Captain James Cook: A Biography

by Richard Hough

James Cook, born in 1728, was one of the most celebrated navigators/explorers of his time. His voyages in the Royal Navy to the eastern and western seaboards of North America, the North and South Pacific, the Arctic, and the Antarctic brought a new understanding of the geography and of the peoples, flora, and fauna of the lands he discovered. Cook produced maps of unprecedented accuracy; revolutionized the seafarers' diet, all but eliminating scurvy; and exploded the myth of the Great Southern Continent imagined by earlier geographers and scientists.

Hough consulted numerous archives and traveled in Cook's wake from Alaska to Tasmania, visiting many of the Pacific islands.

Genres: Biography, History, Nonfiction, Travel, Nautical, Australia, Adventure

436 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1994

About the author

Richard Alexander Hough was a British author and historian specializing in naval history. As a child, he was obsessed with making model warships and collecting information about navies around the world. In 1941, he joined the Royal Air Force and trained at a flying school near Los Angeles. He flew Hurricanes and Typhoons and was wounded in action.

After World War II, Hough worked as a part-time delivery driver for a wine shop, while looking for employment involving books. He finally joined the publishing house Bodley Head, and then Hamish Hamilton, where he eventually headed the children’s book division.

His work as a publisher inspired him to turn to writing himself in 1950, and he went on to write more than ninety books over a long and successful career. Best-known for his works of naval history and his biographies, he also wrote war novels and books for children (under the pseudonym Bruce Carter), all of which sold in huge numbers around the world. His works include The Longest Battle: The War at Sea 1939-45, Naval Battles of the Twentieth Century and best-selling biographies of Earl Mountbatten of Burma and Captain James Cook. Captain Bligh and Mr Christian, his 1972 account of the mutiny on the Bounty, was the basis of the 1984 film The Bounty, starring Anthony Hopkins and Mel Gibson.

Hough was the official historian of the Mountbatten family and a longtime student of Churchill. Winston Churchill figures prominently in nine of his books, including Former Naval Person: Churchill and the Wars at Sea. He won the Daily Express Best Book of the Sea Award in 1972.

Reviews

[Jan-Maat]

A brief survey of this book revealed that my sister and I had given it to our father for his birthday in 1994. It is a curious book that sails at a fair clip through Captain Cook's life. We'd seen some kind of exhibit about Cook in Whitby once when we were on holiday. Cook joined the royal navy in his late twenties after some years on colliers bring coal from north-east England to places in want of it. In the navy he participated in the conquest of Canada during which he was taught the rudiments of surveying- one of the curiosities of the time was that training seems to have been effectively by means of apprenticeship and an officer's skills derived from those he had served with. Cook, although just a warrant officer at the time had sufficiently demonstrated his skill as surveying to be appointed to lead a two ship expedition to observe the transit of Venus from Tahiti. They took with them Joseph Banks with two Swedes (gentlemen of that northern nation well acquainted with the principles of Carl Linnaeus rather than the vegetables), two painters, and sealed instructions.

On this voyage they observed the transit of Venus, surveyed the coast of New Zealand, ran aground on the great barrier reef and lost about a third of the crew to disease in Dutch Batavia too my surprise the Dutch were also prone to scurvy - so apparently they were no sauerkraut eaters either, this was a great success as typically half the crew might be lost to scurvy. Cook was committed to the health of his crew, insisting that they eat sauerkraut and wash their clothes when ever there was enough fresh water - so he could not help but notice that many of the crew after Tahiti had contracted venereal disease , brought to the island in Cook's opinion by the dastardly Spanish - except they hadn't, it was Yaws disease - in any case the afflicted men were treated with arsenic injections.

Cook was promoted and put in charge of a second expedition to find the hypothetical great southern continent consisting of theResolution and the Adventure away from Cook's watchful eye on-board the Adventure the crew skipped eating their sauerkraut and suffered from scurvy instead, given independent command the Adventure skedaddled for home and got back to Britain a year before Cook who instead discovered South Georgia on his way back from Easter Island.

Generally among European states there was a tension between producing accurate charts and state security, part of Cook's work was correcting possibly deliberately inaccurate foreign maps, the Dutch even left some islands off their charts to discourage unwelcome visitors. There was some sense to this from a colonial point of view as Cook was trying to muscle the French out of Tahiti, while the Spanish had turned up there between his 2nd and 3rd voyages with a couple of priests and a cow or two to claim the island for his Majesty Charles III.

In Britain, Cook contemplated retirement but instead volunteered to lead an expedition to uncover the then mythical north-west passage, only now thanks to global warming emerging from the ice. George III, a kindly monarch, had been troubled by reports of the warfare on Tahiti, feeling that if the people were occupied with animal husbandry instead that they would be too busy to fight each other. Cook was commissioned to carry breeding pairs of livestock to the islanders as a rule they took goats in any case to provide milk for the officers. The beasts drink a lot and require forage and many die when they were allowed ashore at Cape colony. So when Cook starts to give out these well travelled animals to the people of Tonga he tries to impress upon them how inordinately expensive they are. The remaining livestock he gifted to the Tahitians and then sailing north he happened across Hawaii, where upon returning to the island from the north-west coat of Canada he was killed on the beach.

There's a good wind in the sails that carries Hough's narrative briskly along, but he never gets us close to Cook, who remains firmly in his cabin. This is slightly curious since in his introduction Hough makes claims for the distinctiveness of Cook particularly in his attitudes to the Polynesians (still, whatever Cook's own attitudes, locals were fired upon and sometimes killed though not always upon Cook's orders), and since not only are Cook's own journals in print but it is clear from Hough's text that there are enough accounts written by other participants on these voyages that he can point out when Officers omitted some occurrence from the official log. So the book strikes me more as an account of Cook's voyages than as a biography.

Many of the crew had picked up a bit of Tahitian language and much to my surprise (and perhaps theirs too) this was understood in New Zealand and Hawaii.

This being the 18th century the crew eat anything (apart from sauerkraut and Walrus steaks) that moves when ever they make landfall they also trade ship's stores, in particular nails, for sex where and whenever they come across women Sodomy was punishable by death under the articles of war, however Hough says, without offering evidence, that Cook turned a blind eye to instances of it. They trade Tahitian cloth to the Maoris for food, and Cook plants European vegetables whenever he gets the opportunity. One Taihitian was taken to Britain and then brought back on the third voyage, he also acquired a pair of Maori boys as servants.

Hough says that Cook's particular bad temper on his third voyage was caused, not just by reaching the age of fifty, but from having picked up a parasite on his second voyage which consumed his B vitamins leaving him depressed and ill tempered. This reminded me of the parasite one can apparently pick up from cats that once it has affected the brain leaves the sufferer inclined to take risks and to die in car accidents.

Hough is also of the opinion that the Hawaiians literally regarded Cook as a god and so were particularly annoyed when he returned, there is though apparently some debate over this. Hough presents European contact with Polynesians only from one perspective so they are all thieves, though Maori are in addition martial and inclined to eat people. Still a reader might feel that getting to know about these isolated societies might be a highlight of a book about Cook.

Cook left a widow in a modest two up, two down house on Mile End road- long since demolished, who outlived all their sons (who all ended up in the navy). I was left curious about the fate of the animals - did they thrive or were they eaten?

[Elyse✨ · Rating 5 out of 5]

At the end of this book my knees felt wobbly as if I had just gotten off a ship. Maybe it was because I had been sitting too long reading with no breaks. Or maybe it was due to the impact of this story. The chapter near the end describing Captain James Cook's death in Hawaii was hair-raising. Update: 2024; I just realized this sentence is a spoiler and should hide it.

Captain Cook of the British Royal Navy really got around. The scope of his travels was amazing. Cook didn't miss much in the Pacific. He sailed south to the edges of Antartica, north to Alaska to try to find that elusive Northwest passage, and charted a multitude of places in between. What a change of temperatures! The sailors just took some clothes off, then put them back on as the climate warranted. Plus they had some special coverings for extremely low temperatures that were only brought out on occasion.

Captain Cook commanded a total of three exploratory expeditions. The last took place during the time of the American Revolution. The American sailors on board weren't concerned with it. They still thought of themselves as English subjects and the thought of "home" must have felt like a dream world anyway when they were out in such exotic, dangerous locales.

The author, Richard Hough, was very competent. For research he went to many of the places discovered by Captain Cook. It amused me that when describing a few locations he couldn't help but writing, "I was here!" I got the feeling that if he had been in the room he would have been compelled to pull out his photo album or iPhone to show me pictures. Otherwise it was a scholarly work. I'm not sure if it was his writing expertise or just the plain story that made me like this book so much. The facts of Captain Cook's over-the-top life would be difficult to make boring.

[Mikey B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

James Cook led three world wide expeditions of exploration in the Pacific Ocean.

Cook was renowned beforehand as an excellent surveyor and map-maker. Prior to his Pacific journeys he had already travelled to present-day Canada and did some very accurate map-making of the St. Lawrence River and what is now Newfoundland and Labrador (he also played a minor role when James Wolfe (British) defeated Louis Montcalm (French) at Quebec City in 1759, a significant event in Canadian history).

His first expedition took him to the Pacific to make measurements for the eclipse of the sun which was done in Tahiti. Another aspect was to shed light on the ongoing hypothesis that there was an undiscovered continent somewhere out there, namely Australia. And in doing this he also discovered, explored and mapped New Zealand (both North and South islands). In Australia, along the Great Barrier Reef, Cook’s boat “The Endeavour” almost sunk when it hit a coral reef which damaged the hull of the boat. The boat needed to be fixed and patched up – and then successfully navigated out of these treacherous waters.

The intrepidness and resiliency of these men is astonishing. They were truly “out there” in a vast unknown – thousands of miles from home and any form of assistance. Think of the events of “Apollo 13” who had the help of hundreds of technicians and engineers. Not so for these explorers who navigated strange waters and encountered native islanders who at times were friendly, and at other times less so. They had to rely upon the leadership of Cook for the navigation of the oceans and unknown peoples.

Cook’s first expedition lasted close to three years, the second over three years, and the third was also over three years, but in this one Cook was killed in Hawaii.

They had to deal with extreme weather conditions, isolation, various health issues from scurvy to STDs. By the second voyage Cook had solved the blight of scurvy on his boat by imposing a special diet on his crew; by contrast the captain of the second boat accompanying Cook on this voyage was less strident at enforcing the diet and several members of the crew had the ill effects of scurvy.

This second voyage, this time consisting of two boats, was to explore the Antarctic with sojourns in the winter months to New Zealand and Tahiti.

Page 235 Charles Clerke on the Resolution with Cook, December 21, somewhere near Antarctica

Very cold. The sleet as it falls freezes to the rigging which, in the first place, makes it exceedingly disagreeable handling and, in the next, makes it so thick with ice that ‘tis with difficulty we render the ropes through the blocks.

Later John Mara wrote: “Icicles frequently hung to the noses of the men more than an inch long… the man cased in frozen snow, as if clad in armour, where the running rigging has been so enlarged by frozen sleet as hardly to be grasped by the largest hand.”

There were always plentiful negotiations with the different indigenous peoples encountered during these long voyages. Each Island would respond differently, ranging from hostility (the Maori in New Zealand) to indifference (the indigenous of Australia). There was always much trading for the required food and fresh water. Sometimes the boat would be swarmed by hundreds of indigenous people, like at Tahiti, who were curious about these newcomers, and inevitably theft would take place.

Until the last voyage Captain Cook was quite successful at dealing with the different native islanders. This third voyage, again with two ships, was to be sadly Cook’s last.
The purpose of this third voyage was to explore the possibility of finding a Northwest Passage via the Pacific side. On the way he discovered the islands of Hawaii. Cook then went all the way up the West Coast of North America, entered the Bering Strait, found impenetrable ice fields and headed back to Hawaii.

The author speculates that Cook had medical issues – as he was inordinately testy with his crew, was at times indecisive, and most significantly lacked diplomacy and foresight in dealing with native islanders. I also got the feeling that they had over-stayed their welcome in Hawaii, but they were forced to return for repairs when their boat was damaged by a storm. When returning to Hawaii after this Arctic exploration Cook was killed during an encounter onshore. Significantly it would seem that not all the native people of Hawaii were onside with the hostility of the group responsible for the death of Cook and some of his crew members.

In this book we are provided with an exhilarating view of this explorer and his exciting life. The man could not sit still! We are also given numerous colourful accounts of those who accompanied him. The maps of his voyages were not particularly good.

[Numidica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent relatively short biography of Cook and his amazing accomplishments. I read this about fifteen years ago, but it made me a fan of Cook, who came up the hard way, and was one of the most skilled cartographers and seamen in history, who incidentally eliminated scurvy as the biggest killer of sailors of transoceanic voyages. A common-sense, practical, hard-working man with a mind for science.

[Frank Theising · Rating 3 out of 5]

James Cook is arguably the most famous navigator in the world, discovering and charting coastlines from the Arctic to the Antarctic, the east coast of Australia to the west coast of North America, and hundreds of islands in between. His voyages led to the identification of thousands of new plants and animals as well as important astronomical observations that furthered our understanding of our world. In an era when 50% of crews died from scurvy on long voyages, his dietary routine preserved countless lives on his own ship as well as for generations of future seafarers. Geopolitically, his voyages directly led to Britain’s claiming possession of Australia, New Zealand, and several smaller islands. By all accounts he appeared a fair and dutiful captain as well as an honest and respectful ambassador to the many foreign peoples he encountered (at least until his final voyage when something was clearly going wrong with his brain and his behavior became uncharacteristically erratic). In my opinion, this sudden change in Cook’s behavior directly contributed to the clash with the Hawaiians that ended his life. Had he still been the man he was on his first two voyages, I think he would have lived to a ripe old age.

While there is no shortage of adventure and discovery in Cook’s voyages, the book itself tends to be rather dry, matter of fact, and lacking in any of the narrative flair that tend to accompany the best biographies. Nevertheless, I did learn a lot from this one. 3 Stars.

What follows are my notes on the book:

Born in 1728 in Yorkshire. A nearby Lord recognized special qualities in James and paid for his school. At 16 he apprenticed in a shop for 18 months. He befriended the local fishermen and loved to listen to their seafaring stories. It seemed exciting compared to the drudgery of the shop. He asked to be relieved of his indenture and began a new apprenticeship to a nearby ship-owner. At a school he learned navigation, charts, longitude and latitude, etc. At age 18 he first went to sea in a ship ferrying coal. Over the next 18 months he gained much experience.

By 1750, he had completed his 3 year apprenticeship. By 1755 at age 27 he reasonably felt something of a veteran. He was eager and ambitious to travel farther. He had options (East India Company) but chose to join the Royal Navy. As war with France loomed, Cook’s talents were recognized and he was quickly promoted. In the Seven Years’ War, he received prize money for capturing French ships. When William Pitt determined to end France’s interest in North America, Cook was sent to seize control of the St Lawrence River, cutting off Quebec. On the journey, he first witnessed scurvy (26 sailors died on this trip alone). After a naval battle, the French capitulated opening the way to Quebec. However, with winter approaching, the assault was put off until spring. Cook made his first foray into surveying. The British went on to capture Quebec, giving birth to the British Empire.

Stuck in a winter port, Cook learned the necessity of strict discipline. After 2.5 years, he returned home, and determined to find a wife. He married Elizabeth Cook (age 22) in Dec 1762. He was selected to survey Nova Scotia and Newfoundland (won in the recent war). By Nov 1763 he was a father. By June he was again across the Atlantic. An explosion permanently scarred his right hand. With a rough set of charts he was home by Dec, just in time for the birth of his 2nd son. His charts of Newfoundland were praised for their accuracy and were not superseded for over a 100 years.

As he continued traversing the Atlantic, on one trip he observed an eclipse in 1766, recording his findings. This single act, put him on the radar of the Royal Society. Making plans to observe the 1769 transit of Venus from the Pacific (in order to calculate the distance between the sun, Earth, and Venus), Captain Cook’s naval experience and amateur astronomy made him the ideal candidate to undertake the mission. He received his instructions in May 1768 and rushed to depart so he would arrive in time. Accompanying him was (self-aggrandizing) botanist Joseph Banks. His orders included a second, secret instruction not to be opened until at sea…to explore the South Pacific and discover the missing Continent Terra Australis Incognita. Cook believed this land to be a myth. If he couldn’t find it, he was to proceed to the land discovered by Abel Tasman 126 years earlier (New Zealand). His wife was pregnant with their 4th child when he departed in August 1768.

He arrived in Tahiti in Apr 1769. He expected trouble with the Tahitians and laid out strict rules for his crew to deal fairly with them. The Tahitian’s wildly different morality and customs were confusing. With six weeks to go until the transit of Venus, Cook established his observatory and a fort. When a Tahitian was shot for stealing a Musket, Cook went out his way to mend fences and maintain good relations. On one occasion, he lashed one of his own men for threatening a local chief’s wife. During the six hour observation of the transit, one of his own men stole 120 pounds of nails (a key commodity for trade) and received 2 dozen lashes when caught. With Tahitian thieving rampant, Cook threatened to burn canoes until pilfered items were returned. He was eager to depart and carry out the 2nd part of his orders. Some local chiefs were held hostage to encourage the return of 2 deserters who ran off with their new wives, which almost led to armed conflict. One native, Tupia, came aboard and would prove valuable when they encountered others who shared his language and customs.

The southerly leg of the exploration for a southern continent was freezing. After finding nothing to the south, he headed west and on 7 Oct saw the land discovered by Tasman over a century earlier (New Zealand). He began mapping the coast. The Maoris were just as given to theft as the Tahitians, but also prone to war and Cook’s men were disturbed by their practice of cannibalism. Having circumnavigated the northern island, they claimed it in the name of their king. Surveying the southern island was more challenging with the weather and the cold. Cooks charts again proved to be the model of accuracy.

After 2 years, they were headed home. He determined to sail up the coast of New Holland (Australia) and fill the enormous gaps in it’s geography. He would stop in Batavia (Jakarta) and then home around the Cape. Charting the coast, he named it New South Wales and claimed it for England. Unaware of what lay ahead, Cook got stuck on the Great Barrier Reef. In a precarious position so far from home, cannons and other ballast were thrown overboard to get the ship off the coral reef. By mid-August, one of their pinnaces finally discovered a path through the insane labyrinth of the coral reef and they proceeded toward the Dutch East Indies.

In Batavia, they discovered the ship was in worse shape than they imagined. While repairs commenced, dysentery, malaria, and other diseases killed 34 men that Cook had so skillfully kept alive for 2 years at sea. Cook thoroughly had his ship cleaned from top to bottom to combat the spread of disease. After another stop in Cape Town, they returned home after 1,074 days. His wife and boys (now age 7 & 8) were relieved to see him, but delivered sad news that his other son (who he only knew as a newborn) had died 3 years ago and his daughter just died.

His return included an overwhelming amount of paperwork (reports, condolence letter, etc). As Banks promoted his work, many came to see him as the leader and hero of the voyage. Banks began planning a 2nd expedition, but he needed Cook to pull it off. So he used his political connections to Sandwich to have him appointed to lead the new voyage, less than a month after his return. The purpose of the new voyage being to once and for all find or disprove the existence of the great southern continent. Cook’s plan was to operate out of two known bases (Tahiti and NZ), this time going east to avoid trouble in Batavia and Rio de Janeiro.

Their departure was delayed as Banks demanded modifications to the ship to accommodate his work and entourage. These modification proved extremely unsafe and months were wasted undoing these changes. This reversal resulted in the haughty Banks abandoning the trip. Accompanying the crew were 2 astronomers from the Board of Longitude who would make their own observations as Cook tested John Harrison’s chronometer. While most ships lost half their crew to scurvy, Cook insisted on cleanliness and consumption of antiscorbutics (like sauerkraut which the men detested).

Once past the Cape of Good Hope, they explored further south than anyone before, passing the Antarctic Circle, exposing the men and livestock to harsh winter conditions and the ship to pack ice. After reaching NZ, Cook chastised the captain of the 2nd ship for lack of discipline as the crew was much inflicted with scurvy. They proceeded to explore the ocean between NZ and Tahiti for six weeks (the 2nd ship again succumbing to scurvy, exasperating Cook).

The island had suffered a civil war since their last visit. He had to lash several of his own men for fighting and “making free” with the women. Cook diffused the situation with the locals thru his diplomatic skill and lavish gifts. Cook proceeded thru the Tonga islands, discovering and charting over 100 of them before returning to NZ. The two ships became separated. Some of Furneaux’s men were attacked (and eaten) by the Maori and without Cook around, he chose to return to England a year early. Cook meanwhile restocked and continued his mission. He again penetrated the Antarctic Circle. His systematic exploration of the region proved beyond doubt the fabled continent did not exist. Proceeding thru the New Hebrides, they encountered a new race, the Melanesians. The Maori were edgy when Cook returned to NZ and rumors abounded.

Heading East around Cape Horn, he discovered the “savage, horrible” South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. Stopping at Cape Town, he was shocked to receive a copy of a book by a journalist with “an account” of voyages in the southern hemisphere. He was furious at the use of his journals without permission. After 3 years, 18 days he returned to England. Cook presented his charts directly to the king and received a promotion to post-captain. Within two weeks his wife was pregnant again. His older sons entered the naval academy. Cook applied for a pensioned position at the Royal Hospital. Another individual published an embellished account of Cook’s journey with many fabricated incidents to discredit Cook.

Even before his return, a third voyage was being planned, this one for the northern Pacific in search of a Northwest Passage. Though he needed rest and time with his family, Cook volunteered to lead this expedition. Being home less than a year, he was off again. Delays en route meant they lost an opportunity to reach the Arctic Circle that season. The Maori saw the arrival of two ships as the start of a war of revenge. Cook restored relations and learned the true fate of Furneaux’s men. This voyage, Cook began uncharacteristically losing his temper and inflicting savage punishments on both his men and the thieving natives. They spent 2 months in the Friendly Islands (Tonga). Back in Tahiti, Cook was affronted by news that Spaniards had arrived and claimed the island for their king.

Cook resettled the Tahitian Omai (the cover story for this trip) but the lengthy stay led to confrontations. When livestock was stolen, Cook carried out a punitive expedition, destroying settlements and canoes (cruel and uncharacteristic behavior for Cook). By December, they began sailing north. By 18 January, they spotted land (Oahu & Kauai). They noticed many similarities to the Tahitians (language, religious activities, and of course thieving). Cook gave strict prohibition against intercourse, to spare these people gonorrhea and other diseases. After 5 weeks, they departed lest they risk losing a second season in the Arctic. They reached the west coast around modern day Oregon. They mapped the coast up to Anchorage. Cooks erratic behavior continued. They passed thru the Aleutians and the Bering Strait before being forced back by the ice.

Cook almost drove his crew to mutiny by forcing them to eat walrus and then proposed going west over Siberia (he eventually realized that would be suicide). Instead of wintering in Kamchatka as planned they headed back for the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii). He celebrated his 50th birthday at sea. They spotted a new island, Maui and then the Big Island. Cook, for no apparent reason reversed his prohibition against women and cut the grog ration (the latter again bringing the crew to near mutiny). They traded heavily with the iron crazy Hawaiians in Kealakekua Bay. They were soon swarmed by men and women, the latter bent on seducing the new arrivals.

When Cook met High Priest Koa, it appeared they regarded him as a god (chants of ‘Orono’ occurred everywhere he went). He wearily participated in a long elaborate ceremony ashore. Unknown to Cook, the natives believed he was the fulfillment of a prophecy that the god of abundance Orono Makua would appear under great white banners (like the ship sails). While things were friendly, Cook grew frustrated with the excessive thieving and there were beginning to be signs that they were overstaying their welcome (as Hawaiian food reserves dwindled). Shortly after departing, a split foremast forced a return for repairs.

The Hawaiians became more provocative, blatantly stealing. When one Hawaiian was whipped, the Hawaiians escalated, throwing stones when they came ashore for water. After the theft of a cutter and a fight on the beach that injured several of his men, Cook felt compelled to respond with force. He blockaded the harbor and went to capture the king as a hostage. The king’s mistresses pleaded for him not to go aboard ship, Cook grew angry, and rocks were thrown and fighting erupted. The Hawaiians initially fell back after shots were fired, but Cook’s men showed signs of retreat while reloading. The Hawaiians attacked killing Cook.

The crew expressed a violent need for revenge. Clerke now in command, focused on evacuation of the foremast and remaining men. Bligh (of Bounty infamy) retaliated against villages shooting all he saw. When Cook’s body was not returned and they continued to be taunted, Clerke fired the 4-pounders to scatter the crowds ashore and permitted an attack on Kealakekua shooting all inhabitants. Finally obtaining Cook’s dismembered body, he was committed to the deep and they again headed north for one last effort at a Northwest Passage. Bligh completed the survey of the Sandwich Islands.

The author argues that Cook’s uncharacteristic irritability and cruelty on the third voyage were the result of an intestinal infection that also brought about changes in his brain chemistry. Elizabeth survived her husband by 56 years. With her husband’s pension and profits from Cook’s publications, she lived comfortably to age 93.

[Alison]

It was the second time I'd read this book, but because it is so fascinating, with so much to absorb—people, places, ships!—I could easily give it a third go. Cook was obviously a man of exceptional intelligence and courage, and his three voyages of discovery were epic. An account of any one of them would easily fill a whole book. Then there were his early navy years, fighting the French, surveying Newfoundland and participating in the capture of Quebec. It's hard to imagine now, living in the third millenium with Google Earth at our fingertips, an age when the world was unknown, when ships literally sailed off the map and saw things they'd never heard of, like icebergs. Cook went places no European ship had been before, visited countless islands, made countless charts and met many different peoples. He was mostly known for his humanity and tolerance to the native people he encountered, and good treatment of his sailors. But his out of character erratic and irrational behaviour on his final voyage, which ended fatally in the Sandwich Islands, has been accounted for by sickness brought on by parasitic infection.

I read a large chunk of this book while on a sea voyage myself, aboard a ship (well, boat perhaps) going from Shikinejima in the Izu Islands, to Tokyo. I like to think that perhaps reading these accounts of the high seas and storms Cook and his crew endured, helped inure my stomach to the rough Pacific swells, for while I sat on the deck reading this book, and fancying myself a sailor in another life, many were down below riding it out in their bunks.

Apparently a book of short stories recently released by Rodney Hall has one about the death of Captain Cook. Both the theme and the title of the book is Silence, and sure enough, when I came to the chapter in this book about the aftermath of Cook's death it begins: "From the brief awesome silence that followed the death of Cook, and the shock it caused, there developed a faint sigh of fear and lamentation over Kaawaloa, and from the ships, and the boats heading towards them, a kind of hush of disbelief." For many of the sailors, it was like losing a father.

There are too many fascinating nuggets of information to write down here. Ask me about them if you're interested, next time we meet!

UPDATE: This week in Port Adelaide I had the opportunity to look through a replica of Endeavour, the ship that Cook captained on his first voyage. How small it seemed at first sight, but what a compact sturdy bundle it is on closer inspection. Hard to imagine it carried 94 people, plus two greyhounds belonging to Joseph Banks. Below decks you have to walk about doubled over, and watch your head. The only place it's possible to stand straight is in the Great Cabin where the captain and gentlemen slept. Fortunately for them since Cook and Banks were both over 6 foot. I was especially thrilled to touch a piece of ballast taken from the original Endeavour, and a wooden nail also from the original, that was taken into space and back on NASA's Endeavour.

[Alan Hesse · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn't put it down. I followed Cook around the world using Google Earth, picturing myself in each location and seeing it as Cook and his crew must have seen it. Truly fires the imagination, and it's all true.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's hard to take a tale as grand as Cook's voyage to the South Seas on the Endeavour and make it anything less than enthralling, but Hough gets off to a good start in this biography. The first five long chapters are a tedious recounting of Cook's life before the Endeavour where no detail is too trivial to include, and the telling is insipid. During one tiresome passage Hough lists seemingly every crew member, even the cook, complete with backgrounds where we are told how interesting the characters are, rather than having it shown to us. One lowly master's mate, Charles Clerke, was described as "colourful and intriguing" due to his limitless anecdotes. By this point I was begging Hough to include one of these anecdotes to liven up the prose.

But the book picks up significantly when we get to the heart of Cook's three famous voyages to the South Seas. Each journey is a Boy's Own adventure, with cannibals, first encounters, culture clashes, and unprecedented geographical discoveries. Trekking from jagged polar tundra to soft tropical beaches, they encounter natives who are at once friendly, hostile, promiscuous, thievish, generous and often unpredictable and inscrutable. The newly discovered people are the star of the show, with some of the earliest, most detailed, firsthand accounts of meetings between cultures often vastly separated by manners and technology.

The strangest tale of all, one still not fully understood to this day, surrounds his death. On Hawaii, Cook's last discovery, he was mistaken for a god when his arrival matched exactly the prophecy of Lono's return to the islands. He was treated as a deity, and his ship supplied generously, but when he failed to fulfil the prophecy by sailing away, and instead returned for repairs to his damaged ship, the locals turned from worshipful to aggressive. Provoked by trigger happy shipmen, the locals attacked and Cook was killed on the beach, his body taken away. It is a surreal end to a surreal story where even Cook seems to start losing his mind, forcing his men to eat walrus and turning from a gentle man capable of empathising even with cannibals, to one quick to flog the most petty thief and dissenter.

This part of Cook's life is where the real fascination lies, and the book-ending can be mostly ignored unless you have a real interest in Cook's family and crew.

[Omar Amer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I decided to read this book a couple of weeks before heading to New Zealand. I knew very little about Captain Cook and his voyage of discovery. I thoroughly enjoyed Richard Hough's work on Cook, it is an incredible piece of work, very well researched and beautifully written. There are lots of place names and people, however, that'll mean I will have to read this two or three times further over the years.

[Sherry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book.

[Navneet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sailed the Seas with Captain Cook, Thrice!
This is not just a biography. This is in fact a portal. A portal that will take you from your room in the 21st century to the decks of the Endeavor and later, the Resolution, in the late 18th century. Richard Hough has described so brilliantly the life of this sea faring legend, that it feels like you're circumnavigating the Earth with the man himself. Captain James Cook is a legendary figure. He probably has millions of scholarly articles archived to his name. I find myself in awe of the author of this book. Because simply reading up the historical data is not enough to write a book of this caliber. Writing this opus must have required heavy research and critical analysis of the available facts, after which he compiled all the information and bound it in such an interesting narrative that it was impossible to put it down.
The book covers every important aspect of Cook's life from his early years as a shop apprentice in the small village of Staithes, where he first felt the lure to the sea; to his last days in the island of Hawaii, where an unfortunate series of events led to his early demise. The book not only covers Cook's main three circumnavigation voyages that put him on the map (figuratively, although they did put a lot of islands on the map) but also explores his earliest sea faring days of the Baltic sea and his subsequent enrollment into the Royal Navy. You will start this book with only some or no idea about the man and put it back into the shelf saying goodbye to a guide who showed you the world.
Richard Hough delved deep into Cook's character. He described his concern for his crew's well-being, especially for their defense against the deadly scurvy, which was prevalent at that time. The reader also witness the transition of Cook's frame of mind from his first to his last main voyage and get an idea as to what was going on in the Great Sailor's mind. The book is as much about the crew, sailors and supernumeraries that sailed with their captain, as it is about Cook himself. It really is a journey into the vastness of the unknown waters of the pacific ocean that defined Cook's life. How he and his crew stumbled upon numerous undiscovered islands while searching for the speculated 'Terra Australis' or the Great southern Continent is a wondrous historical account in itself. His subsequent discovery and charting of New Zealand and the Eastern coast of Australia (including the great barrier reef) is probably one of the reasons why some may call him an over achiever.
The optimum way to best enjoy this book as well as to walk through the portal that I talked about earlier is to keep Google Earth handy with you while you peruse through the pages. This is what I did myself. Throughout his many voyages, Cook visited already discovered yet exotic places and located countless more himself. I located all the major landmarks that he passed through on Google Earth and scrutinized them myself. Looking at the images of these places really brought every aspect of this book alive. Indeed I traveled on the heaving decks of Endeavor and Resolution along with my captain. From the impregnable waters of the Antarctic,to the tropical beauties of Tahiti, to the marvelous coasts of New Zealand and to the snowy wastes of the Arctic...it'll be a journey long and harsh, but it too will be filled with its share of beauty. I'll see you on the other side then. But come quick, we're about to make sail!

[E Owen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exciting and detailed

[Luke · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fine solid book.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of the best non fiction I've read.

Have to say I was expecting Cook to be a conquistador type figure but that's definitely not the case here.

[Mich · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant read

[Iain Cargill · Rating 5 out of 5]

This outstanding biography is the goto for an introduction to Cook, England's greatest explorer. A solid foundation.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thought apparently a fairly obscure book, I found this to be over of the finest accounts of exploration on the high seas that I've yet read - and I've read more than a few. I have encountered mentions of Captain Cook in numerous books, and was glad to find this account if his life and explorations. The account was detailed and well-written, and the pacing never lagged.

[Pilar · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it because I think it is a well-documented/researched biography of a 18th century explorer-navigator-cartographer, James Cook, written by 20th century Richard Hough, a historian specializing in naval history, with very detailed descriptions/accounts of persons, events and places.

I do not like the European colonialist society, with its assumption of its superiority towards the tribal societies it describes. But I do not like either the patriarchal social system of these tribal groups. In fact, both types of male-dominated societies show ambition, desire of power, violence and oppression of women :(

[Steve Chilton · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rather dry biography. I didn't know Cook's story that well and it certainly covers his life and voyages in depth. It also has a good deal of the back-stories of the other leading characters on his crews. Some of the action sequences are good, and are enliven by other participants' thoughts, where recorded.

[Neil Brennan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Exceptionally dry and old-fashioned

[Charles Hanson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is what you might call a partisan biography. Hough is so firmly in Cook's camp, for example, that he doesn't blanch when Cook's men kill some of the indigenous population for petty thievery. In fact they kill members of indigenous populations with distressing regularity. They also have sex with all the native women they encounter, even those covered in seal oil. The only thing his men believe worth rioting over is a cut to the grog ration.

On the other hand, what Cook accomplished was remarkable. He explored most of the Pacific Ocean. He was fearless in a way that only one who feels the world deserves his footprint can be. All this on a a small ship with a crew of less than 100, none of whom got scurvy thanks to Cook's belief in "antiscarbarutics" such as sauerkraut.

There is a lot of great nautical terminology in the book and only some of it is explained. On the other hand, as you plough on, you get a sense of it and you can sort of suss out what's going on. Topgallant mast, close reef the topsails, stand off, launch the jolly boat. Have some sea biscuits.

The last voyage of Cook's life has an epic sweep. It's obvious to the author (and the reader) that Cook was seriously ill and it was affecting his judgment -- he would force his men to eat walrus meat (which tasted like "train oil"), navigate recklessly, and puzzle his subordinates.

His final month in Hawaii was so amazing that I'm astonished it hasn't been made into a Napoloeon-scale blockbuster movie (or at least I'm not aware of any). He sailed into the bay and was welcomed as a god because his actions coincidentally exactly matched the Hawaiian myth of their god "Orano."

He sailed out of the bay as a god too but unfortunately had to go BACK to the harbor because the main mast broke. This time, thieves pilfered his boat, and Cook, again behaving rashly, went ashore with marines, with the intention of forcing the king back onto the boat so he could hold him hostage until the stolen items were returned. This provoked the Hawaiians to war and they killed Cook and some of his men.

In return, Cook's ship fired cannon on the Hawaiians, torched their villages, and killed hundreds. A truly tragic ending.

Captain Bligh of the Bounty was one of Cook's crew members on the final voyage. His story of the experience would be worth reading, I think.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

Growing up in Hawaii I heard a lot about Captain Cook and his journeys and influence in my history classes. I've been to the place he died on the Big Island of Hawaii, but it was while I was visiting Anchorage, Alaska that I decided I needed to read a biography of Captain Cook. His travels were extensive. I'm glad I finally read a biography, but I wish this book had more maps and helped to outline and draw you into the relationships and people a little bit better. His life is fascinating, but I had a hard time getting through this book. I may look for another.

A few things that I found interesting include how well he did with his crew in avoiding scurvy, but eating correctly. I also thought the descriptions of their encounters with the natives were interesting. It's hard to imagine the life he led - with so many years away from his family and at sea, but he saw so many parts of the world it's quite remarkable. An interesting life that influenced many others!

Here are a few quotes that I liked:

"Besides being 'thoroughly equipped,' Cook exhibited an entirely new and refreshingly civilised attitude towards the natives of the lands he exposed to public view of the first time. To the Polynesians and Melanesians, the Aborigines of New Holland and Van Diemen's Land, the Indians of Vancouver and the Eskimos of Alaska, he presented the most tolerant aspect of Western man. He might, and did, claim their land for King George III, but those were his instructions, and in the context of his time his behavior and attitudes were remarkable for their gentleness and understanding. He was, in the judgment of Fanny Burney, whose brother sailed with Cook, 'the most moderate, humane, and gentle circumnavigator that ever went upon discoveries (p. 2).'"

"He had no knowledge of what his life would be like, only that it must be different from his old occupation. He was a young man who took things as they came and was ready for what life held for him. He also possessed the twin characteristics which would serve him well throughout his life - decisiveness and self-confidence (p. 4)."

"We landed at the place we left overnight, when about a hundred of the natives, all armed, came down on the opposite side of the river and drew themselves up in lines. Then with a regular jump from left to right and the reverse, they brandished their weapons, distorted their mouths, lolling up their tongues and turning up the whites of their eyes, the whole accompanied with a strong hoarse song, calculated in my opinion to cheer each other and intimidate their enemies, and may be called with propriety a dancing war song. It lasted three or four minutes (p. 116)."

"We can do no better today, except that we know what vast distances the Polynesians could sail, guided by the stars and the immense clouds that hang over these volcanic islands and sometimes identifiable for hundreds of miles: New Zealand to Tahiti is about 2,500 miles, the same distance as from Tahiti to Hawaii, or, eastwards to Easter Island; while the Tasman Sea between New Zealand and New South Wales is a mere 1,800 miles at its narrowest point (p. 124)."

"'We were at this period many thousand leagues from our native land, and on a barbarous coast where, if the ship were wrecked and we had escaped the perils of the sea, we should have fallen into the rapacious hands of savages (p. 147).'"

"The greeting, the embraces, the first exchange of words after three years' absence can only be imagined. No doubt the two elder boys were at home, aged seven and eight, bursting with questions and probably forgetful of the sad news Elizabeth had for her husband. For their young brother Joseph had died nearly three years earlier at the age of three months when his father had only reached Madeira. Cook had just known him as a little wrinkled infant in his cot. But his beloved daughter Elizabeth, named after her mother, he had known for over a year and could remember her crawling about the floors of the house. She had died only recently, while the Endeavour had been beating her way north from the Cape. No matter that Cook himself had lost so many brothers and sisters, these two deaths were hard to bear (p. 176)."

"Fresh fruits, vegetables, meat and fish were nearly always welcome, but many of the antiscorbutics, like sauerkraut, were loathed. Cook was unmoved by the tastes of his men. He simply imposed these foods on them under the threat of punishment (p. 199)."

"His conclusion which followed effectively put an end to the centuries of speculation, myth-making and even map-making which had amused, vexed, puzzled and infuriated geographers since classical Greek times when the world was known to be round, and renewed in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries with the voyages of Vasco da Gama and Ferdinand Magellan, who confirmed the earliest belief. Cook continued his thesis: 'The greatest part of this Southern Continent (supposing there is one) must lie with the Polar Circle where the sea is so pestered with ice that the land is thereby inaccessible. The risk on runs in exploring a coast in these unknown and icy seas, is so very great, that I can be bold to say that no man will ever venture [by sea] farther than I have done, and that the lands which may lie to the south will never be explored (p. 253).'"

"Cook claimed no credit for devising the diet which prevented scurvy; and others had experimented successfully with antiscorbutics before him. But his voyages were of such duration and distance, and of such world-wide fame, that it was now only a matter of time before every maritime nation followed his example. How many seaman's lives were saved as a result is incalculable. But the achievement was one of seafaring's great landmarks (p. 267)."

"British curiosity and ambitions now pointed towards the North rather than the South Pacific. They were not new and they were specific. Nor were they influenced by the revolution in the colonies of North America. It was, no less, the discovery and exploitation of a north-west passage between Canada and the pole, linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. A short route to the trade and riches of the East avoiding the two capes, Horn and Good Hope, would be of priceless value, so valuable that a prize of 20,000 pounds, to be shared among the ship's company, was offered (p. 268)."

"There is a memorial to Cook on the volcanic rocks where he fell. It is accurately placed close to the water and thus underlines the fact that by walking at his usual long-legged pace he could have reached the water, been dragged into the pinnace and have escaped death. A number of eyewitnesses testified that he sauntered rather than walked and appeared deliberately to challenge the Hawaiian warriors to attack him, while at the same time taking the precaution of placing his hands over his neck (p. 362)."

[Trevor Kew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent biography of Cook, birth to death, one of those great non-fiction books that combines an eye for fascinating detail (walrus steaks, etc.) with a clear framework of the "big historical picture."

While I knew the broad strokes of Cook's achievements, I had no idea about many of the "minor players" in his story, fascinating historical personages such as Joseph Banks, the foppish botanist responsible for the glory of Kew Gardens, and William Bligh, later commander of the ill-fated Bounty.

Many of the scenes in New Zealand and Polynesia in this book are rendered with great detail and nuance. One can really sense what a strange instance of societal contact this was (especially that islands so far apart all spoke similar languages), considering which it is quite surprising how quickly the two cultures engaged in trade (not that there weren't some very unpleasant violent episodes too...). I was a bit disappointed in the lack of attention paid to Cook's North American adventures on his third voyage given that I grew up on the West Coast of Canada, but this was understandable, given their relative brevity (months and months!) and the length of the book!

Another stunning section of the book is the journey into Antarctic waters (the existence of the continent still being a matter of conjecture at this point in time). Hough describes this voyage with such ghostly and otherworldly language; you can almost picture the lonely ships wandering between "ice islands" in the murky mists, but (ideally) can't quite grasp how alien it must have been.

[Andrew Ives · Rating 5 out of 5]

Necessarily, this is rather a weighty tome at almost 500 pages, with an air of academia and class about it, as befits the renowned navigator and explorer. The bulk of this book is occupied with Cook's three main voyages, although there is a little before about his childhood, upbringing, learning to sail, then a little afterwards regarding his legacy and what happened to his wife, children and many of his notable crew. Hardly a stone is left unturned, which can mean that this book feels very slightly long-winded in places, a little verbose, but always very well-written, with plenty of excerpts from various diaries and ships' logs. No mention is made of Cook's cottage in Melbourne, and not much about what became of the ships afterwards apart from the Endeavour. Illustrations and maps are rather few and far between apart from a few b&w plates and a few not-brilliantly-reproduced maps here and there. Unless you can readily recall where e.g. the Sandwich Islands are, or the various individual islands and bays of Hawaii and Tahiti, it may prove useful to have a modern atlas at hand. This whole book is rather nicely laid out and quite impeccably edited and proofread (although I still found 4 typos in 500 pages), and I found it a captivating read. Cook was undeniably an extraordinary man and this book is a very decent, comprehensive account of his life. 5/5

[Matt Whittingham · Rating 4 out of 5]

An engrossing telling of Cooks life and the three epic voyages to the Pacific. What makes the story so vivid, are the richness of the first hand accounts, drawn from Naval records, correspondence, and the journals of the sailors and Cook himself.

Up until the last voyage, I was fully sympathetic to Cook, and his achievements in navigation, fortitude and leadership. By and large his treatment of sometimes hostile inhabitants, is for the time and circumstance, well judged.

The third voyage is a very different kettle of fish. Seemingly cursed from the beginning, with a defective ship, Cook's frequent mood swings, and a treatment of local indigenous tribes that was often barbaric, with cutting off ears one particularly gruesome punishment for any local unfortunate caught pilfering. Part of this out of character behaviour is put down to perhaps a parasitical worm that may have inflicted Cook, but this seems largely conjecture.

Matters come to a head off Hawaii. When the end comes, it is brutal. Richard Hough captures the growing menace of the Hawaiians, that eventually boils over into violence, and the end for Cook, left abandoned on the shoreline, killed and mutilated. A bloody, ignoble end for one of the greatest of British navigators.

[1.1 · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is indeed, as the blurb on the cover states, ‘highly readable”. A solid biography that moves along without getting caught in becalmed seas of description or discursion. Cook’s life is examined and introduced well, focused on his naval career and the three expeditions, which are full of discovery, adventure, intrigue, tragedy, and travail.

You’ll get a good idea of who Cook was, as most of the material is pulled from Cook’s journals or those of his contemporaries. I found that matter-of-factness quite welcome, but some readers may prefer a little more conjecture—there's some, especially towards the end, but it's backed up by sources as well. A picture is formed of a decent man and very talented navigator who took a circumspect route to the career which would see him visit the lonely edges of the world and many places in between.

Everything else you may expect to find in this book you will likely find within its pages, whether you’re a Cook aficionado, an age of sail buff, interested in the chicanery and conflicts of travelling Europeans in the tumultuous late 18th century, or just love a good nautical journey for its own sake. It’s a hell of a story if nothing else. Whatever its shortcomings in prose or perspective, I enjoyed reading this.

[atom_box Evan G · Rating 4 out of 5]

This needs to get re-released. It is not ancient: written in our lifetimes. It is part of the literature on England vs the Indigineous folks of the world. As far as pro-West vs pro-Indigenous folks it is somewhere between a Lewis and Clark hagiography and Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. It is probably slightly closer to the former but everything in the book is so exotic it doesn't feel like a tiresome tale at all.

I only read the first voyage (skipped the second due to a reading backlog and duties at work).

In practical terms, what happened at the Barrier Reef and in IndoChina are pretty crazy to read. Some coral disasters in the former and Heart-of-Darkness aspects in the latter.

The landfalls at Tahiti and Tierra del Fuego were more exotic than expected.

First Maori encounter good stuff too. The Maori did the full on Kapa Haka intimidation dance in his face during the first encounter.

Measuring the time and angles of Venus passing in front of the sun was unexpectedly (to me) the whole point of England financing his first trip. You can read for yourself and see how that goes.

Someone should box this with Fatu-Hiva, by Thor Heyerdahl

[JLA · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid biography although there was a question if this was a bio on Cpt James Cook or Joseph Banks during the first third of the book. Cook eventually won out in his biography (go figure.) Largest issue with Richard Hough's narrative is he suffers from the two fold malaise of many historians. The first being the use of sarcasm born from the benefit of 2020 historical hindsight (gross). Thankfully that was sparingly used. The second was inserting himself into the historical narrative. The transgressions were begining to pile up to brush against the underbelly of annoyance. Otherwise, solid and informative book that is worth the read.

[Hamish Gibb · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent account is given by Richard Hough of perhaps the most famous sailor after only Nelson himself. The account deals with all three voyages and I found myself totally immersed in his epic journeys and discoveries. I had read a similar book about Magellan but this is much more impressive. The manner in which Cook dealt with his men and looked after their health, being one of the very first to avoid scurvy during long periods at sea was exemplary. Finally, I can only think that all of these men saw and did more in one three year voyage than any of us do in a lifetime now.

[Chris Fluit · Rating 2 out of 5]

The two stars is more about my own perseverance than any qualities of the book. I did learn a few things, so that's probably worth two stars. However, the author needlessly burnished Cook's reputation when his navigation and exploration skills should have been allowed to speak for themselves. Also, he promoted the idea that the child-like natives needed Cook to tell them what to do way too much for a book written within the last 30 years. Finally, the author occasionally butchered the English language with convoluted sentences that were hard to decipher. Not recommended.