Navigation course book belonging to W.F. Cook, RAN

AuthorCaptain William Frank Cook, RAN (Australian, (1916 - 2003))

Date1936-1937

Object number00054698

NameBook

MediumInk on paper, glue

DimensionsOverall: 332 × 205 × 10 mm

ClassificationsBooks and journals

Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Rhod Cook

Terms

DescriptionNavigation coursebook belonging to William Cook, RAN while enrolled at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich studying for his Acting Sub-Lieutenant rating. This object is one of a large collection of documents, photographs, uniforms, ship badges and ephemera associated with the Royal Australian Navy service of brothers William Cook and Frederick Cook. Both men entered service prior to the Second World War, were seconded to the Royal Navy, and underwent training at Greenwich and Portsmouth. Frederick Cook later gained fame as the only Australian survivor of HMS Royal Oak, torpedoed by a German U-boat in October 1939. William Cook was the youngest commander of an Australian destroyer during the Second World War, and was First Lieutenant of HMAS Wyatt Earp, the primary research vessel for the Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition in 1947-48.SignificanceThis coursebook belonged to Captain William Cook, a Royal Australian Navy officer who served as second-in-command aboard Wyatt Earp, the first Australian naval vessel to participate in an Antarctic research expedition (the Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition) in the immediate post-war period. It is a very unique example of a course notebook belonging to a young naval officer during the immediate pre-World War Two period, and features notes and sketches, as well as the final examination of an individual who went on to prominence during the conflict.