Day 244 - Captain Cook meets Hans Solo

Oooh Donuts.......

We've settled into our morning routine here in Whitby.  Having found the local bakery, Botham's, we make it our early morning target. We spend a few minutes choosing from a large selection of scrumptious baked goods to take with us to the park above the cliff by the James Cook monument (more on him in a second).  The park has a number of benches and a coffee kiosk called "Clara's"  from where we get our lattes to accompany our freshly baked selection of the day.

Captain James Kirk....I mean Cook

Now back to the historical connection of Whitby to James Cook. The good Captain was born in a suburb of Middlesborough in 1728 and came to Whitby as a teenager where he began his naval training in the merchant navy. At the age of 27 he joined the British Navy and spent the next few years sailing around Canada's east coast.

Cook was quite the cartographer and during the siege of Quebec in 1759 he mapped most of the mouth of the St. Lawrence River as well as the coastline of Newfoundland.  This skill led to him being granted a commission on His Majesty's Bark Endeavour out of Whitby with the goal of leading an expedition to the far reaches of the Pacific. He mapped most of Eastern Australia and New Zealand. In total, he led three expeditions to the Pacific, all of which resulted in a complete circumnavigation of the world. Each took about three years and he did them between 1768 and 1779, meaning he didn't remain home long. His third expedition led him to British Columbia and all the way up to Alaska and the Aleutian Islands.

The Whitby Pavilion

When we stood at his monument, I noticed that he only lived to the age of 50. It turns out that he was killed on his last expedition when he arrived in the Hawaii Islands, settling into a harbour on the largest island, Hawaii. There he encountered hostile locals and in his attempt to kidnap the King of Hawaii (or so they say) he and his landing party were assaulted and killed. It's claimed the locals treated his body with "respect," meaning they disemboweled him so that they could bake the body to remove the flesh and then have his bones cleaned as religious icons.  One might say they cooked Cook [Editor's note from Ange: "I can't believe he just said that"]. Anyways, this year marks the 250th anniversary of his sailing out on the first expedition and in July the town of Whitby will celebrate.

Just down from the monument is the Whitby Pavilion and we noted that in addition to hosting musical events they use it as the local cinema. It was built in 1878 as a theatre, and also houses a gym and the entire complex rests on the side of the cliff leading down to the sea. One of the interesting things about the latest renovation is that it allows the lower seating in the theatre to be removed so that it becomes a dance floor as it once was during the 1940s. Tonight they were showing the latest Star Wars film, Solo. The film was well attended by the local community, many of whom appeared to know each other, and we enjoyed the experience particularly as I could have a pint along with my popcorn.

In regards to the quality of the film it gets a 3 out of 5 on the Ange and Phil meter. So we can say that today started with the Captain of the Endeavour and ended with the Captain of the Millennium Falcon.

Ale of the Day: Whitby Whaler Bitter, Whitby Brewery, Whitby, North Yorkshire