Biography
An officer of the British Royal Navy and an astronomer, James King (1750-1784) sailed as second lieutenant in the Resolution on the third and last voyage of James Cook. Present in Hawaii on 14 February 1779, he witnessed the death of his captain on the beach of Kaawaloa and then negotiated the return of his body with the priests and chiefs of the island. After the death of Captain Clerke, he took command of the Discovery and brought the expedition back to England. It was he who wrote, at the request of the Admiralty, the third and last volume of the official account of the voyage, published in 1784. He died of tuberculosis the same year, at the age of thirty-four, shortly after completing this text.
His books at Itinerarium
Cook's Last Voyage, Volume V: The Tragedy of Hawaii and the Sandwich Islands
260 pages - Modernized and illustrated English edition of “A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean” (1776-1780), volume V, by James King.
Cook's Last Voyage, Volume VI: Kamchatka, Canton and the Return to England
476 pages - Modernized and illustrated English edition of “A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean” (1776-1780), volume VI, by James King.