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
Captain Cook Hotel in the legend and apportioned the wrong number to the Captain Cook Hotel. The other hotel appears in photos up until it was demolished during work to form High Street 1910, and clearly could not also have traded as the Captain Cook with its close neighbour for 40+ years. William Bond became the publican and remained so until 1886-87 when he was replaced by John Craig. A photograph by H. C. Russell (Colonial Astronomer) in 1888 shows that there has been no change to the Captain Cook Hotel at this point. Louisa Leistikow became the licensee in 1888-89 followed by