American Toby Jug Museum 

Cook 3/4 body toby jug produced in Germany circa 1915 and marked Ges Gesch. Captain James Cook (1728-1779) was a British explorer, cartographer, and naval officer famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean and to New Zealand and Australia in particular. He made detailed maps of Newfoundland prior to making three voyages to the Pacific, during which he achieved the first recorded European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands and the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand. Cook served during the Seven Years' War and subsequently surveyed and mapped much of the entrance to the St. Lawrence River during the siege of Quebec, which brought him to the attention of the Admiralty. This acclaim came at a crucial moment for the direction of British overseas exploration, and it led to his commission in 1768 as commander of HMS Endeavour for the first of three Pacific voyages. The mark Ges Gesch is short for "Gesetzlich geschuzt" meaning registered in German. Ware marked in this way is commonly referred to as Ges Gesch ware.