Captain Cook Rediscovered


Book Description

Captain Cook Rediscovered is the first modern study to frame Captain James Cook’s career from a North American vantage. Although Cook is inextricably linked to the South Pacific in the popular imagination, his crowning navigational and scientific achievements took place in the polar regions. David L. Nicandri acknowledges the cartographic accomplishments of the Australasian first voyage but focuses on the second- and third-voyage discovery missions in the extreme latitudes, where Cook pioneered the science of iceberg and icepack formation. A truly modern appraisal of early polar science, Captain Cook Rediscovered resonates in the climate change era.




Blue Latitudes


Book Description

New York Times Bestseller: A Pulitzer Prize–winning author retraces the voyages of Captain James Cook: “Alternately hilarious, poignant, and insightful.” —Seattle Times Captain James Cook’s three epic journeys in the eighteenth century were the last great voyages of discovery. His ships sailed 150,000 miles, from the Arctic to the Antarctic, from Tasmania to Oregon, from Easter Island to Siberia. When Cook set off for the Pacific in 1768, a third of the globe remained blank. By the time he died in Hawaii in 1779, the map of the world was substantially complete. Tony Horwitz, author of Confederates in the Attic, vividly recounts Cook’s voyages and the exotic scenes the captain encountered: tropical orgies, taboo rituals, cannibal feasts, human sacrifice. He also relives Cook’s adventures by following in his wake to places such as Tahiti, Savage Island, and the Great Barrier Reef to discover Cook’s embattled legacy in the present day. Signing on as a working crewman aboard a replica of Cook’s vessel, Horwitz experiences the thrill and terror of sailing a tall ship. He also explores Cook the man: an impoverished farm boy who broke through the barriers of his class and time to become the greatest navigator in British history, whose voyages helped create the “global village” we know today. “With healthy doses of both humor and provocative information, the book will please fans of history, exploration, travelogues and, of course, top-notch storytelling.” —Publishers Weekly “Horwitz retells the sailor’s story and tries to re-create first contact from the point of view of the locals—Tahitians, Maoris, Aleuts, Hawaiians, and others—and judge the legacy of his landing . . . thought-provoking . . . brims with insight.” —Booklist “A rollicking read that is also a sneaky work of scholarship . . . new and unexpected insights into the man who out-discovered Columbus. A terrific book.” —Nathaniel Philbrick, National Book Award winner and New York Times–bestselling author of In the Heart of the Sea “Well-researched, gripping, and peppered with humorous passages.” —St. Louis Post-Dispatch “Part Cook biography, part travelogue, and very much a stroke of genius.” —Philadelphia Inquirer




Arctic Ambitions


Book Description

Prologue : Three Comments on Cook's Third Voyage / Nicholas ThomasJames Cook, Navigator and Explorer : The Pacific Experience, 1768-1776 / John GascoigneJames Cook and the Northwest Passage : Approaching the Third Voyage / Glyn WilliamsSetting the Stage : Spain in the Pacific and the Northern Voyages of the 1770s / Iris EngstrandFrom Russia with Charts : Cook and the Russians in the North Pacific / Evguenia AnichtchenkoJames Cook and the New Navigation / Richard DunnA New Look at Cook : Reflections on Sand, Ice, and His Diligent Voyage to the Arctic Ocean / David L. NicandriEncounters : View of the Indigenous People of Nootka Sound from the Cook Expedition Records / Richard InglisThe Cook Expedition and Russian Colonialism in Southern Alaska / Aron L. CrowellGifting, Trading, Selling, Buying : Following Northwest Coast Treasures Acquired on Cook's Third Voyage to Collections around the World / Adrienne L. KaepplerThe International Law of Discovery : Acts of Possession on the Northwest Coast of North America / Robert J. MillerCook on the Coasts of the North Pacific and Arctic America : The Cartographic Achievement / John RobsonNarrating an Alaskan Cruise : Aspects of Cook's Journal (1778) and Douglas?s Edition of A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean (1784) / I.S. MacLarenThe End of the Northern Mystery : George Vancouver's Survey of the Northwest Coast / James K. BarnettFrom Discoveries to Sovereignties : The Imperial Scramble for Northwestern North America / Barry GoughThe Continuing Quest : The Lure of the Northwest Passage in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries / James P. DelgadoSea Ice in the Western Portal of the Northwest Passage from 1778 to the Twenty-first Century / Harry SternMarine Navigation in the Arctic Ocean and the Northwest Passage / Lawson W. BrighamThe Arctic in Focus : National Interests and International Cooperation / Gudrun Bucher and Robin Inglis.




Captain James Cook


Book Description

This meticulous narrative captures an age of discovery and establishes Cook as a link between the vague scientific speculations of the 18th century and the industrial revolution to come. Includes an interesting new element is medical evidence that may explain Cook's strange behavior on his final voyage.




The Trial of the Cannibal Dog


Book Description

The extraordinary story of Captain Cook's encounters with the Polynesian Islanders is retold here in bold, vivid style, capturing the complex (and sometimes sexual) relationships between the explorers and the Islanders as well as the unresolved issues that led to Cook's violent death on the shores of Hawaii. (History)




Lewis and Clark Reframed


Book Description

"A former Washington State Historical Society director examines the Corps of Discovery's journey after they crossed the Rocky Mountains. He places curious and seemingly inexplicable aspects of the Lewis and Clark Expedition story into a broader historical context, and reveals how earlier explorers and fur traders influenced the American captains"--




A Voyage to the North West Side of America


Book Description

James Colnett, a veteran of James Cook's second voyage to North America, was an early participant in the maritime sea otter trade. Between 1786 and 1789 his two-vessel expedition traversed the Northwest Coast from Prince William Sound to Vancouver Island and wintered on the Hawaiian Islands. Along the way, he and his crew had some remarkable encounters with Native peoples of the Northwest Coast and the Hawaiian Islands: they were the first Europeans to encounter the Tsimshian and the southern Heiltsuk peoples as well as the first to land on the southern Queen Charlotte Islands. Colnett's journal of this expedition is published here for the first time. Editor Robert Galois provides extensive annotations, along with an introductory essay addressing the geopolitical context of the voyage and the intellectual background that shaped the writing of the journal. Galois supplements Colnett's writings with extracts from a second journal -- also previously unpublished -- by Andrew Bracey Taylor, third mate on one of the ships under Colnett's command. Also included are illustrations from Colnett's journals and a variety of maps, both contemporary and historical. This fascinating and informative account offers a new understanding of the early European presence in the Northwest and of Native responses to these developments. It will interest historians, geographers, and ethnographers of the Northwest Coast and beyond.







A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson


Book Description

When it is recollected how much has been written to describe the Settlement of New South Wales, it seems necessary if not to offer an apology, yet to assign a reason, for an additional publication. The embarked in the fleet which sailed to found the establishment at Botany Bay. He shortly after published a Narrative of the Proceedings and State of the Colony, brought up to the beginning of July, 1788, which was well received, and passed through three editions. This could not but inspire both confidence and gratitude; but gratitude, would be badly manifested were he on the presumption of former favour to lay claim to present indulgence. He resumes the subject in the humble hope of communicating information, and increasing knowledge, of the country, which he describes. He resided at Port Jackson nearly four years: from the 20th of January, 1788, until the 18th of December, 1791. To an active and contemplative mind, a new country is an inexhaustible source of curiosity and speculation. It was the author's custom not only to note daily occurrences, and to inspect and record the progression of improvement; but also, when not prevented by military duties, to penetrate the surrounding country in different directions, in order to examine its nature, and ascertain its relative geographical situations. The greatest part of the work is inevitably composed of those materials which a journal supplies; but wherever reflections could be introduced without fastidiousness and parade, he has not scrupled to indulge them, in common with every other deviation which the strictness of narrative would allow. When this publication was nearly ready for the press; and when many of the opinions which it records had been declared, fresh accounts from Port Jackson were received. To the state of a country, where so many anxious trying hours of his life have passed, the author cannot feel indifferent. If by any sudden revolution of the laws of nature; or by any fortunate discovery of those on the spot, it has really become that fertile and prosperous land, which some represent it to be, he begs permission to add his voice to the general congratulation. He rejoices at its success: but it is only justice to himself and those with whom he acted to declare, that they feel no cause of reproach that so complete and happy an alteration did not take place at an earlier period.




Cook's Ark


Book Description

Cook's Ark is a fascinating account of the animals that sailed with Captain James Cook to the South Pacific, with particular reference to New Zealand. It offers a novel insight into an aspect of Cook's voyages rarely touched on by other authors: the menagerie that travelled in uncomfortably close proximity to the men on board Endeavour and Resolution. From the tiniest mouse, poultry, cats, monkeys, goats, pigs, etc to the larger cattle and horse, the reader follows their journey with Captain Cook. Dr Sutherland's intensive research on the vermin, livestock, utility animals, pets and exotic animals that sailed with Captain Cook not only reveals a captivating glimpse into the life of animals at sea in the 18th century, but also exposes little known or understated historical facts. These include the story behind the massacre of Furneaux's men at Grass Cove, the relationship between a Maori girl and a young seaman, and for the readers interested in heritage breeds, concludes by linking animals introduced during Cook's voyages to some of New Zealand's rarest breeds of livestock.