1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910779244703321

Autore

McLynn Frank

Titolo

Captain Cook : master of the seas / / Frank McLynn

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New Haven ; ; London : , : Yale University Press, , [2011]

©2011

ISBN

0-300-17220-6

Descrizione fisica

xv, 490 p., [5] leaves of plates : maps

Disciplina

910.92

Soggetti

Explorers - Great Britain

Voyages around the world - History - 18th century

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (pages [422]-472) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Charting Cook -- CHAPTER 1. A Yorkshire Apprenticeship -- CHAPTER 2. The Seven Years War -- CHAPTER 3. Charting Newfoundland -- CHAPTER 4. The Challenge of the Pacific -- CHAPTER 5. First Contacts with Tahiti -- CHAPTER 6. The Isle of Cythera -- CHAPTER 7. Peril in Australasia -- CHAPTER 8. Homeward Bound -- CHAPTER 9. Antarctica -- CHAPTER 10. Tongans and Maoris -- CHAPTER 11. Mastering the Pacific -- CHAPTER 13. The Last Voyage -- CHAPTER 14 Tahiti: The Final Phase -- CHAPTER 15. Quest for Illusion: The Northwest Passage -- CHAPTER 16. Hawaiian Nightmare -- CHAPTER 17. Tragedy on Kealakekua Beach -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

The age of discovery was at its peak in the eighteenth century, with heroic adventurers charting the furthest reaches of the globe. Foremost among these explorers was navigator and cartographer Captain James Cook of the British Royal Navy.Recent writers have viewed Cook largely through the lens of colonial exploitation, regarding him as a villain and overlooking an important aspect of his identity: his nautical skills. In this authentic, engrossing biography, Frank McLynn reveals Cook's place in history as a brave and brilliant seaman. He shows how the Captain's life was one of struggle--with himself, with institutions, with the environment, with the desire to be remembered--and also one of great success.In Captain Cook, McLynn re-creates the voyages that



took the famous navigator from his native England to the outer reaches of the Pacific Ocean. Ultimately, Cook, who began his career as a deckhand, transcended his humble beginnings and triumphed through good fortune, courage, and talent. Although Cook died in a senseless, avoidable conflict with the people of Hawaii, McLynn illustrates that to the men with whom he served, Cook was master of the seas and nothing less than a titan.