James Cook never laid eyes on the sea until he was in his teens. He then began an extraordinary rise from farm-boy to the hallowed rank of captain of the Royal Navy, leading three historic journeys that would forever link his name with fearless exploration. In this book, modern-day adventurer Martin Dugard strips away the myth of Cook to reveal a complex, conflicted man of tremendous ambition, intellect and sheer hardheadedness. When Great Britain announced a major circumnavigation in 1768 - a mission cloaked in science, ...
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James Cook never laid eyes on the sea until he was in his teens. He then began an extraordinary rise from farm-boy to the hallowed rank of captain of the Royal Navy, leading three historic journeys that would forever link his name with fearless exploration. In this book, modern-day adventurer Martin Dugard strips away the myth of Cook to reveal a complex, conflicted man of tremendous ambition, intellect and sheer hardheadedness. When Great Britain announced a major circumnavigation in 1768 - a mission cloaked in science, but aimed at the pursuit of world power - it came as a political surprise that James Cook was given command. No commoner had ever commanded a Royal Navy vessel. "Endeavour"'s stunning three-year journey changed the face of modern exploration; charting the vast Pacific waters, the eastern coasts of New Zealand and Australia, and making landfall in Tahiti, Tierra del Fuego and Rio de Janeiro. Returning home a hero, Cook yearned to get back to sea. He soon took control of the "Resolution" and returned to his beloved Pacific in search of the elusive Southern Continent. It was on this trip that Cook's taste for power became an obsession, and his legendary kindness to island natives became an expectation of worship-traits that would lead him first to greatness, and finally to catastrophe. Full of action, lush description and fascinating historical characters, Dugard's gripping account of the life and gruesome demise of Captain James Cook is a thrilling story of a discoverer hell-bent on travelling farther than any man.
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