Yorkshire Traveller

Captain James Cook, R.N.

Grace and James Cook had eight children.
Four died in childhood. Only the second son
James and his sisters Margaret and Christiana survived.
Cook's family moved from Marton, near Middlesbrough,
in 1736 when he was eight and he spent most of
his childhood in Great Ayton.
His school, now a museum, stands at the eastern
end of the High Street facing a waterfall.
The family cottage was dismantled and shipped to
Australia in 1934, but a monument marksit's site in
Bridge Street
.

Easby moor, south-east of the village,
is crowned by a 51 foot monument to Captain Cook.

Cook's sisters, Margaret married a man named Fleck of Redcar, and Christiana married a fisherman named Cocker of Staithes, where her father James lived with them.

Young James Cook worked as a farm labourer like his
Father and then as an apprentice to a grocer in Staithes.
However, at the age of 18 he found employment in colliers
sailing out of Whitby, shipping coals from
the River Tyne to London.

The Captain Cook Birthplace Museum is located within Stewart Park at Marton, the Museum stands near to the site
at Marton, the Museum stands near to the site
of the cottage where Cook was born.

At Marske-by-sea, the tower of St. Germains Church
overlooks the grave of James Cook senior.
Mrs Grace Cook is buried with her five other children
at Great Ayton, near Middlesbrough.

In Stockton-on-Tees Parish Church there is a memorial to
Captain James Cook and an altarpiece made of wood
from the Resolution, one of Captain Cook's ships.

Captain Cooks Monument, Whitby 

HM BARK "ENDEAVOUR"

A replica of Captain Cooks ship HM ENDEAVOUR received a fantastic welcome from thousands of people as
she sailed into Whitby Harbour on Friday 9th May 1997
after sailing from Australia.
Escorted by the Whitby Lifeboat the Endeavour arrived
at it's "home" port where the original ship was built.

High Street, Robin Hoods Bay.

Robin Hood's Bay a quiet, charming seaside village,
belies it's smuggling past.
At it's peak in the eighteenth century, the entire
population of Robin Hood's Bay, Staithes, Saltburn and
Runswick was thought to be involved in the smuggling of silk, brandy, gin, tobacco, tea, coffee, playing cards
chocolate, snuff and linen.

It is said of the picturesque huddle of cottages that it was once possible to pass a bale of silk from house
to house the length of the village without going outside
One can well believe it.

This delightful village lies at the foot of a steep hill and is an
absolute rabbit-warren of tiny streets and passageways
which you can wander around for hours, all well preserved.
The Bay itself provides a lovely walk, and there's a couple
of good pubs near the top of the slipway.
There's practically no parking in the village itself,
and visitors have to park at the top of the hill and walk down (and back up again, more to the point)
 

Robin Hoods Bay

Ravenscar, looking towards Robin Hoods Bay.

photograph reproduced by kind permission of DaveLawrance: dave@contact.demon.co.uk

Bempton Cliffs.

Further south we arrive at the sea bird breeding grounds of
Bempton - the largest in the country with around
200,000 birds nesting precariously on and in the cliff face.
The effects of wind and sea on the three miles (5 km)
of chalk cliffs have been to leave thousands of little
pockets in the near vertical face.
In these nest Britain's only gannets as well as
fulmars, kittiwakes, cormorants and many types of gull.
Well worth a visit unless you are seeking peace and quiet!

Flamborough Head Lighthouse and Bay.

Flamborough Head sticks out into the North Sea a short way from Bempton with the lighthouse shown here
standing a prudent distance from the cliff edge.
Flamborough suffered in the past from marauding Vikings,
being sacked seven times over the centuries.
But eventually they decided to make themselves at
home here in whatever was left after their depredations,
and many of the local people are their descendants.

Now let's continue and visit the Yorkshire coastline...