 and he had a pony and every morning when the birds came he watched them and when they flew away he always wanted to go with them. But the thing he really wanted to do was to be a captain of a ship and one day when he was 15, part of his wish came true. He was asked to come and be a sailor, but not a captain! He was very good at one job which was sailing the coal boats called cats.
When he was 26 he went into the Navy. his friends thought he was crazy and said "but there is a big war coming; you’ll get killed for sure!" But nothing stopped him and he still did it and sailed to Canada. The journey was terrible. There was a big storm and all the sailors got sick because there was no fresh fruit and vegetables.
After he had fought the French, he was asked if he wanted to be the captain of a ship and when he saw it he said it was the most beautiful one he had ever seen. He was sewnt to the Southern Continent to see the Transit of Venue which didn’t happen often and if he wasn’t there in time, there wouldn’t be one for another 100 years. he said goodbye to his wife, Elizabeth, and his 3 children. Elizabeth was expecting their 4th child and she was frightened he would be killed but he told her they were sending a troop of soldiers to keep him safe. They had people with them to look for new plants and animals. He was given secret orders from the Admiralty that he could only open when he was safely at sea. They loaded the ship with food and cackling hens.
On the journey to the Southern Continent there was a big storm and the waves crashed over the decks and washed off the hens and the food. They kept going on and the crossed the Equator. They found and island called Tahiti and when they needed to leave them men wanted to stay because they had fallen in love with the women. Cook had to shout at them to get on board and they cried and were cross.
They found new Zealand and nearly had a fight with them; they got their guns out and the Maori’s fought with rocks. Cook stopped the fight and gave them gifts of peace. They drew a complete map of New Zealand and sailed down the coast of New Holland, which is now Australia.
Disaster! They hit a coral reef and it made a hole in the ship and they threw everything overboard, including the guns, and used pumps to get the water out but it was still sinking so and Cook ordered everyone to get into a boat and pull the ship away from the coral reef. They used a spare sail stop the water rushing in till they got to the nearest island and it took the weeks to repair it. Then another disaster; they got to a town with terrible diseases and 41 of his men died before they got back to England. When Cook got back, he found out both his daughter and his youngest son had died.
He returned to the South Seas with 2 boats; the ships sailed past enormous icebergs. the sailors felt very cold and put on their warmest clothes but they were still cold and felt like their fingers and toes weren’t there. The icebergs were huge and you could only see the top, so you could crash into the bit under the water. They drank water made of melted ice which surprisingly wasn’t salty, even though it came from the sea. The ships got separated and they had to meet up in new Zealand. James went back and found a vast sheet of ice, but could go no further.
