He died in 1743, and in his will (Borthwick Institute, York), divided his ships between his sons John and Henry, but left the house to them as tenants in common.

The house remained in the family until the mid 19th century and then was used by turns as a hospital and as a private residence until rescued in 1986 to become the Captain Cook Memorial Museum.

[5] He spent most of his time at sea on Walker's colliers, mainly in the coal trade between the Tyne and London but including voyages to the Baltic and Dublin.

Young also described Cook studying in the attic with the aid of candles provided by Mary Prowd, a family servant.

[6] Like any ambitious apprentice, Cook would have studied algebra, geometry, trigonometry and navigation, probably with the help of schoolmasters paid for by the ship owners.

The collections comprise original letters about the Voyages including correspondence of Cook, Lord Sandwich, Sir Joseph Banks and the Forsters, paintings and drawings by the artists who went with Cook to the Pacific, including Sydney Parkinson, William Hodges, and John Webber, artefacts from the Pacific islands and New Zealand, original maps and charts, and ship models.

In 2009 a local newspaper reported that Matavai Bay Otaheite, a painting by William Hodges from the 1770s, was bought by the museum with help from several charities and trusts including The Art Fund.