Early American Frontier link with Captain Cook:

I came across this small link with New Zealand - in one of the many skirmishes between the English and French forces of the Northern parts of the American continent. An early piece of history from the book 'The First Frontier' by Scott Weidensaul.

  This attack occurred in 1759 when the English  Major General James Wolfe attacked and besieged French held Quebec City:

" Stobo and Stevens immediately reversed course and joined Wolfe, who had boldly sailed a fleet up the treacherous St. Lawrence (following surveys made by the young James Cook), where he disembarked nine thousand men and besieged the city."

All we New Zealanders tend to recognise Captain James Cook as the man who "discovered" New Zealand (and much of Australia) in 1769 - producing very accurate charts for later European exploration and settlement.

All this is to kind of ignore the fact that Dutch explorer Abel Tasman found New Zealand much earlier in 1642 - and that Maori navigators landed from their sea-going canoes and settled "Gods-Own" country much earlier again during their voyages through-out the Pacific Ocean. - But of course - Cook did it all for "we British".

- That map is a pretty good effort except for showing Banks Peninsula as an island - and Stuart Island at the bottom - as possibly linked to the mainland.

Captain James Cook certainly got around a bit - when you consider those old small leaky tubs they used for transport.

- A pity that he upset some Hawaiians later in 1779 and came to a 'sticky-end'.

Marty K.