Introduction-James Cook, the Circumnavigator, was a native of the district of Cleveland, Yorkshire, but of his ancestry there is now very little satisfactory information to be obtained. Nichols, in his Topographer and Genealogist, suggests that James Cooke, the celebrated mariner, was probably of common origin with the Stockton Cookes."

Among all those Englishmen who, from a humble origin, have risen to an honourable position, Captain James Cook is especially worthy of record. His parents were of the peasant class'his father having commenced life as a farm-labourer, and his mother being a cottager's daughter.