Statue of Cook at Resolution Park, Anchorage, Alaska, USA

Description:
At Resolution Park, on the shore of Cook Inlet, Anchorage.
The statue is a duplicate of the one at Whitby, Yorkshire, England, by Sir John Tweed, R.A.
It stands on a plinth, on which is the plaque, set around are decking and benches.

History:
Installed in 1976, and created by Derek Freeborn, it was donated by The British Petroleum Company.
Erected as part of the American Bicentennial Celebration.
In 2015 it was reported that the statue had lost the dividers from Cook’s right hand, and these were being replaced.
Other reproductions of the Whitby statue have been erected at St Kilda, Victoria, Australia; Waimea, Kauai, Hawaii; and Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

Inscription:
Plaque on the statue’s plinth:

CAPTAIN JAMES COOK
R.N., F.R.S.
Navigator, Explorer, Chartmaker, Scientist, Humanist
1728-1779


James Cook was born in Yorkshire, England, on October 27,
1728.  He was apprenticed to serve on sailing ships built in Whitby,
near his birth-place, to carry coal along the English coast.  At age
26, he joined the Royal Navy, took part in actions against France
and, through his natural flair for mathematics and science, was
promoted “King’s Surveyor” and given command of vessels per-
forming survey work on the coast of Newfoundland.    Chosen as
commander to lead an expedition of discovery to the Pacific
Ocean, he sailed on his first voyage of exploration (1768-71) to
find the continent of Australia as well as Tahiti, New Zealand and
New Guinea where he charted coasts and waters previously un-
known to the Western World.  On his return, he was honoured by a
grateful nation, made a Fellow of the Royal Society, and received
by the King.
His second voyage (1772-75) to Antarctic and the South Pa-
cific added the Friendly Isles, New Caledonia, Easter Island, Cook
Island and New Geogia to the map.
In 1776, Captain Cook set out on his third voyage, aboard
his flagship “Resolution”, to find a north-west passage from the
Pacific to the Atlantic.  He surveyed the coast of northwest America
and Alaska, but, failing to find the passage to the Atlantic, turned
south from the Bering Strait and sailed to the Sandwich Isles
where, on the Island of Hawaii, he met his death on February
14, 1779.
James Cook, a farm hand’s son who became a Captain in the
Royal Navy and gold medalist of the Royal Society, lives in history
as the greatest explorer-navigator the world has known.   His real
memorial is on the map of the world.
This monument, created by Derek Freeborn after the statue
in Whitby, where James Cook began his career as seaman, was
donated by The British Petroleum Company as a contribution to
the Bicentennial celebration of the United States of America.  


GPS Coordinates:  61.219257,  -149.904008

References:
Cook’s Log, page 170, vol.5, no.4 (1982)
Cook’s Log, page 7, vol.37, no.2 (2014)
Cook’s Log, page 29, vol.38, no.3 (2015)
Cook’s Log, page 28, vol.38, no.4 (2015)
Cook’s Log, page 31, vol.38, no.4 (2015)


Image gallery (click to enlarge)