Sea of Dangers: Captain Cook and His Rivals in the South Pacific

by Geoffrey Blainey

In 1769 two ships set out independently in search of a missing continent: a French merchant ship, the St. Jean-Baptiste , commanded by Jean de Surville, and a small British naval vessel, the Endeavour , commanded by Captain James Cook. That Christmas, in New Zealand waters, the two captains were almost within sight of each other, though neither knew of the other's existence. This is the stirring tale of these rival ships and the men who sailed in them. Cook's first long voyage was one of the most remarkable in recorded history. He not only sailed around the world, following the most difficult route any navigator had ever attempted; he also changed the maps of the world. In heavy seas he made a more thorough search for the missing continent-believed to lie somewhere between New Zealand and South America-than had ever been made. He was the first to explore most of the New Zealand coast and a vast stretch of the east coast of Australia, and the first to explore the longest reef in the world, the Great Barrier Reef. In Jakarta and Cape Town, and in the seas between them, Cook lost a third of his crew to tropical illnesses, after earlier saving them from scurvy. The ship in which he circled the world was not much larger in area than a tennis court. Along with the de Surville vessel, the sea was an arena of international rivalry, for during his voyage Cook encountered Dutch, Spanish, French, and Portuguese competitors and suspicions. Geoffrey Blainey brings his marvelous storytelling powers to bear on this fascinating and important adventure, drawing us brilliantly into the lives of the major figures.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography, Maritime

336 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Geoffrey Blainey, one of Australia's most eminent historians, was appointed the foundation Chancellor of the University of Ballarat (UB) in 1993 after an illustrious career at the University of Melbourne. He was installed as UB Chancellor in December 1994 and continued until 1998. The Blainey Auditorium at the Mt Helen Campus of UB is named in his honour. Blainey, always a keen exponent of libraries and the acquisition of books, has donated part of his extensive book collection to the UB library. In 2002 the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters was conferred on Blainey in recognition of his contribution to the University of Ballarat and to the community in general.

Educated at Ballarat High School, Blainey won a scholarship to Wesley College, before attending Melbourne University where he studied history. He worked as a freelance historical author writing mainly business histories such as The Peaks of Lyall; Gold and Paper; a History of the National Bank of Australasia; and Mines in the Spinifex. Blainey accepted a position at the University of Melbourne in 1962 in the Faculty of Economics and Commerce. He held the positions of Professor of Economic History (1968-77); Senior Lecturer 1962; and from 1977-1988 he occupied the Ernest Scott Chair of History at Melbourne University. Professor Blainey also held the chair of Australian studies at Harvard University.

As an economic historian, Blainey challenged the conventional view, questioning accepted contemporary understandings of European settlement of Australia as a convict nation, Aboriginal land rights, and Asian immigration. He is described as a 'courageous public intellectual, a writer with rare grace and a master storyteller'. In a reassessment of the life of Blainey, 'The Fuss that Never Ended' considers his ideas, his role in Australian history, politics and public life, and the controversies that surrounded him.

He was always popular with students. According to the Melbourne University home page 'When Geoffrey Blainey spoke to final-year students in the Friends of the Baillieu Library HSC Lectures in the 1970s, the Public Lecture Theatre was packed to capacity and his audience carried copies of his books to be signed, a tribute to what Geoffrey Bolton characterised as his "skills in interpreting technological change in admirably lucid narratives that appealed to both specialist and non-specialist audiences".

Among his most popular works are the 'The Rush that Never Ended: A History of Australian Mining'; 'The Tyranny of Distance'; 'A Shorter History of Australia'; 'A Short History of the World'; and 'The Origins of Australian Football'.

In 2000 Professor Blainey was awarded the Companion of the Order of Australia for service to academia, research and scholarship, and as a leader of public debate at the forefront of fundamental social and economic issues confronting the wider community. At that time the University's Vice-Chancellor Professor Kerry Cox said 'Geoffrey Blainey guided the new and inexperienced university through its first four years with a benevolent but firm hand. This time was challenging as the university strove to make a place for itself in higher education, grappled with funding cuts and the eventual merger with neighbouring TAFE institutes. For those at the university fortunate enough to work with Geoffrey Blainey during his time as Chancellor, they witnessed first hand his humility, and we are proud of his role in our history.'

In 2002 the degree of Doctor of Letters was conferred on Professor Blainey in recognition of his contribution to the University of Ballarat and the community in general. The same year Blainey donated a collection of material to the University of Ballarat. Included in this collection are historical books, papers and other material relating to the early history of mining and the central Victorian goldfields. A second generous donation of material was received in 2005. 'The Geoffrey Blainey Mining Collection' is l

Reviews

[Angus Mcfarlane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just as The Tyranny Of Distance: How Distance Shaped Australia's History captured the daring and mystery involved in discovering and exploring the Australian continent, Sea of Dangers also has a classic adventure feel to it. Rather than spanning the first century of European settlement in Australia, this book covers the few years of Cook's voyage to the pacific focussing mainly on the Endeavour, but mentioning the French voyage of de Surville, which took place contemporaneously, with both ships almost meeting one another in Northern New Zealand. Both expeditions were seeking the apocryphal Davis land thought to exist in temperate latitudes south of Tahiti, but from different directions and schedules. Cook, after the transit of Venus in Tahiti, continued across the Pacific to NZ and Eastern Australia, taking time to map the coasts of both and collect botanical specimens. de Surville took an easterly course, nearly sighting Australia (apparently he could smell it!) and only briefly seeing NZ.

The stories of these explorers and those who preceded them demonstrates the frailty of men and their machines at the time, the courage needed to discover what we now take for granted and the mixture of both luck and skill that allowed their success, success being best defined as survival in the first instance and any achievements second. Cooks success in beating scurvy for example, appears more about good luck rather than good science, although his general concern could not be faulted. He was also fortunate to make it back at all, having hit one reef and nearly grounding on two others, in places no one at the time would have been able to one to the rescue. de Surville not make it back himself, drowning as his ship approached Peru, whilst his crew took another 3 years due to get back to France.

I was only aware of Cook's voyage from Primary School days, and therefore only vaguely aware of the details. It was good to be updated! Unfortunately, this stuff doesn't seem to be covered in the curriculum any more, although I guess this leaves books like this one available to be discovered and enjoyed when 'kids' are old enough to appreciate it in its fuller depth. I've no doubt that there are more definitive studies of Cook, The Endeavour, etc, however, as an accessible look at perhaps the most significant event in the making of modern Australia this would have to be up there.

[Morgiana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book about Captain Cook's 1768-71 voyage to the South Pacific, New Zealand, and Australia. There was actually a French expedition that covered much of the same region at the same time, even passing within less than 50 miles of each other, but neither Cook nor the French captain, Jean de Surville, had any knowledge of the other ship. Blainey is a good storyteller who does a fine job putting both expeditions into context, comparing their accomplishments and shortcomings. There are a few grammatical problems (missed commas, etc.), and I didn't care for how the footnotes were structured, but they don't detract from the narrative. Overall, this is an excellent book, highly recommended for those interested in Cook or the Age of Discovery.

[David Crawley · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Story of Brave and Adventurous Explorers ... A scholarly historical account of two simultaneous eighteenth-century voyages. The first (of three) round-the-world voyage of the renowned explorer Captain James Cook of the British Royal Navy was exploratory and scientific, and it spanned over two years (1768 to 1771). A French merchant ship commanded by Jean de Surville was on an exploratory and commercial adventure within the same Pacific Ocean waters at the same time. Both were searching for a huge undiscovered “lost” continent in the southern Pacific Ocean (for different motives), but neither commander was aware of the other. Both of these commander’s ships were scourged with many crew deaths from the poorly understood disease of scurvy, and there were many burials at sea. The reader will learn snippets of history regarding earlier world maritime exploratory voyages by the intrepid Dutch, Spanish, French, and Portuguese sailors as well. This book is thoroughly researched and indexed, and it is well written. For me, this book was a good follow-up to “Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time” by Dana Sobel. I highly recommend “Sea of Dangers” for world history enthusiasts and especially for maritime history buffs. I now want to read about Captain Cook’s second and third voyages. – David B. Crawley, M.D. – Author of “Steep Turn: A Physician's Journey from Clinic to Cockpit” and “A Mile of String: A Boy's Recollection of His Midwest Childhood.”

[Ian Bates · Rating 3 out of 5]

When one has read the original sources already there is little new material here. But as an introduction to South Pacific Exploration it has merit in that it is very readable, despite the number of times Blainey repeats himself about how the two navigators were (briefly) close to each other.
To his credit, he does question the long-held belief that Cook was somehow the master of preventing scurvy, when in fact he only failed to mention it in his log when it started to occur. The Endeavour carried little of scientific worth in the battle against vitamin C deficiency and Cook's published 'success' in keeping it under control was almost entirely due to his having access to fresh fruit and vegetables at Tahiti, New Zealand and Australia. Compare this with Carteret's voyage from Masafuera to the Solomons two years earlier (the width of the South Pacific) without any land-based refreshments, where scurvy did not occur until over 6000 miles had been traversed.
Geoffrey Blainey is a respected historian and this book deserves a place on many bookshelves as a refreshing revision of the standard works.

[Roger · Rating 3 out of 5]

The blurb in the front of this book points out that Geoffrey Blainey is "one of Australia's best-known historians." With over 30 books to his name, he has also been one of our most prolific. His academic career initially started in the field of Economic History, but he soon branched out into more general topics, with mining being a particular interest, before in his late career writing some broad histories such as A Short History of the World, which sold very well.

Sea of Dangers is a return to the more specific, a history of Cook's "discovery" of Australia - mostly. The book is mainly about Cook's first voyage (1768-1761), but Blainey has intertwined the journey of Jean-Francois-Marie de Surville across the Pacific in the Saint Jean-Baptiste with Cook's story. Why has he done this? Because, although Cook was on a scientific mission and de Surville on a trade mission, they shared a similar goal - to find the "missing continent" "Davis Land", which was purported to exist in the South Pacific.

Although the two explorers never met, they were at one stage of their voyages within a few hours of each other, at the Northern tip of New Zealand, an absolutely extraordinary circumstance. Blainey notes that de Surville was also within a few hours of the Australian coast before he turned east to New Zealand: in fact he was so close that the crew could smell land.

So the question needs to be asked - why did de Surville spend so little time investigating new lands? The key is in the purpose of his voyage - to trade. Spurred on by the belief that Davis Land existed, and by stories emanating from the voyage of the Dolphin that Jewish traders from another land were seen at Tahiti, de Surville did not want to land on the coast of Australia, which others had written about as a barren land of no water, gold, or food, and with natives who were hostile and not interested in trade.

In fact de Surville's search for trade ended up severely hampering his voyage. With no incentive to stop for a long time at places he couldn't trade, his crew never had the chance to gather and eat enough fresh food to stave off scurvy and the other ills that beset a ship-bound crew in the Eighteenth Century. On several occasions he barely had enough fit men to crew the ship.

Nor was Cook's crew immune to the effects of scurvy. Despite what we think we know, on his first voyage Cook did not fully understand how to curtail the effects of this disease, and it was only his frequent soujourns ashore that saved much of his crew. In fact Blainey suggests that the holing of the Endeavour on the Great Barrier Reef was in some ways a blessing in disguise, as it enabled his crew enough time on shore eating fresh food to face the rest of the voyage.

Blainey, using the journals of Banks and Cook as prime sources, shows us a Cook that was methodical, usually averse to risk-taking, and willing to indulge his scientists as long as it fitted into his bigger plan. Blainey points out too that it was the scientific outcome of the voyage that was the highlight on the Endeavour's return - there was no real ballyhoo about the "discovery" of a new land. That was because of course Cook did not discover Australia, or New Zealand. What he did do though, and with a remarkable degree of accuracy, is map much of the coastline of both countries (While one could claim he "discovered" much of the East Coast of Australia, he knew it was there before he arrived, just not it's extent).

Blainey carefully describes the interaction of Cook and his crew, and de Surville and his, with the native inhabitants of the lands they entered. The mutual misunderstanding is well mapped out in the text, highlighting the effect that over 100 extra mouths to feed had on the locals. This quite often led to friction and occasionally conflict. Blainey notes the difference in attitude to the Europeans between the Maori and the Aboriginals, with the former keen to barter or to steal for European items, especially steel and iron, and the latter not interested at all.

Cook came home to praise and promotion, but what happened to de Surville? An altogether sorrier tale, after sailing the Pacific and not finding the hoped-for lost continent, de Surville sailed to South America, only to drown trying to enter Chilca Harbour. His crew were then kept captive by the Spanish for three years before getting home to France, with little to show for their time away. Unlike Cook, de Surville was not an assiduous chart-maker, so his voyage added little to the knowledge of the Pacific, and his name has faded into obscurity.

Cook also met his end in the Pacific, but by that time he was already famous, and has gone on to greater glory. While he never saw himself as the discoverer of Australia, it suited the English to paint him that way, thus obscuring his true genius as a map-maker and leader of men.

Sea of Dangers does not really break any new ground, and the premise that Cook and de Surville were rivals in any real sense of the word is false (a publisher's gambit perhaps?), but as a wonderfully readable account of Cook's first voyage, and an interesting one of de Surville's, this book is worth the effort.

Check out my other reviews at http://aviewoverthebell.blogspot.com.au/

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard to pick up but good once you've started

[Adrian]

In 1768 James Cook took the Endeavour into the South Pacific to look for a continent that people believed existed somewhere between New Zealand and South America. At exactly the same time a French explorer Jean de Surville was looking for the same continent. The two explorers missed each other by less than 100 miles near the coast of New Zealand. Cook's journey which lasted nearly three years was notable for the discovery of Australia- I'll give him credit if Blainey won't- and his contact with Aborigines is a terrific part of this book. De Surville was less fortunate and drowned off the coast of Peru when he strangely decided to row to shore in a rowboat in bad seas rather than harbouring a few miles upshore at Callao. Explorers. Great stuff.

[Calzean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blainey's book tells the story of Cook's voyage to see the transit of Venus then to find the great southern continent. He also tells of the voyage of Jean de Surville and the St Jean-Baptiste who is also on a journey of discovery and trade at the same time. At one point the two ships almost meet.

Both stories are easy to read and tell the lives of the ships and their crews. The stories could have made a good novel except the details are as historical correct as possible.

I am not sure the title of the book is correct as the two men and their ships did not appear to me to be rivals. They did not know of each other's voyage, had different sponsors and very different objectives.

Otherwise a good read for those interested in learning more about Cook and the world in 1760-70s.

[David R. · Rating 2 out of 5]

A rather underwhelming treatment of two simultaneous voyages of discovery in the Southwest Pacific in 1770. One was the first voyage of the better-known James Cook of England. The other by French navigator Jean de Surville. (I am still searching for another rival to Cook). At one point their ships came unknowingly within a couple dozen miles, by best estimates. That said, Blainey's recounting is mostly lifeless: Cook is as much a cipher as he could be, and there's even less attention given to Surville. And what is more, the very real dangers of these missions aren't sufficiently explicated. I'd pass this one up.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author describes things we seldom, if ever recognize today: The smell of land, the color of water warning of reefs, information in sea swells, and more. Cook's mission was purely exploratory, while de Surville's was more an official, highly speculative commercial enterprise. Cook recognized that de Surville's failure added to the store of knowledge that was being accumulated during this period of the Age of Enlightenment, a gracious acknowledgment to someone who today is forgotten. A real adventure story well written and easily read.

[Tuck · Rating 3 out of 5]

good overviews and some detail of cook's and de surville's voyages to southwest pacific. if you don't know anything abut this, its a good place to start, if you do, its a nice re-visit. extensive use of beaglehole's books of sir joseph bank's and cook's journals.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written - bringing Captain Cook's journey to life.

[Chris Bauer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really fascinating to read.

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so interesting.

[Jeremy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful read, so interesting and informative; Blainey is a master historian