James Cook (1728-1779) was the greatest Britain navigator. After receiving a modest education, he apprenticed at a small shop on the Yorkshire coast where he developed a love for the sea. Cook enlisted in the Royal Navy in 1755. Sent to America during the French and India War, he made soundings of the St. Lawrence River in preparation for the british attack on Quebec. Cook's notable charts of the St. Lawrence earned him a commission as surveyor of Newfoundland. In 1768 he was promoted and sent to the Pacific with an astronomical observation group where he surveyed Tahiti, New Zealand, and Australia. on his famous second expieditoin (1772-1775) he explored Antarctica. In 1776 he undertook his third and final voyage in which he explored the West coast of North America and tried to locate a passage between the Atlantic and pacific oceans. On his voyage he discovered the Hawaiian Islands and sailed up the coast of North America throug hthe Bering Straits to the Arctic Ocean. he concluded that a usable passage to the Atlantic Ocean did not exist. On his return he was killed by Hawaiian islanders.