In the year 1747 James Cook was entered on the Muster Rolls of the Freelove, a 400 ton wooden sailing barge known as a "Collier Cat", which shipped coal from the Northumbrian ports to London. The Freelove was owned by Mr John Walker who sailed with James Cook in 1748.

John Walker was a well known Quaker amongst the Whitby community, and a good and fair business man who owned various properties around the country.  Whitby was a major seaport for fishing and shipping coal to London.  There was only one Quaker meeting house in Whitby, built in the 1690's.

These Quakers knew each other as friends and also as business partners.  They married into their own Quaker community, and found partners for their spouses as far away as London.  Many of these marriages were very successful.  Even to the present day the names of Gurney, Lloyds, Barclays Allen and Hanbury Brewers now know as Trumans, or Grand Metropolitan, and Rowntrees all survive to this day.

The master of the Freelove in 1747 was John Jefferson, aged 32.  James Cook at 19 was rather old for an apprentice, as boys went to sea as young as 12 and 13 years.  This suggests that Cook may have sailed in the previous years.

There is no doubt that young Cook learnt his seamanship from the ruddy Geordie sailors and the masters of these primitive coal barges.  Cook had to know every inch of the Newcastle to London coastal run.  These sailors knew the landmarks and used all their seamanship to navigate through storming seas to London.

This mastery of the coastline became so much a primary interest with Cook that in later years, when in the Navy, he specialised and excelled in such work, and later still as an explorer.

When the Freelove entered the mouth of the Thames they finally reached Blackwall, where they had to make a manoeuvre of 180° turn to sail the wooden Collier around the Isle of Dogs against the winds and tidal currents.  This was not the only hazard they faced.  The Freelove had to avoid collision with the hundreds of sailing ships waiting to be unloaded, as all their cargoes would surely be lost by an unfortunate accident.  When they reached the Pool of London off Wapping Wall the crew would drop anchor into the foul mud of the Thames, amongst the grimy fleet and the hustle and bustle of the sailors, shouting and cursing to each other while climbing the mast to remove the sails.  The people of Wapping were used to these noises, and looked forward to seeing the sailors once again, for a sailor had his wages to spend in the streets and allies of Wapping.  Every inn and tavern was open day or night when the sailors came ashore.

When the ship was secure the master would put on his land-going clothes to meet the coal factor.  The lighterman would row him and his apprentices ashore, where the factor was ready to meet them.  He would have ordered fresh food and drink from an innkeeper of one of the riverside inns, and also a private room which he used to entertain the master, who drank and ate all he could till the factor got a good price for the coal and a bargain was made.  The apprentices were waiting downstairs in the inn for their master who would either leave them there or take them to friends.

The Innkeepers were known as "Undertakers", who the factors contracted to supply Labour and Equipment and the coal heavers who unloaded the coals.  These coal heavers would drink in the inn paying inflated prices hoping to be picked for a job by the Undertaker.

A gang of 13 men was usually picked.  They worked down the hole of the barge and shovelled the coal by stages on to the deck where it was put into baskets, and the volume measured by a meter man for the King's Tax, which was a major source of income to help pay for the building of St Paul's Cathedral.  These coal heavers worked in terrible conditions: there was no light, only a candle-lit recess.  The coal dust was in the air choking the men till they were unable to breathe; gasping for air they would try to reach the surface and collapse on deck.

The baskets of coal were tipped into the lighter and rowed ashore.  The factor would store the coal in his warehouse along the Thames riverside.  He charged high prices for the coal to riverside industries or households so as to make a good profit.  Many a barge was left at the hands of the smugglers who traded around Execution Dock.  This was known as part of the crimping system, and many of the lightermen were known to be part of this system.

This explains the question of how Cook first sailed to London in the Freelove.  But where did he stay and who were his friends?

There was a letter by Constable who said that Cook knew Eliz Batts when she was a child.  This letter was not thought true by a few of Cook's biographers.  However, this was a possible avenue to research.  As it happens Constable was on the right track because during my research while looking at the parish records of St John's, Wapping I came across Eliz Batts (born 1741, father Samuel Batts, Victualler and mother Mary) at Execution Dock.

Was this the right Eliz Batts, who married Captain Cook?  With further investigation in the Land Taxes at the Guildhall Library I found Samuel Batts at Execution Dock.  The next step was looking at the victuallers records where I found that he owned licenced premises called "Bell" at Execution Dock.  He appears in 1722 and disappears in 1743; and Mary Batts appears in the Land Taxes at the same address in 1744, so Mary Batts' daughter Eliz was only 3 years old when her father died.  Samuel Batts death was not found in St John's parish records but was in St Botolph's-without-Aldgate.  Unfortunately I could not find a will.

Mary Batts took over the inn in 1744.  In the following year there is a marriage between Mary Batts and John Blackbourne of Wapping in the parish records of St Paul's, Shadwell.

This church was used as it was the nearest parish to St John's of Wapping, which was most probably busy.  I checked the Land Tax and John Blackbourne appears at the same address as Mary was in 1744.

My evidence proves that Captain Cook's future wife Elizabeth Batts was born at Execution Dock in an inn called "Bell", and therefore it is possible that Cook knew her when she was a little girl and slowly watched her grow to a young woman, whom he married.

Cook learnt his seamanship from his master John Walker.  It is therefore possible to say that Cook may have known John Walker's friends and business partners while he was an apprentice in Wapping and Whitby.  As Quakers were non-conformist they could not join the legal profession or be a Member of Parliament, so they went into ship-building, brewing industry, coal trade, chemistry and also timber and boat building.  at the time when Cook came to Wapping there were thriving industries on the riverside at Wapping and Shadwell, all connected to the maritime influence.

From the Land Taxes and the names of members of the Ratcliff and Wapping Quaker Meeting House, it is plain to see that most of the Quaker population owned a fair amount of business along the riverside.  I looked through the minutes of the Ratcliff and Wapping monthly meetings, and found a wedding notice between Sarah Sheppard and Zaricha Cockfield from Whitby, a mariner.  This Zaricha must have known John Walker as, Whitby only having one meeting house, all the Quakers would have known each other.  Zaricha was also the same age as John Walker.  On looking further in the Land Taxes Zaricha lived with his father-in-law, Joseph, in Cinnamon Street, which was less than 100 yards from Execution Dock where Eliz was living.  Joseph Sheppard also owned a house in Shadwell.

I then looked at Roache's Map of 1746 which showed that Joseph Sheppard and Zaricha Cockfield owned a Timber Yard where they made sails.  Zaricha was also in charge of the poor people's coals.  This new information gave me a new insight as I came to the conclusion that John Walker and Zaricha Cockfield all knew one another.

A removal certificate for 1722 for a John Hitchingman and Mary from Whitby, Yorkshire removed to Wapping still survives.  This document is signed by Mr John Walker and other members of the Whitby Quaker Meeting House.

Cook most probably stayed in lodgings with Joseph and Zaricha, worked in the timber yard while in Wapping, and had a courting relationship with Elizabeth Batts, who he married in 1762.

The next we hear of Wapping is when Cook joined the Navy - most likely to have been at Tower Hill, as there was a recruitment place there. The Press Gangs went through Wapping taking young men to the wars, many of them never to return. Francis Sutton was one of Cook's servants, and he died in the war.  I know that the Quakers' houses were forced into and young Quakers were taken as this is mentioned in the meeting books. Also the colliers were not safe, as the press was taking able bodied seamen who were exempt from the press, as all coal boats were. This was a frightening time for Wapping. There are stories of men dressed up as women and women dressed up as men so that when they found out there was a woman on board they would return them.

We then come to 1762, when Cook married Eliz Batts at Barking, but he was living in the parish of St Paul's, Shadwell. It was time for another look at the Land Taxes, and I found John Blackbourne who had moved from Execution Dock. I knew I had the right Blackbourne as there was only one name in the Land Taxes, and because Blackbourne is not a local name but one more known in the Northern Counties. In 1763 James Cook appears at the same address, and I know from previous research that this was the correct Captain Cook. He appears in 1763 and 1765.  His son was born here and was baptised in St Paul's, Shadwell 1763.

During his 3 years at Shadwell Cook was surveying the Newfoundland coast in the Grenville which Palliser had provided. This schooner was established as an independent vessel with her own crew, instead of being manned by detachments from the flagship.  Cook was thus able to sail his ship home to England for the winter months. He continued to do this each year laying-up the Grenville in the Thames and going to his home to work for four months on the charts that recorded the results of the previous season's surveying.

His family and friends were most interested in his findings and the word was soon known among the Quaker community that there was a bright young Captain Cook who was a master seaman and was devoted to his work. A man with a prosperous future.  This news would have reached the most influencial Quaker Wm Cookworthy from Plymouth, who was interested in pottery and china, a learned scholar and scientist.

In 1766 Captain Cook made observations of an eclipse of the sun visible in Newfoundland. Cook made a report which was communicated to the Royal Society and gave him an introduction to that body which was to be useful in smoothing his path at a later juncture.  Cook brought the Grenville home for the last time in the winter of 1767-68.  By this time Cook was well known as a good mathematician, very expert in his business.

The Royal Society offered the command of the Endeavour to Captain Cook who accepted the offer eagerly and instantly. It was indeed an enormous step upwards. He was taken out of the master's line from which there was seldom any promotion possible and placed into the higher branch.  He received the rank of lieutenant.  The Endeavour was fitted in the basin of Deptford Dock Yard July the 30th 1768.  She sailed from Deptford and on August 26th, the wind being fair, she put to sea from Plymouth.

Before Cook started his voyage he went to see his old friend Wm Cookworthy and was accompanied by Joseph Banks, Dr Solander and Sydney Parkinson.  They discussed his future expedition. Wm Cookworthy was interested in the problem with fresh food on board and advised Cook on preparing dried soup for the crew.

Cook sailed from Plymouth Sound to observe the Transit of Venus.  He returned home in June 1771 where he first reported his findings to his old friend Wm Cookworthy at Plymouth.  He then wrote a paper for the Royal Society called "An Account of the flowing of the Tides in the South Seas as observed on board His Majesty's Bark, the Endeavour".  On the 12 June 1771 when he returned to Elizabeth he learnt that his second child Elizabeth, born 1766, was dead.

Cook was promoted to the rank of Commander and was now living in Mile End with his wife Elizabeth.

Julie Hunt