James Cook grocer and haberdasher William Sanderson. Historians have speculated that this is where Cook first felt the lure of the sea while gazing out of the shop window. After 18 months, not proving suitable for shop work, Cook travelled to the nearby port town of Whitby to be introduced to friends of Sanderson's, John and Henry Walker. The Walkers, who were Quakers, were prominent local ship-owners in the coal trade. Their house is now the Captain Cook Memorial Museum. Cook was taken on as a merchant navy apprentice in their small fleet of vessels, plying coal along the English coast. His
Able seaman (rank) Able seaman (rank) In the British Royal Navy in the middle of the 18th century, the term able seaman (abbreviated AB) referred to a seaman with more than two years' experience at sea and considered "well acquainted with his duty". Seamen with less experience are referred to as landmen (for the first year at sea) or ordinary seamen (for the second). In 1653 the Royal Navy introduced a new pay scale as part of reforms following defeat in the Battle of Dungeness the previous year. Included in these reforms were, for the first time, separate pay scales for more experienced