Captain James Cook

In 1773, Captain James Cook and his crew became the first Europeans to cross the Antarctic Circle. One of Britain’s most accomplished explorers, Captain Cook led three major explorations throughout his life. He was also the first recorded European to make contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands, along with circumnavigation of New Zealand and the making of several detailed maps.

Having joined the Merchant Navy as a teenager, and then the Royal Navy in 1755, Cook saw the Seven Years’ War, during which he surveyed and mapped the entrance of the St. Lawrence River during the siege of Quebec, gaining him a commission in 1768, and the command of HMS Endeavour.

Cook was eventually killed in 1779, while trying to kidnap the ruling chief of Kalani’opu’u, Hawaii, so he could trade the chief for a crew member who’d taken wood from a burial ground.