The great chronicler of historical exploration turns his attention to the final voyage of Captain James Cook and asks how a journey to return a Tahitian man to his homeland ended in a bloodbath on the shores of Hawaii.
On July 12th, 1776, Captain James Cook, already lionized as the greatest explorer in British history, set off on his third voyage in HMS Resolution. Two-and-a-half years later, on a beach in Hawaii, Cook was killed – beaten and stabbed in a conflict with the indigenous population.
What brought Cook to these final moments, so at odds with his reputation? Renowned for his humane leadership, dedication to science and the curiosity and respect, not judgement, with which he greeted societies that were new to him, Cook had already mapped huge swathes of the Pacific and initiated first European contact with numerous native peoples.
The stated mission for his third voyage was to return a Tahitian man, Mai, who had become the toast of London high society, to his home islands. But Cook carried secret orders to venture north, to discover the fabled Northwest Passage and chart and claim lands before Britain’s imperial rivals. And Cook himself was different on his final, fatal voyage.
The great navigator became mercurial, resorting to the lash to enforce discipline on board, leading his ships into danger time and again, and meting out savage punishments against native peoples for perceived wrongs. Whatever was driving Cook, his mission revealed itself to be the sharp edge of a colonial sword that brought catastrophe to the people in its path. And, after returning from the Arctic to the shores of Hawaii, Cook’s expedition finally tore itself apart …
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
ISBN: 9780241437339
Number of pages: 432
Weight: 691 g
Dimensions: 240 x 160 x 40 mm
An astounding tale - Sunday Times
A rollicking good read, with a tone that reminds me of David Grann’s recent tale of the 1741 Wager shipwreck . . . riveting - Daily Telegraph
An enthralling account of Captain Cook’s final, fatal voyage . . . an excellent book - Economist
A riveting book, deeply researched, light of touch and always judicious and full-sailed about an exceptional man's final extraordinary journey - Spectator
Vivid and propulsive . . . New Zealand, Tahiti, Kamchatka, Hawaii and London come alive with you-are-there descriptions of gales, crushing ice packs and gun smoke . . . but Sides isn’t just interested in retelling an adventure tale. He also wants to present it from a 21st-century point of view. The Wide Wide Sea fits neatly into a growing genre that includes David Grann’s The Wager and Candice Millard’s River of the Gods' - New York Times
A lightning rod, an icon, a totem, a cipher, Cook remains endlessly fascinating. A lively, vivid, highly readable addition to the vast body of literature about a powerful and complicated figure whose legacy – love him or hate him – is impossible to ignore - The Times Literary Supplement
'Hampton Sides, an acclaimed master of the nonfiction narrative, has taken on Cook’s story and retells it for the 21st century . . . The result is a work that will enthrall Cook’s admirers, inform his critics and entertain everyone in between' - Los Angeles Times
A thrilling tale - History Today
'With gripping prose, Sides details Cook's increasingly erratic behavior as he explored vast swaths of the Pacific and scrambled to find the fabled Northwest Passage along the ice-choked coast of Alaska. His account lays bare the Age of Exploration's moral perils, which continue to reverbarate today' - Outside Magazine
'Sides make a persuasive case in 387 pages of diligent, riveting reporting that Cook came as a navigator and mapmaker and in dramatically opening what was known about our world, made us all richer in knowledge' - Associated Press
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