Captain Cook / Project Manager

Captain James Cook "... the ablest and most renowned navigator this or any country hath produced. He possessed all the qualifications requisite for his profession and great undertakings ..."

- Lord Palliser, Cook's superior in the Navy

Introduction

The personal and career requirements of an eighteenth century sea captain to enable him to achieve a major historical voyage must have required above average qualities. Cook managed his first major voyage by planning and management practices using his learnt and inherent skills judged successful by today's modern standards.

This paper will briefly discuss his first voyage history and then list the requirements of a twenty first century project manager to compare Captain Cook's historical abilities against the current formal, accepted and defined qualities.

Early career

Cook started his sea career as an apprentice mate in the non-military (merchant) coastal marine around England. It was here he learnt his "trade" as a seaman. During this period the self taught young man showed aptitude for mathematics in its application in studying navigation and survey. Cook was above average in this field and, as a leader, he was soon offered a captaincy in the maritime marine of a small vessel . However he had greater ambitions, so when he was offered a warrant he was accepted into the Royal Navy . It must be remembered that in this period there was a rigid class system employed in the English social structure. These systems were employed to keep people in social structures so that the ruling classes were safe in their ascendancy. A talented man could not rise above these barriers unless he showed tremendous ability or was sponsored by a person from the classes above. The Royal Navy was at best a temporary occupation due to the system of the crew being contracted to the ship rather than the Navy. However it was one of the few avenues other than the Army in which a lower class individual with talent could advance through social classes without money.

First Command

Cook was employed as an able seaman on HMS Eagle, but his personal abilities were noticed and he soon advanced and was appointed master of the HMS Pembroke . A seaman could be a "captain" of a ship (all sizes of the ships were by this time very closely ranked and promoted) but still hold the as a rank of a lieutenant or less. Cook was a talented man with intelligence and a mathematical ability at junior rank, the Royal Navy sent him to Nova Scotia to map the coast with the command of his first ship. This was a period of the New World, England was expanding her territories and in order to do so the Royal Navy was the main instrument. James Cook a gifted deck officer was to be encouraged and when he was promoted to master of the HMS Northumberland he was then under the direct command of Captain Lord Coleville (latter to become his sponsor).

It was here that Cook's mathematical and navigational ability were honed and this attracted the attention of the senior and influential Navy commanders. Upon his return to England he married and established a home with his new wife, Cook was then appointed to command the schooner HMS Grenville to map Newfoundland. Each promotion bought more prestige, a larger ship and bigger crew. His reputation also grew and, through communications about a solar eclipse, he was in contact with The Royal Society in England - a future, critical and important link.

The Royal Society with the Admiralty began to draw up plans for an expedition planned to Tahiti to record observations of the transit of Venus across the sun during 1769. The society at first nominated Alexander Dalrymple to lead the expedition, but the Admiralty refused to allow a non-naval person taking command of a naval vessel. Cook, already being a warranted officer, was an acceptable alternative. Cook received a Lieutenant's commission on 25th May 1768, and was given command of the bark, HMS Endeavour "a better ship for such service I never could wish for" .

Cooks first major voyage

Primarily a scientific voyage they sailed from England to Rio de Janeiro, then west on to Tahiti (for a Solar Eclipse) down to rediscover New Zealand (mapping the coastline) and then sailed westwards hopefully to the southern continent Terra Australis Incognita(the south land). Cook discovered eastern Australia (New Holland) mapping the coastline and navigating hostile natives and shoals until he was holed by a coral reef in Cooktown, North Queensland (as now known) This was temporally repaired and they sailed on to Batavia (Jakarta) and back to England, a total of three years later. He was hailed a hero not only for discovering Australia, but also bringing countless scientific samples to prove his find, overcoming scurvy (a huge practical and scientific boon at the time) consequently only losing

two crew to this disease, unheard of at the time for such a long voyage.

Leadership as a manager

During these trials Cook showed ability in most areas we now define as project management "being a temporary endeavor with a defined beginning and end" the voyage can be categorised as a Project.

The project whilst a voyage did fulfill today's description of any project, in that it had the four phases; initiation, planning, delivery and finalization. It was finite in duration, had limited resources and had unknown risks. Irrespective of the size or type of project, the Project Manager is the "deliverer" of the desired outcome through optimal management practice

A good modern project manager has, by definition, the required skills and abilities, Some current industry standard requirements are listed below with samples of James Cook's demonstrated behaviors in each skill area.

Project managers required skills.

Project managers today need a multitude of skills, these can be varied and numerous depending on the role required of the manager and size of project. However diversified individual skills are there is a common core of requirements any manager must have, additionally there are core skills a project manager must have as listed.11

Ð'* Leadership

Ð'* Experience

Ð'* Integration manager

Ð'* Technical knowledge