CAPTAIN COOK: Pacific Explorer

Born in Northern England in the first half of the eighteenth century, James Cook, one of nine children of a hard working but illiterate family, early learned the love of the sea. As a young boy he shipped out, and in 1767 he was commissioned by the Crown to explore and chart the hitherto unknown waters of the Pacific. In this book, illustrated in black and white by William Stobbs, not only are the nautical achievements of Captain Cook stressed, but his innovations in ship conditions--the humane treatment of his crew and the careful attention given to shipboard diet. Stressed, too, is the solicitous concern with which he treated the natives, encountered on his journeys, who finally dealt Cook his death blow.