Captain James Cook James Cook was 36 years old in 1764, while he was surveying the area between the Bay of St. Genevieve and Ferrole Point. This portrait (left), that has been part of the Royal Geographical Society collection, could well have been painted after he had returned from the final part of his Newfoundland Surveys, which were finished by the Winter of 1767 - nearly 10 years earlier than the miniature (below) painted by Margaret Bingham (owned by Joseph Banks).