Question 1

True or false: Cook discovered the Hawaiian Islands on his third voyage, but was killed there in 1779.

Accepted Answer

True. He was the first European to visit Hawaii, and died in a skirmish with locals after a stolen boat incident.

Question 2

True or false: Cook was the first European to see and chart the Great Barrier Reef.

Accepted Answer

True. The Endeavour famously ran aground on the reef in 1770, forcing Cook to chart it carefully for survival.

Question 3

True or false: James Cook was the first European to set foot on the east coast of Australia.

Accepted Answer

True. Cook's landing at Botany Bay in 1770 is the first documented European contact with the east coast. Earlier Dutch explorers like Willem Janszoon (1606) landed on the northern/western coast of Cape York Peninsula, not the east coast.

Question 4

True or false: Cook's ship, the Endeavour, was originally a coal-carrying collier before being refitted.

Accepted Answer

True. The Endeavour was a converted Whitby collier, chosen for its sturdy build and shallow draft for reef navigation.

Question 5

True or false: James Cook introduced potatoes to New Zealand during his first voyage.

Accepted Answer

False. Potatoes were already cultivated by Māori before Cook arrived, likely introduced by earlier European contact.

Question 6

True or false: Captain Cook was the first person to sail completely around Antarctica.

Accepted Answer

False. Cook crossed the Antarctic Circle but never circumnavigated the continent; that feat came later.

Question 7

True or false: Cook was promoted to Captain specifically for his accurate charting of Newfoundland.

Accepted Answer

False. Cook was appointed lieutenant, not captain, to command the Endeavour in 1768 after his Newfoundland surveys. He was promoted to captain only in 1775 after his second voyage.

Question 8

True or false: Cook’s voyages helped end the myth of a habitable southern continent called Terra Australis.

Accepted Answer

True. He charted much of the Pacific and proved no large, temperate landmass existed where many had theorized.

James Cook Trivia Questions