At the age of thirty-nine, Cook was virtually nonexistent to his countrymen. Compared to Commodore Byron or Captain Samuel Wallis, Cook sprang from the lower levels of British society. He was also haphazardly educated and was not a member of the Royal Navy for his life's entirety. His training began with the Merchant Marines (Beaglehole 205).
Like the Endeavor, James Cook possessed the exact qualities the Admiralty had wanted. For four years, starting in 1763, Cook had navigated the coast of Newfoundland, charting its bays and inlets with precision. More than once he had received praise from the highest levels of the Royal Navy for his superb seamanship, and the Lords of the Admiralty reasoned that, since he had been so valuable in the Newfoundland expeditions, he would be perfect for the uncharted waters of the South Pacific Ocean. As it turned out, Cook would become the greatest Pacific explorer of all time (Allen 123).
Cooks achievements were all the more remarkable in that his forebears had manifested no interest in the sea. Born in the Yorkshire village of Matin-in-Cleveland on October 27, 1728, he was the second son of a farm laborer. When the older of the two moved to the village of Ayton, in 1763, his new employer recognized the eight-year old James Cook as a bright youngster, and paid the fees to send him to a local school (Beaglehole 203). At the age of seventeen he obtained work as a storekeeper. After eighteen months of work as a bookkeeper, he moved to the North Sea part of Whitby, where in July of 1746 he signed indentures, binding himself as an apprentice seaman for a coal firm (Beaglehole 44).
When his term of apprenticeship was over in 1749, Cook remained with the coal firm, serving on a second ship, the Three Brothers. By 1755, having studied astronomy and mathematics in his spare time and risen to the rank of first-mate, Cook was offered command of one of the coal firm's new ships.
