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Captain Cook Memorial Museum

Whitby's Captain Cook Memorial Museum is located in the house where in 1746 a seventeen year old James Cook, the son of a farm labourer, was apprenticed to Captain John Walker. Cook lodged in the attic under a roof built of old ships' timbers. His room overlooked the harbour where his future ships Endeavour, Resolution, Adventure and Discovery would be built.

Cook worked for Walker on merchant ships and was eventually offered the position of captain. He turned this down to join the Royal Navy. Since the reforms of Samuel Pepys in the Seventeenth Century, the navy was a meritocratic organisation. Anyone could advance their career if they had talent. Cook quickly rose through the ranks, learnt surveying techniques, and was offered the command of Endeavour in 1768. His mission on Endeavour was to sail to Tahiti in the Pacific and observe the transit of Venus across the face of the sun in June 1769. Timing the passage of Venus across the sun from a number of locations across the world allowed the distance from sun to earth to be calculated. Cook then went on to visit New Zealand, and to claim the eastern side of New Holland, now Australia, for Britain. Subsequent voyages took Cook to Antarctica, British Columbia, the Arctic, and Hawaii,where he was killed by natives in 1779.

Cook was so admired that in 1778, when France declared war on Britain, French naval commanders were ordered not to interfere with Cook's ships. It was felt that such action would hinder the advance of human knowledge.

Opening Times: The Museum is open during March 11am to 3pm daily and from April to October daily from 09:45am to 5pm. Last admission thirty minutes before closing. Groups are welcome. There is a small shop selling souvenirs.

The town of Whitby itself has around the same number of people living there as in Cook's day. Much of the old town survives, and there is an excellent sandy beach.

Directions: Whitby is on the Yorkshire coast, forty five miles from York or Darlington. Take the A171 from Teeside, or the A169 from York. The museum is in Grape Street, within walking distance of Whitby railway station. Click here for an interactive map centred on the Captain Cook Memorial Museum

Access: there is wheelchair access to two floors, with a video available of upper floors.

Contact: 01947 601900