The Captain Cook museum at Whitby is celebrating it’s silver 25th anniversary.
There is a special exhibition running until the end of October called Eating the Exotic. This display of original documents from Captain Cook’s records examines foods of the South Seas. Visitors can discover how food was gathered, cultivated and eaten in Polynesia.

Captain Cook leaving Whitby

The Museum dedicated to Captain Cook is in the 17th century house on Whitby’s harbour where the young James Cook lodged as apprentice. It was here Captain Cook trained as a seaman, leading to his epic voyages of discovery.
In the ship the Endeavour Captain Cook lay the foundation for some of the most significant voyages in the history of exploration.

Cook led three famous expeditions to the Pacific Ocean between 1768 and 1779.
Cook became the first man to sail round the world in both directions. The first voyage around the world was east to west commissioned by the Admiralty to track inter-planetary distances using the transit of Venus.
The next voyage was west to east via Antarctica and the Antarctic Circle.
Cook’s last voyage was to the Pacific Ocean in search of a North West passage through the Bering Strait. Cook died in an affray on Hawaii.
The voyages of Cook led to the founding of two modern nations, Australia and New Zealand and detailed charting of the waters around Canada. These countries formed the core of the British Commonwealth.

Accounts based on Cook’s journals were issued at the time, but it was not until this century that the original journals were published in Beaglehole’s definitive edition The Journals of Captain Cook (Penguin Classics)

Photo Credits
Captain Cook statue, Whitby, North Yorkshire. by Captain Cook Society, CC BY-NC 2.0 ‘Captain Cook statue on the West Cliff at Whitby. To the left of the statue can be seen the whale bone arch, viewed from the side. This statue is so popular that it has been replicated and copies now stand in Anchorage Alaska, Victoria British Colunbia, Melbourne Australia.’
Captain Cook’s story by The Shifted Librarian CC BY-NC-SA 2.0