The spiritual home of the legendary explorer Captain James Cook has reopened its doors following a pound;500,000 refit, and it now boasts better educational facilities than ever. Every year about 18,000 visitors, many of them schoolchildren, tour the house in Grape Lane, Whitby, Yorkshire, where the 17-year-old Cook lived as an apprentice.

The old Quaker house, which backs on to the harbour, opened as the Captain Cook Memorial Museum in 1987. During its recent six-month refurbishment, workmen discovered the old kitchen and an ancient slipway.

For the first time the centre has a dedicated education room equipped with overhead projector and screen, slide projector and artefacts.

“Before we had this room, the only place to sit the children down was on the floor of the attic with other visitors wandering around them,” says John Woolley, the museum’s education officer. There is an improved education pack that guides children and teachers through the museum and the life of one of the country’s greatest explorers.

“We have had some lovely moments,” recalls Mr Woolley. “I had one group of solemn 10-year-olds, and when I got to the end of my presentation one little girl put her hand up and said: ‘You haven’t told us about the wicked things he did.’ As quick as anything another kiddy said: ‘That was Captain Hook, not Cook.’”

1597 MAP OF THE UNKNOWN CONTINENT

The world may not have been flat in Cook’s day but stories of mythical lands abounded. This original map of 1597 shows a huge continent thought to occupy the southern oceans. Experts of the day believed it had to be there to balance the continent in the northern hemisphere to stop the world from toppling over. As a seaman, Cook would have studied the map but his second voyage, to the Antarctic on board the Resolution, laid to rest the myth of the temperate southern land.

YOU DIRTY RATS

Ships in Cook’s day were overrun with brown rats that spread disease and ruined supplies. But Cook was ahead of his time and recognised the value of cleanliness. He could boast an enviable record of health and longevity among his crews. He insisted on fresh fruit, vegetables and water and his men had a balanced diet. He also led the way in the fight against a mystery illness that claimed the lives of more seamen than the sea itself: scurvy.

QUAKER CLOCK

Instruments of all kinds played a vital part in this period of discovery. Standing resplendent in the house of John Walker, the Quaker shipping owner who took Cook under his wing, is an ancient long case clock. In typical Quaker fashion the painted pine case exhibits no decoration and the simple face carries only one hand, for the hours. Built in 1730 by the clock maker Robert Henderson, a Quaker from nearby Scarborough, it still chimes on the hour.

THE MUSTER ROLL

The third name from the bottom confirms that James Cook served on the Freelove in December 1747 as a servantapprentice, aged 19, on a vessel that carried coal from Whitby to London. This document is the oldest surviving record of Captain Cook’s maritime career and it was found in the roof of an old seamen’s hospital just across the harbour from the museum.

PUTERINO FLUTE

The music of the Pacific fascinated 18th century Europeans and this elaborately carved flute, the puterino, would have captivated them in their droves. It would have been played during the Maori ceremonies watched by Cook and his men. Sharing the case are other musical instruments including drums and a shell trumpet.

THE RESOLUTION

A 1:48 scale model of Cook’s ship, the Resolution, shows how 111 men, animals, stores and equipment could be crammed into a vessel not much bigger than a modern day trawler. Locate ‘K1’ among the sailors and the detachment of marines and one finds Cook himself. The Resolution took Cook on his fateful voyage to find a passage through the Bering Straits. En route they discovered Hawaii, and met a sticky end at the hands of unruly islanders.

LETTER FROM THE FIRST LORD OF THE ADMIRALTY TO COOK’S BOTANIST

Dry old letters may threaten to send children into a daze, but this correspondence from August 19, 1775, can’t fail to appeal to a fascination with the grisly. Lord Sandwich talks of seeing various artefacts brought back from one of the voyages, including a parakeet that later “died of a fit” and a “New Zealander’s head broiled and partly eaten by one of his countrymen”.

TATTOOING NEEDLES

Cook may not have started a fashion but he certainly brought it to Europe. The natives of Tahiti used wooden tools (inset, above) to draw patterns on their skin. They would then tap the blade with a mallet and the ink, made from charcoal or soot mixed with water, would be absorbed into the flesh. Sailors became enthralled with it and started a tradition in the navy that remains today.

THE BLIGH PORTRAITS

Two portraits on the wall point to a little-known link between Cook and the infamous Captain William Bligh, the man set adrift after the mutiny on the Bounty. Bligh served with Cook on the third voyage and was in Hawaii when Cook was killed. In 1787 he fell victim to rebellion in the ranks and was relieved of his ship in Tahiti. He managed to sail in an open boat to safety and returned to Blighty, his wife Elizabeth and an admiral’s post. John Russell painted the portraits in 1802.

TONGAN OCTOPUS LURE

The Pacific Islanders were Stone Age people but that didn’t stop them from being resourceful. With no metal available, they used bone and shell to craft tools. This lure used the tiger cowrie shell to imitate the octopus’s favourite food. When it took the bait, it became snagged on the hooks hidden underneath.

CHILKAT CLOAK

It could have been made yesterday, but this bark cloth coat was woven almost 250 years ago. On loan from the National Museum, Dublin, the Chilkat cloak is from Nootka Sound, Vancouver Island. It was produced by finger weaving strips of bark from the red cedar tree.

Contact

Captain Cook Memorial Museum, Grape Lane, Whitby, North Yorkshire, YO22 4BA; 01947 601900 www.cookmuseumwhitby.co.uk

Open daily, March 23 to October 31 9.45am-5pm. School groups pound;1.50 per child (pre-booked), accompanying teachers and coach drivers free. Wheelchair access.