On the 250th anniversary of Captain Cook's successful navigation to the
coast of Australia, this is Alistair MacLean's absorbing story of one of
Britain's great national heroes, from his obscure beginnings to his
sudden and violent death at the age of fifty-one.
When James Cook was hacked to death by Hawaiian islanders on 14 February
1779, he was already considered the greatest explorer of his age. Born
in obscurity but gripped by a boundless passion for new horizons, he
became the greatest combination of seaman, explorer, navigator, and
cartographer that the world had ever known. He still is. He had driven
himself mercilessly, and his men likewise, and yet the surgeon's mate on
the Resolution was able to write: 'In every situation he stood
unrivalled and alone; on him all eyes were turned; he was our leading
star, which at its setting left us involved in darkness and despair'.
Between 1768 and 1779, Captain Cook circumnavigated the globe three
times in voyages of discovery that broke record after record of
exploration, endurance, and personal achievement. He explored and
charted the coasts of New Zealand, landed in Botany Bay, explored the
Pacific, mapped its islands, and travelled further south than any man
before him; he explored the Great Barrier Reef and travelled thousands
of miles north to tackle the North-West Passage. He excelled in all
aspects of his craft and inspired in his men an affection for him and an
enthusiasm for his undertakings that provoked constant loyalty and
unfailing endeavour in frequently savage conditions.
Alistair MacLean presents a graphic and lively account of this great
explorer, his three amazing voyages and the adventures that befell him,
his crews, and his ships in lands that until he sailed were in many
cases unknown. Cook's life was a resounding success and the story of it
is a thrilling exemplification of his own description of himself as a
man 'who had ambition not only to go farther than anyone had done
before, but as far as it was possible for man to go'.
