Captain Cook Memorial Museum him on as apprentice seaman for a three-year term. Cook served Walker first as apprentice, then as seaman and lastly as master’s mate until he joined the Royal Navy in 1755. He spent most of his time at sea on Walker’s colliers, mainly in the coal trade between the Tyne and London but including voyages to the Baltic and Dublin. The Whitby historian George Young, ‘Life of Cook’ 1836, stated that during Cook’s apprenticeship Walker retained Cook in Whitby on occasion and lodged him in the attic of the house in Grape Lane. There should be no difficulty in accepting
Captain of the port Captain of the port The captain of the port is an official who has different functions in the United Kingdom, the United States, and other countries. To some extent the role of captain of the port is analogous to that of a harbourmaster. In the Royal Navy, the captain of the port was the officer, usually with the rank of captain, responsible for the day-to-day running of a Naval Dockyard under the authority of the admiral-superintendent. He usually also held the position of Queen's or King's harbourmaster and was directly responsible for the captain's department, which among other things operated