This, so far as written story goes, is the last of Dampier, and nothing is
known of how he spent his declining days. The discovery of his will proves
that he died in Coleman Street, St. Stephen's, London, some time in 1715.
The will does not mention the value of his property, but he could not
have died rich, and was probably not only poor, but, to judge by the fact
of his death not having been recorded by his contemporaries, must have
been almost, so far as the great folks who once patronized him were
concerned, friendless.
CHAPTER III. [Sidenote: 1755]
CAPTAIN COOK, THE DISCOVERER.
From Dr. Hawkesworth's pedantic volumes to Sir Walter Besant's delightful
sketch, there are any number of versions of the story of Cook's life and
work. Let us assume that everyone knows how James Cook, son of a superior
farm labourer in Yorkshire, at thirteen years of age apprenticed to a
fishing village shopkeeper, ran away to sea in a Whitby collier, and
presently got himself properly apprenticed to her owners, two Quaker
brothers named Walker, and how at twenty-seven years of age, when he had
become mate of a small merchantman, he determined to anticipate the hot
press of May, 1755, and so at Wapping volunteered as A.B. on board His
Majesty's ship _Eagle_.
His knowledge of navigation and his good conduct led to such recognition
that when he was under thirty he was appointed master of the _Mercury_.
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