The wide wide sea : imperial ambition, first contact and the fateful final voyage of Captain James Cook / Hampton Sides.

By:

Sides, Hampton

Material type: Text

TextPublisher: New York : Doubleday, [2024]Edition: First editionDescription: 1 volume : illustrations, maps ; 24 cmContent type:

text
still image
cartographic image

Media type:

unmediated

Carrier type:

volume

ISBN:

9780385544764
0385544766

Other title:

Fateful final voyage of Captain James Cook
Final voyage of Captain James Cook

Subject(s):

Genre/Form:

Additional physical formats: Online version:: Wide wide seaDDC classification:

910.92 B 23

LOC classification:

G246.C7 S53 2024

Contents:

Prologue. And louder grew the shouting -- Book one. The first navigator of Europe. Negative discoverer ; Proto-anthropologist ; A human pet ; A fine retreat ; A natural politeness ; The problem of the ice ; No tutor but nature ; Fresh discoveries ; The secret instructions -- Book two. The weight of my resentment. Isla del infierno ; Tavern of the seas ; The isle of desolation ; Lunawanna-alonnah ; A shocking scene of carnage ; The land of the long white cloud ; Return to grass cove -- Book three. Faraway heaven. Aphrodite's island ; This barbarous custom ; Duped by every designing knave ; A kingdom for a goat ; The ardor of inviolable friendship ; Faraway heaven ; Scorched up by the heat of the sun ; A new race of people ; In the land of the Menehune -- Book four. New Albion. Foul weather ; Soft gold ; In Bering's wake ; Deep water and bold shores ; Possessed ; Risen in a new world ; Big with every danger -- Book five. Apotheosis. Pathway of the gods ; Approaching adoration ; Golden days ; A welcome overstayed ; The water's edge ; The bones of Captain Cook ; The long concealed arrangements of the Almighty -- Epilogue. Lono's tears.

Summary: "An epic account of the most momentous voyage of the Age of Exploration, which culminated in Captain James Cook's death in Hawaii, and left a complex and controversial legacy still debated to this day ... On July 12th, 1776, Captain James Cook, already lionized as the greatest explorer in British history, set off on his third voyage in his ship the HMS Resolution. Two-and-a-half years later, on a beach on the island of Hawaii, Cook was killed in a conflict with native Hawaiians. How did Cook, who was unique among captains for his respect for Indigenous peoples and cultures, come to that fatal moment? Hampton Sides' bravura account of Cook's last journey both wrestles with Cook's legacy and provides a thrilling narrative of the titanic efforts and continual danger that characterized exploration in the 1700s. Cook was renowned for his peerless seamanship, his humane leadership, and his dedication to science--the famed naturalist Joseph Banks accompanied him on his first voyage, and Cook has been called one of the most important figures of the Age of Enlightenment. He was also deeply interested in the native people he encountered. In fact, his stated mission was to return a Tahitian man, Mai, who had become the toast of London, to his home islands. On previous expeditions, Cook mapped huge swaths of the Pacific, including the east coast of Australia, and initiated first European contact with numerous peoples. He treated his crew well, and endeavored to learn about the societies he encountered with curiosity and without judgment. Yet something was different on this last voyage. Cook became mercurial, resorting to the lash to enforce discipline, and led his two vessels into danger time and again. Uncharacteristically, he ordered violent retaliation for perceived theft on the part of native peoples. This may have had something to do with his secret orders, which were to chart and claim lands before Britain's imperial rivals could, and to discover the fabled Northwest Passage. Whatever Cook's intentions, his scientific efforts were the sharp edge of the colonial sword, and the ultimate effects of first contact were catastrophic for Indigenous people around the world. The tensions between Cook's overt and covert missions came to a head on the shores of Hawaii. His first landing there was harmonious, but when Cook returned after mapping the coast of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, his exploitative treatment of the Hawaiians led to the fatal encounter"-- Provided by publisher.

List(s) this item appears in: New Adult Nonfiction

Average rating: 0.0 (0 votes)

Holdings
Item type	Current library	Collection	Shelving location	Call number	Status	Date due	Barcode	Item holds
Adult Book	Phillipsburg Free Public Library	Adult Non-Fiction	New Books	910.92 SID	Available		36748002554550

Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * An epic account of the most momentous voyage of the Age of Exploration, which culminated in Captain James Cook's death in Hawaii, and left a complex and controversial legacy still debated to this day.

"Sides has mastered the art of you-are-there historical narrative. A thrilling and necessary update to one of history's most consequential cultural collisions." --John Vaillant, New York Times bestselling author of Fire Weather and The Tiger

On July 12th, 1776, Captain James Cook, already lionized as the greatest explorer in British history, set off on his third voyage in his ship the HMS Resolution . Two-and-a-half years later, on a beach on the island of Hawaii, Cook was killed in a conflict with native Hawaiians. How did Cook, who was unique among captains for his respect for Indigenous peoples and cultures, come to that fatal moment?

Hampton Sides' bravura account of Cook's last journey both wrestles with Cook's legacy and provides a thrilling narrative of the titanic efforts and continual danger that characterized exploration in the 1700s. Cook was renowned for his peerless seamanship, his humane leadership, and his dedication to science--the famed naturalist Joseph Banks accompanied him on his first voyage, and Cook has been called one of the most important figures of the Age of Enlightenment. He was also deeply interested in the native people he encountered. In fact, his stated mission was to return a Tahitian man, Mai, who had become the toast of London, to his home islands. On previous expeditions, Cook mapped huge swaths of the Pacific, including the east coast of Australia, and initiated first European contact with numerous peoples. He treated his crew well, and endeavored to learn about the societies he encountered with curiosity and without judgment.

Yet something was different on this last voyage. Cook became mercurial, resorting to the lash to enforce discipline, and led his two vessels into danger time and again. Uncharacteristically, he ordered violent retaliation for perceived theft on the part of native peoples. This may have had something to do with his secret orders, which were to chart and claim lands before Britain's imperial rivals could, and to discover the fabled Northwest Passage. Whatever Cook's intentions, his scientific efforts were the sharp edge of the colonial sword, and the ultimate effects of first contact were catastrophic for Indigenous people around the world. The tensions between Cook's overt and covert missions came to a head on the shores of Hawaii. His first landing there was harmonious, but when Cook returned after mapping the coast of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, his exploitative treatment of the Hawaiians led to the fatal encounter.

At once a ferociously-paced story of adventure on the high seas and a searching examination of the complexities and consequences of the Age of Exploration, THE WIDE WIDE SEA is a major work from one of our finest narrative nonfiction writers.

Pre-publication subtitle: The final, fateful voyage of Captain James Cook.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

"An epic account of the most momentous voyage of the Age of Exploration, which culminated in Captain James Cook's death in Hawaii, and left a complex and controversial legacy still debated to this day ... On July 12th, 1776, Captain James Cook, already lionized as the greatest explorer in British history, set off on his third voyage in his ship the HMS Resolution. Two-and-a-half years later, on a beach on the island of Hawaii, Cook was killed in a conflict with native Hawaiians. How did Cook, who was unique among captains for his respect for Indigenous peoples and cultures, come to that fatal moment? Hampton Sides' bravura account of Cook's last journey both wrestles with Cook's legacy and provides a thrilling narrative of the titanic efforts and continual danger that characterized exploration in the 1700s. Cook was renowned for his peerless seamanship, his humane leadership, and his dedication to science--the famed naturalist Joseph Banks accompanied him on his first voyage, and Cook has been called one of the most important figures of the Age of Enlightenment. He was also deeply interested in the native people he encountered. In fact, his stated mission was to return a Tahitian man, Mai, who had become the toast of London, to his home islands. On previous expeditions, Cook mapped huge swaths of the Pacific, including the east coast of Australia, and initiated first European contact with numerous peoples. He treated his crew well, and endeavored to learn about the societies he encountered with curiosity and without judgment. Yet something was different on this last voyage. Cook became mercurial, resorting to the lash to enforce discipline, and led his two vessels into danger time and again. Uncharacteristically, he ordered violent retaliation for perceived theft on the part of native peoples. This may have had something to do with his secret orders, which were to chart and claim lands before Britain's imperial rivals could, and to discover the fabled Northwest Passage. Whatever Cook's intentions, his scientific efforts were the sharp edge of the colonial sword, and the ultimate effects of first contact were catastrophic for Indigenous people around the world. The tensions between Cook's overt and covert missions came to a head on the shores of Hawaii. His first landing there was harmonious, but when Cook returned after mapping the coast of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, his exploitative treatment of the Hawaiians led to the fatal encounter"-- Provided by publisher.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

Bestseller Sides (On Desperate Ground) recreates in this propulsive account the final expedition of Captain James Cook (1728--1779), which culminated with his murder by native Hawaiians. Diving into the long-standing mystery of what went wrong, Sides spins an observation made by previous chroniclers--that "on his final voyage something wasn't quite right with the famous captain... his personality had definitely changed"--into a sidelong indictment of imperialism. Tracing Cook's transformation from toast of the Enlightenment, a heroic "mariner-scientist" who ferried naturalists around the world and made friends with Natives, to violent authoritarian who dispensed brutal punishments for minor infractions, like theft of supplies, against Indigenous communities as well as his crew, Sides eschews the conventional "medical" explanation of Cook's "profoundly changed... outlook." Instead, Sides insinuates, the "sinister force pulling at his psyche and his soul" was Cook's growing conviction--heightened by increasingly frequent signs that Spanish vessels were exploring the same territories in the Pacific--that he must be more ruthless in claiming new land for Britain. With an admirably light touch, Sides teases out his convincing thesis amid a riveting day-by-day narrative of the voyage and fascinating asides on such matters as the fierce anthropological debate over whether the Hawaiians really considered Cook to be the god Lono. This exquisitely crafted and novelistic portrait of the mercurial captain enthralls. (Apr.)

Booklist Review

The best-selling Sides (On Desperate Ground, 2018) tackles the somewhat controversial topic of contact between European explorers and Indigenous peoples through the life and exploits of the great British navigator and cartographer James Cook in this adventure of the high seas. Cook set sail from London in July 1776 with the objectives of returning a Polynesian man to his home islands after an extended stay in England and exploring the Pacific coast of North America in search of the fabled Northwest Passage. Sides has an impressive knack for immersing the reader in the realities of seafaring, from the miseries of vermin, disease, and accidental deaths to the need for supplies and repairs on Cook's vessels--all expertly contrasted with the exhilaration of reaching new and different locales. Sides proceeds objectively, describing the voyage as it was while also providing an historical context and current scholarly arguments surrounding the effects of European exploration. Beautifully written and impeccably researched, The Wide Wide Sea will delight readers new to the topic as well as those versed in earlier looks at James Cook and his milieu.

Kirkus Book Review

An acclaimed historian takes to the sea in this rousing tale of exploration. Sides, author of Hellhound on His Trail and Ghost Soldiers, writes that James Cook's (1728-1779) voyages "form a morally complicated tale that has left a lot for modern sensibilities to unravel and critique." The author seeks to "describe what happened during his consequential, ambitious, and ultimately tragic final voyage," with 180 people on two ships--the Discovery and the Resolution, captained by William Bligh--that embarked in July 1776. Along with a wide range of animals, leaving with Cook was Mai, a Tahitian whose "life story offered a poignant allegory of first contact between England and the people of Oceania." The plan was to sail around the Cape of Good Hope, drop Mai off on an island, claim any new territories, and search for the Northwest Passage. Fortunately, Capt. Charles Clerke, released from debtor's prison, joined the Discovery in Plymouth. Crew members were noticing changes in Cook's demeanor. They reached Cape Town in October, rested, and repaired and restocked. After Clerke arrived, they set off in November. In late January, they reached Tasmania and then New Zealand. In August, they arrived at Tahiti, the "place of their wildest desires," and removed most of the animals the king gave them. When a Native islander stole a goat, Cook began destroying canoes and setting fires on Moorea, "punishing the many for the misdeeds of an individual." In December, Cook headed north, eventually reaching America's western coast, Alaska, Asia, and the icy Arctic Circle, making contact with many Natives. His voyage ended in Hawaii when he was killed by angry Natives in a grisly fight. Sides draws on numerous contemporaneous sources to create a fascinating, immersive adventure story featuring just the right amount of historical context. Lusciously detailed and insightful history, masterfully told. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.