The Journals of Captain Cook

by James Cook

This unique edition of The Journals of Captain Cook from Dead Dodo Vintage includes the full original text as well as exclusive features not available in other editions.

Captain James Cook, FRS, RN (7 November 1728[NB 1] – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the Royal Navy. Cook made detailed maps of Newfoundland prior to making three voyages to the Pacific Ocean, 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's Journals contain remarkable accounts of his many discoveries and he became something of a hero among the scientific community. Cook wrote each journal entry on large unbound sheets folded so that they formed booklets with two equally sized leaves. At sea the left hand leaves were ruled into a series of columns and rows into which he entered the dates of journal entries, recorded the direction of winds and other navigational information, as well as noting things pertaining to the good order of the ship. On the right hand leaves, Cook recorded what thought worthy of remark about each day of his command. The record of Cook’s voyages was to become popular reading. Louis XVI ordered it translated into French.

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

545 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1825

About the author

British navigator James Cook, known as Captain Cook, commanded three major exploratory voyages to chart and to name many islands of the Pacific Ocean and also sailed along the coast of North America as far as the Bering Strait.

During circumnavigation of the globe from 1768 to 1771 with James Cook, Joseph Banks collected and cataloged numerous specimens of plants and animals.

James Cook, captain, visited Austral Islands in 1769 and 1777.

James Cook, fellow of the royal society, served as a cartographer in the Navy. Cook made detailed maps of Newfoundland prior to making, and achieving the first recorded European contact with the eastern line of Australia and Hawaii and the record around New Zealand.

Cook joined the merchant as a teenager and joined the royal Navy in 1755. He saw action in the Seven Years' War and subsequently surveyed and mapped much of the entrance to the Saint Lawrence River during the siege of Quebec. This mapping helped to bring Cook to the attention of the admiralty and royal society. This notice came at a crucial moment in career of Cook and in the overseas direction and led to his first commission in 1766 of His Majesty's bark Endeavour.

Cook went thousands of miles across large areas of the globe. From New Zealand, he mapped to Hawaii in greater detail and on a not previously achieved scale. He progressed on his discovery, surveyed features, and recorded lines on European maps for the first time. He displayed a combination of seamanship, superior surveying and cartographic skills, physical courage, and an ability to lead men in adverse conditions.

A fight with Hawaiians killed Cook. He left a scientific and geographical legacy to influence his successors well into the 20th century, and people dedicated numerous memorials worldwide.

Reviews

[Warwick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cook's journals are so voluminous – this three-volume set is only a selected edition of the full diaries – that he must have spent almost as much time writing as he did doing whatever it is ship's captains do all day. But then I suppose there isn't really much to do when you're stuck on board ship for months at a time, literally off the edge of the known world.

And just as well, because it's an unbelievably fascinating account. He made three voyages to the Pacific from 1768 to 1779, which were, as the introduction to this edition says, ‘the culmination of centuries of European interest’ in the area, hunting desperately for any sign of the fabled terra australis incognito. Along the way, he circumnavigated New Zealand for the first time, made the first contact with eastern Australia, and ‘discovered’ Hawai‘i.


The Resolution and Adventure at anchor in Matavi Bay, Tahiti. William Hodges, 1776

There were, of course, already people there, and Cook's encounters with the Māori and other Polynesians are genuinely riveting. To take a long view, here are two populations of the species encountering each other after a gap of some forty thousand years. I suppose it was just my ignorance, but I had vaguely assumed that Cook would take a superior, ‘civilising’ attitude towards Polynesian societies, but in fact nothing is further from the truth. Though, ultimately, he does demand a place in their world, he is also constantly aware of the deleterious effect that contact is having on these people, quite beyond any ethnographic interest in learning about their way of life:

we debauch their morals already too prone to vice and we interduce among them wants and perhaps diseases which they never before knew and which serves only to disturb that happy tranquillity they and their forefathers had injoy'd. If any one denies the truth of this assertion let him tell me what the natives of the whole extent of America have gained by the commerce they have had with Europeans.

Not exactly the gung-ho apologist for imperialism I was expecting. Cook was a Yorkshireman who had only a basic village education, and began his seafaring life working in the coal trade out of Whitby, so he was not, perhaps, the typical lifelong Navy man. Though he is not without an eye for the dramatic when necessary. At one point, they come across a half-devoured human head in New Zealand which the locals cheerfully assure Cook they have eaten. He immediately seizes the opportunity to prove the existence of cannibalism in New Zealand, which had been much debated at the time:

The sight of the head and the relation of the circumstances just mentioned struck me with horror and filled my mind with indignation against these canibals, but when when I considered that any resentment I could shew would avail but little and being desireous of being an eye wittness to a fact which many people had their doubt about, I concealed my indignation and ordered a piece of the flesh to be broiled and brought on the quarter deck where one of these canibals eat it with a seeming good relish before the whole Ships Company which had such an effect on some of them as to cause them to vomit.

Cook's cool, humane, and often wry demeanour makes it especially sad that some change seems to have taken place with him between the second and third voyages. He appears, on the final expedition, to be much less tolerant both of his own crew and of the native peoples he meets, and deals much more peremptorily with them. Of course, this is not just a tonal problem – the consequences end up being catastrophic. No one is sure exactly what happened on 14th February 1779, but there was some kind of misunderstanding at Kealakakua Bay, an escalation of violence, and Cook ended up stabbed to death by one of his own iron trade daggers, along with four marines. His journal was completed by James King.


Storm with waterspouts in Cook's Straits. William Hodges, 1776

This Folio edition is a treat, brilliantly edited by Philip Edwards with a good index, and a glossary of nautical terms, Polynesian vocabulary, and general archaisms. It also comes with a huge fold-out map of all three voyages, which is an absolute chartophile's delight. Even better, it has illustrations from the original shipboard artists and naturalists who accompanied Cook, filling out the picture of these extraordinary travels perfectly.

[Markus · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Journals
By James Cook (1728 – 1779)

James Cook was a British navigator, explorer and cartographer who sailed around the world in three voyages by appointment to The Royal Society.
His first official mission was to establish an astronomical record of the transit of the planet Venus on a certain date, if possible, from the latitude of Tahiti or nearby which accordingly was reported.
The secret orders however were to find the supposed missing Southern Continent and take possession of it in the name of the King of Great Britain.
“HMB Endeavour” Cook’s first exploration vessel, left Plymouth on the 26th of August 1768.
The Journal is his handwritten daily record of life on board and on lands visited.
Cook’s first journal entry:
“Friday 26th. Winds NBW, NW, WBS. Course S 21° E. Distance 23 Ml Latd. in 49°30’. Longd. in West from Greenwich 5°52’ W. Bearings at Noon Lizard N21° W. Dist. 23 miles. First part fresh breeze and cloudy, remainder little wind and clear. At 2 pm got under sail and put to sea having on board 94 persons including Officers Seamen Gentlemen and their servants, near 18-month provisions, 10 Carriage guns and 12 swivels with good store of Ammunition and stores of all kinds. At 8 the Dodman point WNW Dist. 4 or 5 Leagues. At 6 am the Lizard bore NWN 1/2W 5 or 6 Leagues Dist. At noon sounded and had 50 fathoms grey sand with small stones and broken shells.”
Subsequent Journal entries were of the same style and manner along with the three voyages over the three years recorded.
To a future reader, I recommend refreshing his mind with the Global Positioning system i.e., Latitude and Longitude to visualize the sailor’s progress around the world.
The journal is colourfully completed with exciting adventures, navigational challenges, unknown ocean currents, near shipwrecking’s, corral perforated hulls, weather extremes, snow and ice, storm, and rain, destroyed sails and broken masts, high seas, and encounters with ocean creatures as well as indigenous populations in the South Pacific and North America. James Cook names them all “Indians”.
One of the challenges of a long-distance exploration voyage was to provide water and fresh food for the sailors and travellers. For this reason, there was the obligation to find land or islands with water and food.
In exchange for fresh food, the sailors proposed iron tools, nails, coloured fabric, glass beads and other unusual items. This offer was met with enthusiasm and great demand from the indigenous populations and always succeed well.
One unexpected problem was ‘thievery’. The local population would try and steal anything they could get hold of. This, with few exceptions, was the case in North America as well as in the South Pacific, where in Hawaii, the theft of a rowboat belonging to the ships, and the subsequent fighting effort to recover it would end up with James Cook’s death.
James Cook did not discover a missing continent, as it does not exist, but he was the first European to set foot in Eastern Australia. He named the position ‘Botany Bay’ and planted a British flag there. He sailed around New Zealand and corrected the coastline maps established by Tasman the first discoverer. Cook sailed almost completely around Antarctica always along a high wall of Ice. He had correctly assumed that land was there but could never see it.
In the Northern Hemisphere, Cook was in vain in search of the Northern Passage to the West. He explored the coast of Alaska met with American Indian tribes and again charted perfect maps of the coastlines up to Kamchatka. His discovery of a profitable fur trade long under Russian control led to increased British trade interference in that part of the world.
I called Homer’s “Odysseus” the first adventure novel; we can place James Cook’s Journals on par. It was a real-life adventure and a perfect book for passionate adventurers. Even when retired.

[Monty Milne · Rating 4 out of 5]

All nautical journals inevitably contain much dry scientific detail which is of little interest except to the most hardcore sailing nerds. These sections are, naturally, heavily edited. What remains gives a very good flavour of the man and the voyages, and is a good narrative counterpoint to the much more fascinating sections when Cook is encountering other peoples and exploring their island homes.

I was startled to discover how badly educated Cook was. His writing has a certain powerful immediacy but his spelling and syntax are shockingly and amusingly erratic. Also, at one point he encounters Russians in Alaska but communication is impossible because no one on the ship or amongst the Russians (who are relatively senior members of their Alaskan colony) is able to find a common tongue. Surely at least some of them should have had basic French? If not, they were all surprisingly ignorant.

There is something attractive about Cook, who was clearly honest, diligent and dutiful. He took great care about the diet and nutrition of his crew. He often writes admiringly of some of the Pacific islanders he encounters, and he can be prescient and reflective about the negative effects of colonialism:

“To our Shame...we debauch their Morals already too prone to vice and we interduce among them wants and perhaps diseases which they never before knew and which serves only to destroy that happy tranquillity their fore Fathers had injoy’d. If any one denies the truth of this assertion let him tell me what the Natives of the whole extent of America have gained by the commerce they have had with Europeans.”

Of the Maori, after recording several unfortunate and violent altercations, he writes:

“I must however observe in favour of the New Zealanders that I have allways found them of a Brave, Noble, Open and benevolent disposition, but they are a people that will never put up with any insult if they have an oppertunity to resent it.”

Nevertheless it is a melancholy fact that many of the encounters with indigenous peoples were fraught with exploitation and misunderstanding. In bartering, sometimes the islanders grabbed what they wanted and paddled away. Cook’s men fired muskets over their heads, but the islanders could not conceive this would do them any harm. Some of them were then shot dead. Losing one’s life for stealing a handful of nails is, as Cook remarks, a shockingly excessive and melancholy outcome. Yet he wasn’t always able to stop this kind of thing, and – on his final voyage especially – there are increasing signs of his excessive punishments inflicted on both “natives” and his own crew.

Did he go a bit mad before the end? He records his participation in a fascinating pagan ritual in Hawaii in which he appears to accept honours as if he was a deity. His descriptions reveal an extraordinary hubris and lack of awareness that what he was doing was in direct contradiction of his Christian beliefs (abstaining from “meat sacrificed to idols” being one of the minimal requirements of a Christian according to Acts 15 – and St Paul also fulminates against it in I Corinthians. It again reveals how badly educated Cook was that he seems unaware of this). Some have even thought his death was a kind of ritual god slaying of the sort described in Frazer’s Golden Bough: my edition thinks this is unlikely, but there is a fascinating appendix which discusses this. Even if his death was not a literal apotheosis, he certainly seems tinged with a kind of legendary quality – of both good and evil.

[Gary · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book consists of extracts from the journals and logs of Captain James Cook on his three voyages of exploration to the South Seas. In fact, he was a Lieutenant (in terms of rank) in the Royal Navy but was Captain of his ship, hence the title.

I really enjoyed this book, which provides a fascinating insight into the mind of Cook, who has a controversial place in history. He was primarily an explorer and mapmaker, and he fulfilled his missions with great success, overall.

He has been regarded as a hero and pioneer for most of the 241 years since his death in 1779 but, in recent years, has been reviled for the events that took place subsequently in Australia where thousands of aboriginal people there were treated appallingly, murdered and/or displaced. I believe this anti-Cook sentiment to be misplaced – the atrocities took place 20 years (and much later) after his initial visit to Australia so he can hardly be held responsible. It is true that without his exploration and excellent map-making abilities, Australia may not have been colonised for a few years later than it was but, have no doubt, it would have been colonised and the atrocities would still have happened. The 18th century was a time of exploration, colonisation and exploitation, and people all over the world suffered at the hands of the colonisers. This is not to detract from the fact that Europeans (mainly British) did commit dreadful acts against the indigenous population but anyone who has read the history cannot lay the blame at Cook’s feet – he is just a name they know and an easy target because of his fame, good reputation, and because he got there first.

Cook’s mission was to explore the mostly uncharted waters of the southern Pacific Ocean. His first voyage was primarily to witness and record details of the transit of Venus over the Sun from Otaheiti (Tahiti), an event anticipated by the Royal Society. Cook was a sailor, navigator and cartographer, not a scientist, so on board HM Bark Endeavour he had scientists (known as natural philosophers at that time), artists and naturalists. These ‘gentlemen’ collected samples, made drawings and studied the geography, anthropology, astronomy and flora and fauna to gain knowledge for the Royal Society and the Royal Geographical Society.

Another objective of his voyages was to make friendly contact and to study the indigenous peoples of the places he visited. This was for several reasons: firstly, to enable him to resupply his ship with food and water throughout the voyage (even though he took about two years’ supply of food with him), to establish a trade with the local people and to study their cultures and ways of living. Cook took pains not to upset the people he met; he established friendly relations with them and invited them on board his ship many times.

In this way, Cook established good relations with people in the Tongan islands, Tahiti, New Zealand and others. He took one man from Tahiti back to England (at the man’s request) where he stayed for a few years, then returned, a wealthy man, with Cook back to Tahiti.

Cook’s second voyage was primarily to try to locate an undiscovered southern continent in the southern Pacific Ocean between Australia and South America. This does not exist, of course, but it was Cook’s extensive and risky explorations that proved the point. His ships were often surrounded by icebergs and he came very close to Antarctica but was prevented from getting close enough to definitely claim to have seen it by the extensive sea ice that stretched for many miles beyond its shores. In between exploring the extreme southern ocean, Cook returned to Tahiti and other Pacific islands to resupply and conduct friendly relations with the local chiefs.

Cook was a tough Yorkshireman who rose from being a worker on his parents’ farm to a common sailor and on to be commander of these expeditions, through his intelligence, hard work and innate abilities. He was no pushover, and sailors or island people that committed crimes would be flogged or otherwise punished. The punishments look immensely cruel to us but you must not forget this was the 18th century, and life was cruel. In fact, Cook was less cruel than many of his contemporaries. He also went to great lengths to be fair. On one occasion, two of his sailors stole something from the people of one of the islands. The chiefs asked him to find them and restore their property. Cook did, and then had the men flogged in front of the locals to show them that the British would not tolerate dishonesty and had standards. He also had locals punished when they stole from the ship and from his men on shore, something that happened regularly.

The mission of Cook’s third voyage was to discover a Northwest Passage, a mythical route from Eastern Canada through to the North Pacific via the Bering Strait. This had been the subject of speculation for decades, if not centuries, and many others had tried and failed to find it, or even to disprove its existence. In Cook’s case, he was to try it from the Pacific side, so he sailed to the southern Pacific islands he had visited previously, spent time there learning more about the people, resupplied and then headed north. On the way he discovered Hawaii (discovered in terms of Europeans, anyway) and found the Hawaiians friendly, welcoming and numerous. Having little time to waste (he had to get up north during the summer so that the amount of sea ice would be minimised), he sailed the coast of western Canada (New Albion, they called it), sailing along and then around the top of what would later be named Vancouver Island, then on up the coast towards Oonalashka (Alaska). On the way he interacted with many tribes of indigenous Canadians, studied them and traded with them.

After many trials and tribulations trying to find the Northwest Passage, which he was unable to do because even in July there were expanses of sea ice and icebergs, he resupplied in Kamchatka (Russia) and headed south to Hawaii. His intention was to resupply, interact with the local people to establish good relations and a trade in the things they needed for the ship (water, wood and food), as well as to learn about their culture and ways of living. He would stay there until the following year and then make another attempt at finding the Passage.

They (Cook’s Resolution and Captain Clerke’s Discovery) were there some months and during that time the local chiefs were exceedingly generous in giving them huge amounts of food (hogs, plantains, yams and coconuts) for their crews. In return they gave presents of iron, beads, cloth and other things, though it was the iron the people wanted because it was so versatile and useful. They helped themselves to water from the stream that exited into the sea. They also enjoyed performances of the locals’ dances etc. Reading about this, I could not help but wonder why Cook did not speculate on the reasons for the chiefs' generosity and do more to return it in some way.

What Cook did not and could not know, owing to the language barrier, was that he was considered a god by the local people because he had arrived just as they were celebrating their god Lono. His arriving in a ship larger than any vessel they had seen before and seemingly endowed with great power, it was little wonder they were impressed. This explained their generosity but they were glad when Cook and Clerke set sail again because it was costing them too much to provide them with provisions, though they dare not refuse him in fear that the god might kill them all.

Unfortunately, one of the Resolution’s smaller masts broke shortly after they had set sail and they returned because the beach there was the best place they knew within a thousand miles to effect repairs and resupply. The chiefs were not as welcoming this time and relations became strained. The locals began to steal many things from the sailors and the ships, creeping up in the night as well, even prising loose nails holding the underside of the ship together. They then stole the Resolution’s cutter, a largish boat used to transport men and material from the shore to the ship. This was intolerable to Cook, so he went ashore with a party of armed marines with the intention of inviting the most important chief on board (he had visited the ship many times before) and then holding him hostage until the boat was returned.

The chief was willing to go and clearly knew nothing of the theft, but his favourite wife and a very unfriendly lower chief about whom several of the islanders had warned Cook, argued with and physically held him back, insisting that Cook would kill him if he went into the ship. After failing to persuade him to accompany him on board, Cook gave up the plan and began walking back to his boat on the beach, but just then a boatload of sailors he had stationed in the bay to prevent the islanders’ canoes from leaving the bay in case they attacked the ships from behind, fired on a canoe that was attempting to leave, killing a chief. The people on shore then becoming agitated and threatening, one of the marines fired and then the people began to attack the British. Cook turned his back on the crowd (no-one had threatened him while he was facing them) and tried to make the people in his boats cease firing but a local man stabbed him in the back with a spear and he fell into the surf, whereupon he was set upon, and stabbed and smashed with many stones, dying on the spot. Four marines were also hacked and stoned to death and about 30 locals were shot in the melee.

The ships had to remain in the bay for a few more days to effect repairs and they tried to make peace with the locals, but their spokesman was the untrustworthy minor chief who kept lying about Cook’s body, which the British demanded be returned to them. In fact, Cook had been treated as a slain chief was usually treated in Hawaii at that time – his body was dismembered and burned, his hands being preserved in salt; various parts of his body were given to a number of chiefs as trophies. His bones were then polished and preserved. Eventually, after the British destroyed a village on the shoreline and threatened the chiefs with total destruction, some of Cook’s remains were given back and he was buried at sea with full military honours. It was all very sad and unnecessary, and could probably have been avoided if communication had been easier.

Captain Clerke took over as mission commander and the ships carried on to the Bering Strait to carry out another attempt to find the Northwest Passage. In this they failed again owing to ice, so they returned home via Kamchatka, Japan, China and the Cape of Good Hope.

Throughout this book, Cook comes across as a fair, open-minded and able commander who respected the indigenous peoples he met, treating them as human beings and not in contempt. He was not a wealthy aristocrat but the son of a farmer who had worked his way up. One of his achievements was that out of three voyages, only one man died of scurvy, an illness common on long sea voyages at the time. It is caused by a lack of vitamin C but no-one knew that, although there were several theories on the matter. Cook was so concerned about the well-being of his crews that he insisted on taking large quantities of various ‘remedies’ with him, including lemon juice and sauerkraut and, despite the sailors’ reluctance to consume them, insisted upon it. This saved many lives and added to the loyalty of his crews. These are not the attitudes and actions of a despot or a bully, and his journals demonstrate that he was full of good intentions towards the people he met.

It is unfortunate that some people in the 21st Century believe he was such a bad person, perhaps without reading enough about him, so I am glad that I have read about him to satisfy myself that this was not the case.

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a weird, important book. Cook almost sees the native peoples he encounters as human, and that's a good thing, but the evidence of the lousy Western filters he's internally compelled to place over his observations are a word to the wise about our own predispositions. Read this and deal with your whiteness.

[Peter Jakobsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stirring accounts of Cook’s scissoring across the world in leaky boats, to places often unexplored, from South America, Africa, South East Asia, the Bering Sea & Strait and all over the Pacific. This book is based on Cook’s journals and reports to Admiralty, selected by Glyndwr Williams for the Folio edition (1997). Cook was one of a handful of giants in exploration when about a third of the world was unknown. By the time he was lethally sandwiched by natives in Hawaii, he had become famous in his homelan and well known to much of the rest of the world. I appreciated this acclaim when I dropped in on his cottage, built in Yorkshire (1855) and transported to the Fitzroy Gardens in Melbourne, stone by stone and reassembled in 1934.

[Connor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cook’s Journals vindicate his good character and highlight the ahistorical opinions held by many today about the man and the voyages. Ironically, Cook had an immense respect for indigenous peoples throughout pacific and always expressed that they were to be treated with the same respect owed to all people (which is quite a revolutionary view for his time).

The countless encounters Cook had with natives across the pacific are fascinating and culminate in his own deification after being hailed as a god by the Hawaiians.

It’s often said that Cook’s death at the hands of the Hawaiian natives was somehow a humiliation. However, he couldn’t have asked for a more honorable end to his life. The Hawaiians held him in high regard, treating him with the respect usually reserved for their own chiefs. They recognised him as an important figure, and the relationship between Cook and the Pacific natives was largely one of mutual respect. It is ironic that many people today take offense at the mention of Cook, given how well he was accepted and respected by the indigenous people of the Pacific during his time.

It would be a great thing if more Australians read these Journals with an open mind rather than often biased secondary sources presented by those with a predetermined opinion.

[Ingrid · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kui libiseda üle sellest laias laastus umbes kolmandikust, kus on registreeritud, kust ja kui tugev tuul kui kaua puhus, kuhu võeti kurss, mis ilm oli ja mida tegi laine, siis ülejäänu on huvitav! Tõeline maailma avastamine. Mine sinna lõunasse, seal peaks olema üks manner - otsi üles. Pole täpselt teada, mis su teele jääb või kuidas sinna saada, aga Cook läheneb püstitatud ülesandele pragmaatiliselt ja süsteemselt: otsib, kaardistab, kirjeldab kohatud inimesi, kultuure ja loodust, jagab lahkelt loomi ja taimi, kelle kohta meie päeviks on teada, et neist sai nuhtlus. Kujutada ette seda, mida kõike ta nägi ja kuidas see võis toimuda, on parem kui mistahes teleseriaal.

Omaette kihi lisavad sellele raamatule nõukaaegsed kommentaarid, milles on kõvasti ideoloogiat ja alternatiivmaailma loomist (tegelikult olid kõik olulisimad maadeavastajad siiski Vene impeeriumist). Aga natuke tausta avamist siiski ka.

[Oward Bodie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently finished the unabridged volumes of Captain Cook's journals and... man, they can be really, really boring. A good 2/3 of the books consist of a good seaman's reports: latitude and longitude (calculated using the best equipment available at the time), wind, speed, and condition of the boat. Since weeks would pass by with little else to report on, save the occasional crewman infraction (which can be weirder than you'd think). For armchair circumnavigators, this stuff is probably really fascinating.

And yet I gave this review 4 stars. Why? Because the repetitious nature of the book, along with the exacting details provided, actually serve to give a powerful impression the sheer difficulty of Cook's task, and how powerful an impression the peoples he meets ('discovers') must have had. I grew up in Oceania, the child of expatriate parents, and was thus raised to admire -- even venerate -- Captain Cook. This book did little to change that: Cook is not a particularly complex person, but someone of such determination and unwavering focus at the task at hand. He is a true sailor, that is to say he is not a flowery writer, and his sketches of life in the islands he comes across are not prosaic, but informative and direct.

Recommended for people who like reading high seas adventures; ship life in the Golden Age of Sail; "discoveries" of "exotic" lands; Oceanic cultures and traditions that have since disappeared.

[Franciska Soares]

Cook's journals, which make up a three-volume set, are a remarkable account of his experiences as a ship's captain. Despite the extensive scientific detail included, the edited sections provide insight into Cook's character and his encounters with other cultures. It was surprising to learn that Cook was not well-educated, but his interactions with native peoples highlight the impact of Western biases on our observations of others.

James Cook, a British navigator, explorer, and cartographer, completed three voyages around the world by appointment to The Royal Society. His first mission was to record the transit of Venus from the latitude of Tahiti. Cook's encounters with other cultures serve as a reminder of the importance of recognizing and overcoming our own biases.

[Emma Covino · Rating 1 out of 5]

very bad very gross but the audacity within it will make for an excellent final essay !!

[S Montcliffe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cook. A sailer. An explorer. And a man who befall the curse of nominal determination (spolier alert: they only went and ate him!)

So much praise has been handed to Cook for his achievements in exploring the southern oceans, discovering New Zealand, Fiji, Australia, Hawaii and a new recipe for "salty sailor" (an ancient delicacy I am told). However, let us not go over board (do not excuse the pun!) and heap undue praise on a man who basically sailed aimlessly across the Earth, bumping into things and claiming it as some sort of achievement.

I, for my sins, live with an idiotic ginger monkey. At night he rises from his bed, still asleep, and wanders about my pristine winged-all-terrain-amphibious-bus and bumps aimless into things. Only last night the grinning fool managed to empty an entire jar of mayonnaise (full fat) into my map collection whilst sleep walking. Panicking, I leapt out of bed to prevent the mess from being spread any further and slipped in the eggy-goo and found myself wedged in the garbage chute until that ginger idiot woke in the morning!

And for that does he get made Captain? Or commended? Or honoured by the means of scholarly folk such as the author of this book? No. Because if you praise them for that, you'll end up with one for President one day.

[Yann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ce livre contient les journaux de bord des trois voyages que le navigateur James Cook fit dans l'océan Pacifique à la fin du dix-huitième siècle, et au cours desquels il découvrit la Nouvelle-Zélande et les îles Tahiti. Ces expéditions avaient en premier lieu un caractère scientifique, mais Cook avait également des instructions pour établir de bonnes relations avec les naturels. La Nouvelle-Zélande a un climat parfait pour l'agriculture, ainsi qu'il s'en rendit compte après avoir planté toute sorte de végétaux et les avoir retrouvé dans les voyages suivants. La curiosité des naturels, et leur goût du commerce rendit assez facile les échanges, mis leur penchant pour le vol imposait une attention de tous les instants. L'anthropophagie semble avoir eu cours chez certaines peuplades du Pacifiques, mais la majorité l'avaient en horreur. Le capitaine périt au cours du troisième voyage, faute d'avoir été assez précautionneux, étant à terre avec les autochtones. Le récit est très intéressant, car Cook se montre très attentif dans ses observations et minutieux dans son récit, en particulier dans tout ce qui touche les usages et les mœurs des hommes du Pacifique.

[Tony Mcgowan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite dense and clotted with nautical terminology that might baffle anyone who hasn't spent their life either at sea or reading all of Patrick O'Brien's novels, but still packed full of wonder. Cook was an authentic hero, and surprisingly modern in his view of other cultures. His end was decidely sticky but that, obviously, doesn't feature in his Journals: '14 Feb 1779 - Kealakekua Bay. Hacked to death today on beach. Weather quite pleasant. Wind North by North East.'

[Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

The editor of this abridged version of Cook's journals has left out most of the interesting anthropological observations made by Cook and his crew. What we're left with is page after monotonous page of navigational details and weather reports: fascinating, I suppose, if you can read a sextant, but a little dry for the rest of us.

[Hilary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was thrilled to receive a boxed edition of this book as a gift. Fascinating material. Absolutely not a read-one-session volume!

[Rob Powell · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you like your history narrated in rat-a-tat style, throwing rapid-fire facts your way in the driest manner possible then this might just be for you. However, if you prefer the novelist style of more recent historians then this volume may prove heavier going than your tastes will allow you to enjoy. This 1999 version is a re-print of the 1906 Everyman edition, so the language and descriptive manner used are very much of their time and written at the zenith of the British Empire's might. The assumption that Cook and Company are of an all together superior race to the 'savages' they encounter oozes from every page and is likely to bring a tear to the eye of the Little Englander.

Cook's three great voyages are detailed at great length and with much repetition, so the potential reader may benefit from skipping straight to the third voyage, which takes up the second half of the book, and covers the whole range of places visited, races condescended to and territory claimed in the name of the king, regardless of the feelings of the inhabitants. The Captain and his entourage were clearly considered to have done the locals a huge service merely in their showing up; their inalienable right being that the locals think the sun shone from their pompous backsides.

[Rose Stanley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow I feel like I took the length of one of Cook's voyages to finish reading this book haha.

In fairness I was only reading a few pages every few days, rather than devouring vast swathes in a single sitting.

Anyway this comic

http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php...

is a pretty good summary of the final chapter.

(Well, apart from the sex; TBH I think that during his travels Cook only thought about sex in terms of how to stop his men going off and sleeping with local women (this happened a lot apparently, who's shocked, I'm not), not because the women might not like it but because the men might spread/contract STDs).

Anyway, I was impressed with the sheer amount of information gathering here (geographical, botanical, anthropological, etc. etc.); too bad exploration by Brits has nearly always been mingled with colonialism. Sigh.

PS: I was VERY confused by the references to what Cook calls Sea Horses (especially as he was talking about killing and eating them); these turned out to be walruses lol. Fun fact: their Latin name, Odobenus rosmarus, does in fact mean tooth-walking seahorse.

[Victoria & David Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not a sailor, although I have sailed upon the San Francisco bay a time or two. But I have sailed extensively with Melville and Dana and Conrad and Columbus and Kipling and Darwin and London and Forester and Hayden and O'Brian and Wouk and Bligh and Stevenson and Matthiessen and Morison and the amazing Samuel Taylor Coleridge. That said, these excerpted journals ( and running commentary ) rank among the best sea journeys that I have been upon. In three voyages, Cook discovered the east coast of Australia, the islands of New Caledonia and Hawaii ,and proved that New Zealand was an island and not the western edge of some unknown continent. He also disproved the existence of a large unknown landmass in the south seas and on his final voyage, to the Bering Strait, helped disprove the the long sought northwest passage. All the while he promoted hygiene and antiscorbutics (scurvy was a leading cause of death aboard ship), and tested Chronometers to find a more accurate means of locating longitude. Too say nothing of his cartographic abilities.

[Tinius Bentsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cook's narration, usually dry, down to earth, and fact-based, as would be expected from a ships log, is contrasted by his observations and descriptions of the lands and peoples he encountered his three pacific voyages. His pragmatic, and sometimes ruthless, imperial and personal ambitions, are contrasted by his thoughtful and admiring descriptions of the native peoples he met. For an 18th-century British explorer and navigator, he has several interesting, somewhat surprising, and quite poignant critiques of European colonialisation generally, and I found it fascinating to think of how he could reconcile these ideas with the overarching purpose of his voyages, and several of his actions. Main downsides to the book is Phillips's editing - though he has done well to cut down the Beaglehole volumes which are a total of roughly 1,600 pages, I felt as though he had often cut out parts that seemed very interesting, and which I had to look up in the Beaglehole texts.

[Hockles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even edited James Cook is not the greatest writer. The details and feeling of how he commanded and his views of the people he met etc were amazing. It really opened up history for me.

From a modern eye he was fairly brutal with his men and sometimes the inhabitants of the places he met. The bigger impression though is of someone who wanted to trade and find out as much about the peoples he met as possible.

He actively tried to stop the sex going on between his crew and the native people due mainly to the risk of sexual diseases being passed on by the sailors - which I found interesting.

A remarkable man

[Yegor Voronin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting read, although some passages could be cut even further. Also, editor's comments are often not very useful as they just tell you what you are going to read in the next paragraph from Cook himself. Still, a fascinating read and it gave the appreciation for the man. The included maps are extremely helpful in understanding what's happening especially because some of the names of islands and other territories have changed.

[Vasilis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved reading about Captain Cook's voyages. I travelled with my imagination throughout the Pacific, despite the fact that the pandemic has kept me confined in England for some time now. However, I would have liked a better edition, offering explanatory notes on the different locations described and historical facts narrated. The captaincooksociety website really helped me to fill in the gaps and I absolutely recommend it.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

These journeys read in part like a boy’s own adventure. The bravery and inner strength. I can see why they were best sellers at the time. But then, oh boy, the racism and violence, mainstays of imperialism.

[Swee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very fascinating account of Cook's travels up to his tragic death

[Amelia Saffold · Rating 1 out of 5]

Instead of celebrating Valentines Day, we should celebrate Cook’s death.

[Peony · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned a lot about indigenous tribes, I think most of them lost their culture today. It's good to know how it used to be.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting to start with but became a bit of a slog.

[S M H · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got hungry for dog when I read this book

[LeAnna · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gripping book, well written & edited.