Talk:List of ships of James Cook

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question[edit]

The article asserts Cook was a Commander during his first command. I read a biography of him, years ago. I am pretty sure he was just a Lieutenant. Cook had been a seaman, and rose to Master -- which is not a commissioned rank. Promotion from non-commissioned Master, to commissioned officer rank, was extremely rare. Cook's own Master, William Bligh, also received this rare promotion. They received the exceptional promotion due to exceptional skill and exceptional performance. Bligh was only promoted to Lieutenant. "Captain" Bligh was only a Lieutenant when he commanded HMS Bounty. Geo Swan (talk) 05:58, 28 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Cook had the substantive rank of Lieutenant on his first voyage, but the courtesy title of Commander. This has lead to confusion in many cases in the past. Murgatroyd49 (talk) 08:45, 28 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]