Known twentieth century books
Eighteenth century books
below
The Forsters and The Botany of the Second Cook Expedition (1772-1775) Nicolson, Dan H. and F. Raymond Fosberg. 2004
Captain Cook: Explorations and Reassessments Williams, Glyndwr. 2004
William Hodges, 1744-1797: the Art of Exploration Quilley, Geoff and John Bonehill. 2004
Endeavour: Newfound Notes Beagrie, Bob. 2004
American Traveler: The life and adventures of John Ledyard - the man who dreamed of walking the world Zug, James. 2005
The Last Voyage of Captain Cook: The Collected Writings of John Ledyard Zug, James. 2005
Omai. The Prince Who Never Was Connaughton, Richard. 2005
Captain Cook Levene, Rebecca. 2005
The Sea has no end: the life of Louis-Antoine de Bougainville Suthren, Victor. 2004
Storms and dreams. Louis de Bougainville: soldier, explorer, statesman Dunmore, John. 2005
Written and Edited by John Robson, published by Chatham Publishing in 2004 (ISBN 1 86941 665 1).
This is a most attractive book. From its colourful and well designed dust jacket, brown hard covers, robust binding, yellow end papers, an eye catching Endeavour Replica frontispiece, to its high quality paper, clear typeface, and many illustrations, it gives the immediate impression of a polished and professionally crafted example of bibliographic skill.
The Encyclopaedia is (largely) written, and edited by John Robson, a member of the CCS, who is much to be congratulated; he in turn pays a compliment in his Foreword to the Commissioning Editor, Julian Mannering, of Chatham Publishing. "Realising his knowledge was limited", Robson approached several experts, who have contributed essays on topics in their field, and their excellent credited pieces are scattered through the Encyclopaedia.
The published contents, arranged alphabetically by subject, cover virtually every aspect of Cook's life and voyages as they impacted on the world that he knew, and as his legacy has affected the world that we now live in. The topics are necessarily compressed, but in themselves will always prove to be a most useful first point of reference to anyone who already has some knowledge of Cook, but wants to widen its scope. The Encyclopaedia will also be a marvellous research tool for students in bringing the whole Cook story between the covers of one book - which includes a fulsome bibliography of other books and journals for those seeking more detailed information, complete with several website references. There are six detailed appendices - Logs and Journals; Libraries Archives and Museums; Cook's Crews; Cook Chronology; Places named after Cook, his ships and men; and Royal Navy ships on which Cook served. Finally, there is an Index, where care had been taken to show the main Encyclopaedia headings in bold type, references to the captions of illustrations in italics, and minor references in plain type.
There is a colour plate section with seventeen plates in all. They are a mixture of contemporary and modern images, with superb colour throughout, and they benefit from the quarto page size. Of the modern plates, Playing on Lono's Island (Raymond A Massey), and Captain Furneaux for Breakfast (Robin Brooks), are particularly well done. Also worth a mention is the Cook Coat of Arms, which Beaglehole described as a ‘fantasy'. Clearly visible is the correction, by hand, of a spelling error by the original artist in the Latin word intentatem,to intentatum. It is also evident that the (right) ‘arm embowed' is double jointed!
The black and white illustrations have been selected with care. Two charts of the Bering Sea dated 1761 (Müller) and 1784 (after Cook), give a clear view of the misinformation that Cook was able to clarify.
All in all, it is hard to imagine the huge administrative effort involved in pulling together so much information (textual and graphic) from so many different sources, all completed in a relatively short time span.
The Editor mentions in his Foreword that "errors and spelling mistakes that have sneaked through" may be reported to a website, for future correction, which is an encouraging use of modern technology. There are indeed a few minor errors. The possessive of Banks is treated much as would be an uncertain answer to a multi-choice question - about half are shown as Banks's, and the other half as Banks'. One of each appears in a single short paragraph - p39.
There is occasional duplication of factual text; it is a matter of editorial balance to maintain the context of the entries, rather than have excessive jumps to related entries - and helpful cross references are available as a suffix to many headings. But if duplication is preferred, it is important to achieve consistency, which is not always the case. For instance: Under Endeavour H M Bark, we are told that "She was termed a bark on account of the shape of the hull." While under Cook's ships the information changes: "The Navy classed the Endeavour as a bark". And under Cats (Barks) there is another version: "Cat was the name given to a type of vessel used in the North Sea in the eighteenth century. The name Bark was sometimes used for the same type of vessel... They were noticeable for not carrying a figurehead in the bow. The word bark was used (by the Navy)... to differentiate the vessel from an existing HMS Endeavour."
But these are minor quibbles, which will no doubt be dealt with in future editions. Overall, and in Cook's own words, the Encyclopaedia "will make the results of his voyages entertaining to the generality of readers, as well as instructive to the sailor and scholar".
Reviewer: John Allan
Originally published in Cook's Log, page 34, volume 28, number 1 (2005).
Four years ago when I reviewed his last book, Captain Cook's World: Maps of the Life and Voyages of James Cook, R.N., I made the following statement:
Should it [Captain Cook's World: … ] be your first book about Cook? No, but it should be a pretty good candidate for your second. … What Robson has created is a fine companion book to the standard biographies and voyage narratives, which usually lack enough detail for the reader to determine where much of the action occurs. … From that point on, I got two books out every time I wanted to read one.Well, now he's written The Captain Cook Encyclopædia, and what I said about his earlier book applies here too. While his first book guided us through Cook's world with maps, his latest work fleshes out the background of a host of people, places and things related to the good captain.
John's plan in producing The Captain Cook Encyclopædia was ambitious. To quote from the Introduction:
There is a vast reservoir of information available on Cook and his voyages. I hope The Captain Cook Encyclopædia is able to reproduce much of that reservoir and can answer most questions on anything to do with James Cook. Where it cannot and for people who require more in-depth information, I trust it can point them in the right direction.I think he came pretty close.
I now find myself getting out three books out every time I want to read one: the one I'm reading and John's two fine works. But I no longer have to dig through multiple resources to remind myself of facts like whether the first printed account of the Endeavour voyage was written by Magra, Matra or Marra? The Captain Cook Encyclopædia can now answer that and a host of other questions with a quick glance.
Like his previous work, production values for The Captain Cook Encyclopædia are high; it is hard bound and is printed on coated stock. The book should last for years even with hard use (which it will get as you refer to it in conjunction with every other book you read about Cook). And the price is reasonable for a book of this quality.
Naturally, any reference like The Captain Cook Encyclopædia requires compromises; it's simply not possible to put everything in a single volume. Nor will everyone agree on what was included or left out. (Does the town of Whitby really deserve twice as much copy as Joseph Banks?) But overall Robson appears to have done an admirable job of covering the landscape related to Cook.
With his two books, The Captain Cook Encyclopædia and Captain Cook's World: … , John Robson has produced a set of bookends that will accompany, illuminate and support the rest of the Cook books in your library.
Reviewer: Ron Ravneberg
Originally published in Cook's Log, page 35, volume 28, number 1 (2005).
By Dan H. Nicolson and F. Raymond Fosberg, issued as Vol. 139 of Regnum Vegetabile and published by A.R.G. Gantar Verlag, Ruggell, Liechtenstein in 2004 (ISBN 3 906166 02 3).
Dr F Raymond Fosberg while a curator of Botany at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA had begun a study of the plant collections made by the Forsters (father and son) on Captain Cook's second voyage 1772-1775. When he retired Dr Fosberg continued his study in an emeritus capacity at the Institution. On his death in 1993 Dr Dan H Nicolson, a fellow curator in the same museum, took over the responsibility of seeing Fosberg's work to a conclusion. He has generously acknowledged his senior colleague's input by including Dr Fosberg as his co-author in this present book.
The need, however, to resolve so many problems arising from these important collections has been the reason why it has not been possible for Dr Nicolson to present the results of both author's research until now.
Dr Nicolson begins the book with an explanation of the troubled political background in Prussia (Poland), Russia and France and how it had affected Johann Reinhold Forster (1729-1798) and later his son George (1754-1794), before they both arrived in England towards the end of 1766.
There follows a biographical sketch of both father and son together with Forster family ancestry. Next is given the itinerary of Cook's Second Voyage in the Resolution, along with a useful list of islands visited together with their modern name equivalents. Eight pages are devoted to a short description of the twelve institutions, mostly in Europe, that hold larger sets of Forster's plant specimens, and several other establishments that have a smaller number represented. The section ends with an excellent bibliography of all those publications that Nicolson has traced that describe or comment upon the Forster collections.
During the voyage the Forsters, according to Begg & Begg1 "collected no fewer than 785 botanical specimens" (Nicolson has substituted "described" for "collected", meaning individual species). Of these, 227 were from the Pacific. Among the flowering plants, 187 were from the Polynesian islands and 119 from New Zealand. George Forster made 301 botanical sketches. In addition he painted 14 invertebrates, 80 fishes, 35 mammals and 140 birds - in all 272 sheets. After the Resolution anchored back in England in 1775 the Forsters landed their immense collections of dried plants. Like Banks and Solander on Cook's First Voyage they had collected several examples of each gathering so that duplicate sets could be later prepared for distribution or exchange.
In October 1778 George left for the Continent taking with him "68 pounds of specimens, artifacts, drawings and manuscripts". His main purposes, however, was to seek funds to clear their debts and to seek a suitable post for his father. Before leaving England for good the Forsters gave a set of their plants to Joseph Banks, who had enabled them to have access to his library, collections and manuscripts. The last included many descriptions and names applied by Solander to new species that were, as yet, unpublished.
Within modern times several distinguished botanists have accused the Forsters of plagiarism by substituting their own generic names for those applied by Solander for the same plants. This they published in their Characteres Genera Planterum (Nov. 1775). Other botanists, without investigation themselves, have perpetrated the vilification of the Forsters by repeating the same accusation. However, Hoare2 was able to draw attention to certain botanical manuscripts existing in the Central Library of the Paris Museum d'Histoire Naturelle which demonstrate quite clearly that those names of the Forsters that they had been alleged to have substituted were in fact coined by them during the voyage and not afterwards.
The bulk (pp. 85-695) of Nicolson's new book is taken up with a listing systematically of those of Forster's plant specimens he has located and examined and the institution holding such examples. He commences with the lichens followed by the seaweeds, bryophytes (mosses and hepatics) and the ferns and gymnosperms (conifers). The flowering plants, which come at the end, represent the largest group (pp. 162-695). The species are arranged first under their family, then alphabetically under each genus and then the species. Under each is listed the institutes where such examples of that species are held; its typification (i.e. the identity of the specimen on which the species description was based); reference to any of Forsters publications in which they may have been cited; any associated notes or detail; and finally the range of the species as it is today.
Towards the end of the book are some photographic reproductions of actual Forster specimens and a map of the Resolution's track (although there is more clearly seen, as reproduced as end papers to the book. The index (pp. 707-759) is devoted solely to an alphabetical listing of the species of plants as mentioned throughout the text. It would have been useful to have included a list of which species were found under each of the facilities visited.
As a botanist myself, I had known that Dr Nicolson had been working on the Forster's plant collection for a long time. Indeed, some years ago I turned over to him all the notes I had made on them, as he was further advanced than I on his investigations, and concentrated my time on Archibald Menzies, the botanist who made plant collections on George Vancouver's voyage. Nevertheless, I have still maintained an interest in the Forsters and the contribution they made to the success of Cook's Second Voyage and to the advancement of Pacific botany. I, along with many other students of 18th century maritime expeditions, are grateful to Dr Nicolson for ably bringing his researches to fruition in this book.
Reviewer: Eric W. Groves
References:
1. Begg, A. C. and Begg, N. C., 1968 (rev. ed.). Dusky Bay: In the Steps of Captain Cook. Christchurch, NZ: Whitcombe and Tombs.
2. Hoare, Michael, 1976. The Tactless Philosopher, Johann Reinhold Forster, 1729 - 1798. Melbourne, Australia: Hawthorn Press.
Originally published in Cook's Log, page 36, volume 28, number 1 (2005).
Edited by Glyndwr Williams, published by Boydell Press in 2004 (ISBN 1 84383 100 7).
It has taken two years to produce this book of the conference, with the same name, held at Middlesbrough. Thirteen of the papers presented then have been rewritten to take advantage of the different medium with, for example, extensive footnotes, though Cliff Thornton will be disappointed to see his name miss-spelled (page 19, note 17). Glyn Williams has taken the material from the varied presenters and ensured a consistency for the general reader who will enjoy this book as much as anyone who attended the conference.
Rosalin Barker gets the book off to a cracking start with a description of the men and ships of Whitby’s fleet when "Cook began his seafaring". It was the sixth largest fleet in England, though it "carried comparatively little trade to or from Whitby". Though little is known of what happened to James Cook at this time, Barker has spent many years trawling through the records of the shipowners, etc., and paints a wonderful picture of what it must have been like for him. Amongst other things I learnt were "When, during the Severn Years War, Cook served in Canada, he would have seen familiar Whitby ships, and men, serving in the transport service." And, "The scurvy grass, wild cabbage and wild celery (or lovage), all grow on Whitby cliffs"
Richard Allen looks at the possible Quaker influence on Cook, drawing on the "hitherto unexplored Quaker records of the Scarborough and Whitby Quaker meetings" concluding that many people have "read too much into Cook’s Quakerly characteristics. It could be argued that Cook’s life does not demonstrate anything other than a commitment to his job". Though he points out that "many aspects of his life epitomise the Quaker virtues".
Andrew Cook has turned his wonderful visual talk at the conference into a great written piece on how "Cook’s first voyage was properly the Royal Society’s expedition", though not the others. The story of how the Royal Society initiated and planned the voyage to observe the Transit of Venus in the southern hemisphere is told well, with appropriate quotes from the minute books, etc. Dr Cook’s recent researches shows how many Fellows met for dinner with non-Fellows at the "Royal Society Club, or the Club of the Royal Philosophers" at the Mitre Tavern in London. After the voyage Banks became a member of the club, and Cook attended as a guest.
Stuart Murray considers the written records from the voyages and how "the desire on the part of the journal keepers to be descriptive reveals time and time again the limits of language at the moment of culture contact." As an example Murray compares the way several people on board the Endeavour recorded the events on 19 July 1770 at Endeavour River. Though the similarities are striking the differences are very illuminating.
Anne Salmond points out that for the last decade of his life Cook "had spent much of his time in Polynesia, where reality and the self were understood quite differently", and considers how Polynesia changed Cook so much that on the Third Voyage "he became increasingly volatile and violent, and his men called him ‘Tute’, his Tahitian name, and spoke of him as a Polynesian despot."
Pauline Nawahineokala‘i King looks at the Native Hawaiian attitudes towards Cook, and Daniel Clayton considers Cook’s arrival at Nootka Sound. John Robson compares the Pacific voyages of Cook and Bougainville, in particular the charts produced, concluding that "Bougainville left the map of the Pacific much as he had found it… Cook, on the other hand, drew the map of the Pacific as we know it today".
Robin Inglis describes the French and Spanish voyages that followed in Cook’s wake, and Simon Werrett explains the reactions of the Russians to Cook’s final voyage, arguing that "enthusiasm for Cook and voyages of discovery was restricted to scholarly circles, failing to penetrate to the court and government".
Sujit Sivasundaram compares the martyrdoms of Captain James Cook and Reverend John Williams; the latter was a Pacific missionary killed in Tonga in 1840. Andrew Lambert describes his time on the Endeavour replica as one of the six historians in the "BBC project to retrace part of Cook’s first Pacific voyage". To join the ship "we rowed out some three miles", which taught him his first lesson: "In the eighteenth century everything took a very long time". Although he had to leave early, suffering from pneumonia, his "reflections on Cook were profoundly affected by the experience of this trip".
Glyndwr Williams ended the conference with a reassessment of Cook following his death, but the expanded chapter does not end the book, coming instead just before that of Lambert, which is a shame. In the book’s Introduction Williams touches on a point he made at the conference: "the unexplained disappearance of Cook’s journal that (presumably) he kept during his last days". Regrettably he says no more about it in this book. Instead he gives an expanded history of the attitudes to Cook since his death: in Britain and France, by those who knew him (such as George Forster) and those that did not, by the editors of his journals (John Douglas and John Beaglehole), by his biographers (Kippis, Young and Beaglehole), by the inhabitants of places Cook visited (Australia, New Zealand and Hawai‘i), by historians and anthropologists.
Like the conference, this book has something for everyone. Better than the conference, this book provides more information, the chance to re-read passages and consider their deeper meanings, and, of course, lasts considerably longer. It was worth waiting the two years.
Reviewer: Ian Boreham
Originally published in Cook's Log, page 37, volume 28, number 1 (2005).
Edited by Geoff Quilley and John Bonehill, published by Yale University Press in 2004 (ISBN 0-948-06558-3).
This book describes itself as a catalogue to the exhibition, of the same name, held at Greenwich and New Haven, but it is much more than that: it is a valuable book in its own right for people unable to see the exhibition but wanting to know more about William Hodges and his paintings. However, it does not contain a biography of him, a serious failing, merely referring the reader to the difficult-to-obtain book The Life and Works of William Hodges, by Isabel Combs Stuebe (Garland Publishing Inc., 1979).
This book comprises 14 essays by 10 different contributors on how Hodges learnt to paint, how his style developed and the influences upon him can be seen in his works: before, during and after his time on Cook’s Second Voyage. The maritime context of the period is explored, as well as Hodges’ role as an anthropologist and historian. The research that went into developing the exhibition can be seen in several essays, but especially the one about how some paintings by him have been attributed to others, and vice-versa, and how opinion continues to be divided on which of his paintings were done during the Voyage and which were worked up in England after his return.
All of the paintings displayed at the two exhibition venues (not all are shown at both) are reproduced in colour with extensive notes about them. Many are familiar to Cook enthusiasts, but some have only recently come to light and never been published before. Whilst there is some repetition of information from Rüdiger Joppien and Bernard Smith’s great work on The Art of Captain Cook’s Voyages (Yale University Press, 1985), there is more analysis in the latest work.
Hodges was hired as a draughtsman to document Governor General Warren Hastings’s tour through northern India, and the many paintings from this period (and after) are discussed at length expanding our view of Hodges from that of being just a Pacific painter. Regrettably, many of the paintings of India, like those of the Pacific have been hidden from the public’s gaze in the two centuries since they were completed. This book reveals them in all of their glory, and goes some way to restoring our appreciation of the painter and the world that he saw.
Reviewer: Ian Boreham
Originally published in Cook's Log, page 38, volume 28, number 1 (2005).
By Bob Beagrie, published by Biscuit Publishing, Newcastle UK in 2004 (ISBN 1 903914 13 2).
For over 200 years Cook’s adventures have provided a stimulus for artists. Time has not diminished their impact on those who produce two and three-dimensional art, or those who rely on the written or spoken word. Bob Beagrie falls into the latter categories. This 37 year old was born and bred in Middlesbrough where he now works as a freelance writer with schools and community groups.
His new work arose from the Endeavour Replica’s visit to Middlesbrough in 2003, and, after researching Cook’s voyage, his poem was published the following year. In searching for a "voice" to tell the story of the Endeavour’s voyage Beagrie settled on that of an anonymous Whitby sailor from below decks. Beagrie has achieved his aims as the voyage, as seen through the eyes of a bewildered and homesick ordinary seaman, contrasts vividly with the contemporary accounts of the voyage written by the ship’s officers and gentlemen. The poem reflects its North-East roots, weaving local dialect and superstitions into the sailor’s life.
The publication is profusely illustrated with images both ancient and modern that complement the different stanzas of the poem. It is written in blank verse, and, at times, it is difficult to interpret the cadences that the author intended. In compiling the poem Beagrie has exercised artistic, poetic and historical licence, and Cook purists will find that the text contains a number of contentious facts and anachronisms.
However, any difficulties experienced by a reader of the poem are addressed by the CD that accompanies the book. This poem was written primarily as a performance piece and the CD brings the author’s words to life against a background of music and sound effects. Having heard the CD I look forward to experiencing a performance of the work one day.
Reviewer: Cliff Thornton
Originally published in Cook's Log, page 40, volume 28, number 2 (2005).
By James Zug, published by Basic Books, NY USA in 2005 (ISBN 0 465 09405 8).
John Ledyard was born in Groton, Connecticut in November 1751. Aged 20, he joined the recently opened Dartmouth college in New Hampshire, the "last university in the colonies to receive a royal charter". Blocked in his attempt to make a career as a missionary, Ledyard decided to embark on a seven year ramble, and in 1773, joined a ship that sailed to Gibraltar, North Africa and the Caribbean.
In March 1775 he sailed to England and joined the marines. After a year at Plymouth he was a corporal in the group that joined the Resolution as it prepared to leave on Cook’s Third Voyage. Of the 112 men on board there were six others from America. When he returned to Plymouth in 1780 he was promoted sergeant and, in 1781 sent with his company on a frigate to North America. There he "ran" to Connecticut and wrote his only book "A Journal of Captain Cook’s Last Voyage", printed in 1783. Zug explains how it contained many errors and straight plagiarism.
Ledyard tried to form a trading venture to buy furs from the NW coast to sell to China, but when it fell through, he sailed to Europe to try again. First in Spain and then in France, where he met Thomas Jefferson. After more frustration he decided to cross the American continent but Jefferson persuaded him to go by land to Kamchatka and cross to Nootka Sound. Denied permission to cross Russia by Empress Catherine, he tried London where he failed to join an expedition commanded by James Colnett.
In 1786 he walked across the Low Countries, crossed from Denmark to Sweden, and travelled through Lapland to Finland and thence to Russia. In August 1787 he arrived at the Siberian capital of Irkutsk where, in a museum, he saw a piece of Hawaiian bark cloth left by the Resolution in Kamchatka in 1779. By September he was in Yakutsk, only 500 miles from the Pacific. Catherine heard of his defiant journey and ordered his removal for fear he would interfere with her own plans for the fur trade.
Back in London in May 1788 Ledyard met Joseph Banks and volunteered to explore Africa on behalf of the recently formed Africa Association. He travelled overland to Marseilles and then by boat to Alexandria and thence Cairo. Exhausted from his many travels, he fell ill and took so much medicine to cure himself that he burst a blood vessel and died in January 1789.
Zug’s coverage of Cook’s voyage is particularly pleasing with useful quotes from several journals, not just Ledyard. Ledyard wrote many letters later in life and Zug uses them to illuminate Ledyard’s character and approach to life. Zug gives an extensive list of his own sources, with one of the best lists for Cook enthusiasts! He adds that "Ledyard’s most profound legacy was that he forged a new, American archetype: the heroic explorer." After reading this excellent book I understand why.
Reviewer: Ian Boreham
Originally published in Cook's Log, page 41, volume 28, number 2 (2005).
Edited by James Zug, published by the National Geographic in 2005 (ISBN 0-7922-9347-9).
Issued as part of the publisher’s series of "adventure classics", this book reproduces in modern typeface most of the work by John Ledyard published in 1783 as "A Journal of Captain Cook’s Last Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, and in Quest of a North-West Passage, between Asia and America, Performed in the years 1776, 1777, 1778, and 1779". I say "most of" as Zug, the editor of the new edition writes, Ledyard "took the final 38 pages of his book - the voyage from Kamchatka in June 1779 to London in October 1780 - verbatim from the anonymous" journal published in 1781 and identified in 1921 as being by John Rickman. Ledyard’s plagiarism didn’t stop there as he also used it for details and "reproduced a number of anecdotes and descriptive material". And "Ledyard borrowed fairly frequently from Hawkesworth"!
Ledyard does not figure greatly in the activities of the Third Voyage. His greatest contribution seems to have been when, at Unalaska, Cook sent him to visit some Russians nearby. Cook barely mentions what Ledyard found in his three-day trip, So Ledyard’s own account is valuable.
Nevertheless, in just over 100 pages Ledyard describes the voyage in a simple style that is easy to read. It includes parts of the voyage often skipped in modern books about Cook. However, you also miss out on some events, as there are no quotes from other people on board. Amazingly, Zug includes only nine notes expanding on Ledyard’s writing. Even worse, there is no index.
Also included in this book are
- extracts from his letters whilst he was in Europe, 1785-7, as he tried to implement a scheme for buying furs on the northwest coast of America selling them at vast profit in Canton, returning to America with "Chinese silks and teas"
- extracts from the journal (plus some letters) he wrote as he walked across Siberia, 1787-8, with the aim of sailing with Russian fur traders to Alaska, "head down to Spanish California, ad then hike overland to Kentucky"
- extracts from his journal (plus some letters) of the journey to Egypt, from 1788 until just before his death, that he undertook on behalf of Joseph Banks’ African Association to "traverse the continent from the Red Sea to the Atlantic"
Ledyard later writes about how, when Cook’s head was returned by the Indians after his death, "they had cut off all the Hair" and compares it to the actions of the "antient Scythians" and the "Aborigines of America". Earlier, on 17th August 1787 at the Siberian capital of Irkutsk he records how he went "to see Some Curiosities from different parts of Siberia", including "some Sandwich Island Cloth… obtained from Capt Cook’s Ship at Kamschatka when he was there".
Zug points out there are 62 extant letters of Ledyard. Many exist only as copies in someone else’s hand. His journals are in fragments, and also exist mainly as transcripts. Despite these problems Zug believes what remains "does not obscure the essence… of one of the most original and adventurous American explorers".
Ledyard’s journal of his voyage with Cook was last printed in 1963 (with many footnotes and an index), so another version is long overdue. The inclusion of material from his later life adds to our knowledge and appreciation of this remarkable man. Zug’s recent biography of Ledyard sets these writings in context.
Reviewer: Ian Boreham
Originally published in Cook's Log, page 43, volume 28, number 3 (2005).
By Richard Connaughton, published by Timewell Press in 2005 (ISBN 1-85725-205-5).
Omai was a commoner in his native land, but he so fascinated the people he met in London that they assumed he was a prince, and he encouraged this belief. This biography, the fourth about Omai, explains how this change came about leading to the performance in 1785 in London of a Christmas pantomime called "Omai, or a Trip Round the World", some five years after his death. There have been two exhibitions about Omai, in Auckland in 1977 and in Canberra in 2001. Connaughton brings Omai’s story up to date by writing about his portrait by Joshua Reynolds that was sold in 2001 for £10.3m, a record for this artist [See Cook’s Log, page 1917, vol. 25, no. 1 (2002)].
Connaughton begins the story with the arrival at Tahiti of Captain Wallis in the frigate Dolphin in 1767, and the cautious, fearful, mistrusting first contacts between two very different groups of people. When the ship fired a broadside at the Tahitians apparently trying to capture her, "among those injured ashore was a young man named Omai" who had come from "Raiatea after "warring tribesmen from Bora Bora… attacked the family home". For Omai, the driving force in his life "became a determination to exact revenge upon those who had killed his father and to recover the family’s land." Tupia later joined Cook on the Endeavour and would have been the first Polynesian to reach London had he not died at Batavia.
To help us understand Omai’s world, Connaughton describes the Polynesian class system, something of their religion, as well as important aspects of food, fishing, cleanliness, possessions and fighting.
Then we are introduced to the European idea of the noble savage as set out by the English poet John Dryden and developed by the Frenchman Jean-Jacques Rousseau, which coloured the views of Louis de Bougainville during his visit to Tahiti in 1768, which he "called Nouvelle Cythère after the small island off the coast of southern Greece which, in Greek mythology, provided a sanctuary for Aphrodite, goddess of love". Bougainville returned to Paris with the Tahitian Aoutourou who, despite having lessons throughout the eleven-month voyage, "could speak just ten words of French". The problem, we are told, "was that in their language there is no b, c, d, g, j, q or s, w, x y and z so that these sounds had to be learnt before inroads could be made into languages richer and more sophisticated than their own. The cultural gap was so broad that Tahitians found it a problem to visualise concepts that lay beyond their experience." He was introduced to Louis XV at Versailles but "overall, observers found his absence of interest and enquiry a disappointment". He was "soon ignored and destined to live a lonely life in Paris".
Connaughton summarises Aoutourou’s visit thus: "The first trophy out of Tahiti, their first noble savage, was therefore a failure. The idea had not been thought through to a proper conclusion". On the way home he died of smallpox.
Following a good explanation of the reasons for the Endeavour voyage and the preparations undertaken, the actual voyage is quickly dealt with, at times too quickly. "They sailed past New Zealand, Australia and New Guinea, exploring a new land, to arrive in October at Batavia in the Dutch East Indies, aware that all was not well with the hull of the Endeavour" (my underlining and exasperation). But I was pleased with the correct explanation that the Society Islands were "named by Cook due to their proximity one to another and not to any association with London’s Royal Society."
The early part of the Second Voyage is similarly dealt with until Tahiti where Furneaux (with Banks in mind) took on Omai, who wanted to see England. Although Cook was uncertain he "was senior to Furneaux by one day and therefore not in a strong position to intervene". During the journey home Omai was happier with the sailors than the officers.
To help us understand Omai’s new world, Connaughton describes the British class system, politics, etc., comparing it to that of Tahiti. Omai was inoculated against smallpox, which was endemic in England at this time, with a newly developed, but expensive and risky treatment. He met King George III, remembered Banks and Solander from Tahiti and was introduced to high society by them. The Earl of Sandwich became another patron. "What the literati and aristocracy found appealing were his manners, his courtesy and a vanity no less intense than their own… He became the foremost casualty of a social experiment that paid scant regard to its consequences. His presence in England for two short years had a profound impact upon romantic literature and inspired writers".
Omai grew in confidence so much that he was soon visiting people, such as the family of James Burney, by himself. He learnt backgammon and chess and defeated even an accomplished chess player. The book describes in much detail his time in England, but occasionally I got lost as some events are described twice in different contexts and out of chronology.
Omai’s return to Polynesia and Cook’s attempts to find somewhere suitable for Omai to live are explored in much detail. Connaughton notes "his own weaknesses, not least an ambition tempered by his apparent preference for being among the common people, his tunnel vision, and the strategic intention to invade Bora Bora without making the necessary preparations to do so, are among his many failings." The author’s aim was for this book to be "a lighter touch than the scholarly treatment of Cook and Omai found" in other books. He has achieved one that is easy to read, and leads the reader through the complex nature of those around Omai, as well as the simple man himself.
Reviewer: Ian Boreham
Originally published in Cook's Log, page 44, volume 28, number 3 (2005).
This book is aimed at children aged 5-7, and is part of the publisher’s "Famous Lives" series. In 64 pages with large typeface it sets out Cook’s Life. In doing so there are plenty of gaps, many of no consequence. But I was surprised that the story skips most of Cook’s childhood, given the intended readership. On the first page he is aged 8 and on the next aged 18, with no mention of school.
I found several apparent errors in the story, but checking the facts showed my memory to have failed and Levene to be correct. Taking historical advice from the education officer at the Captain Cook Memorial Museum, Whitby clearly paid off.
Being described as "a troop of soldiers" might annoy some marines. Describing Charles Green as "a Royal Astronomer" annoyed me, as it appears to make him the "Astronomer Royal", a position he never held, though he had been an assistant to one. I did like the modern description of Joseph Banks, whose "new-found fame had gone to his head, making him act like a rock star" and demanding alterations to the Resolution before he sailed on her. But it was spoilt by saying the "carpenters, who spent so much time adding the extra deck, had to spend months taking it out", when it was only a few weeks.
Levene impressed me with getting Cook’s promotions correct: to Commander and post-captain at the end of the First and Second Voyages, respectively.
Much of the story is told through the conversations with Cook, though not the recorded ones. After leaving Hawaii, Levene writes, "the foremast of the Resolution split. ‘What shall we do?’ Bligh asked James. ‘I’m not sure we’ll be welcome back on Hawaii.’ ‘Well, we can’t keep sailing,’ James replied. ‘We’ll lose the mast before we reach the next island.’ "
I was impressed with much of the description of the events leading to Cook’s death, except when the taking of the "Cutter which lay swamped at the Buoy of the small Bower Anchor", according to Zimmerman’s account becomes "some members of the more unfriendly tribes sneaked on board the Resolution and stole a rowing boat", according to Levene.
Most adult biographies of Cook have few illustrations, and they often disappoint the reader. The same cannot be said for this book, which has one on nearly every page: fresh, bright and a fair representation of the actual events. My favourite is Cook looking through a telescope. I was particularly impressed with the representation of the appearance of Venus observed by Cook at Tahiti.
Levene ends the book: "During James’s lifetime, people rushed to read about his voyages. And almost two centuries after his death, his maps were still being used by sailors, explorers and adventurers."
If you know a young child that is curious about your passion for Cook, this book is an excellent introduction. You could even read it together.
Reviewer: Ian Boreham
Originally published in Cook's Log, page 46, volume 28, number 3 (2005).
Storms and dreams. Louis de Bougainville: soldier, explorer, statesman by John Dunmore. published by Exisle in 2005 (ISBN 0908988575).
Unlike most other explorers of his time, Louis-Antoine de Bougainville survived to old age, dying in his bed in Paris at the age of 81. Bougainville crammed a huge amount into those 81 years making one of the most interesting men of the eighteenth century and someone deserving of a good biography. Part of his life, especially that in which he sailed around the world between 1766 and 1769, has been written about, but other longer periods of his fascinating life remain largely ignored. Even in France, Bougainville’s exploits remain largely unknown while in the English-speaking world his round-the-world voyage was soon eclipsed by the voyages of Cook.
Bougainville was given a lukewarm reception in Paris on his return in 1769, signalling an ambivalent attitude in France that has prevailed to this day. One of the first efforts to remedy this situation came from Jean Etienne Martin-Allanic, whose 1964 work is a published version of a thesis. However, it is in French and, while containing huge amounts of information, is not an easy book to read. About the same time, Edward Hamilton produced an interesting book, in English, dealing with Bougainville’s time in North America. One of the most important works came out in 1977, when Etienne Taillemite reproduced an annotated edition of the journals of Bougainville’s voyage. Michael Ross produced an appalling biography in 1978 and Mary Kimbrough followed with a biography in 1990 that promised much but never quite satisfied.
So we come to 2004-2005 and suddenly we have two biographies of Bougainville being published. The first is by Canadian writer and historian (and CCS member) Victor Suthren. Suthren’s book provides an overview of Bougainville’s life without ever going into great detail or providing new insights. He appears to have set out to write a story that is accessible to all readers and not just the academic historian, and if that is the case, he has succeeded. Unfortunately, the book lacks an index and contains only a few illustrations.
Not long after Suthren’s book was published a second book appeared in New Zealand. This one is by John Dunmore, the eminent scholar and foremost expert on the French exploration of the Pacific. You might expect Dunmore’s book to be academic in tone but, in fact, it manages to be both authoritative and most readable. Dunmore, who edited the excellent Hakluyt edition of the Pacific journal of Louis-Antoine de Bougainville, is able to provide more coverage and he goes into more detail than Suthren. The presence of an index and a larger bibliography help considerably.
Bougainville’s birth in 1729, his childhood in Paris with the early loss of his mother and the influence of his older brother, Jean Pierre are covered in both books. Bougainville’s early academic prowess is dealt with, including his treatise on calculus that led to his early admission to the Royal Society in Britain. The books proceed to record his time as aide-de-campe to Montcalm with the French army in Canada during the Seven Years War from 1756 to 1760. However, given Suthren’s proximity to Canadian sources, it is to be regretted that he does not spend more time detailing this period and his relationships with the Native Americans. Bougainville also had a reputation in his early life as something of a ladies’ man, both in Canada and Paris, but neither book dwells on this aspect.
After Canada, Bougainville attempted to establish a French colony on the Îles Malouines (the Falkland Islands) before being forced to hand over the islands to Spain. This period is touched upon by Suthren and, in more detail, by Dunmore. As compensation for the Malouines, Bougainville was offered the chance of a round-the-world voyage and this, the pivotal part of his life, is dealt with at some length by both authors.
The last forty years of Bougainville’s life after his world voyage are somewhat rushed in Suthren, with Dunmore, once again, providing better coverage. After the voyage, Bougainville joined the navy and participated in the battles of Chesapeake Bay (1781) and the Saintes (1782). He married Flore-Josèphe de Longchamps de Montendre in 1780 and their happy marriage, which survived the French Revolution, lasted until her death in 1806. Together, they had four sons, including Hyacinthe, who later sailed to the Pacific. Bougainville spent time at the French court while Louis XVI was still king, even helping to defend the king during the early days of the Revolution. Afterwards, he became involved in many scientific projects and became a friend and favourite of Napoleon, who made him a comte and bestowed on him the Légion d’Honneur. Bougainville died in 1811.
Bougainville, a man of many parts and achievements, and a Renaissance man living in the Enlightenment, now has two fine books about him. Suthren’s book is well-written and acts as a good introduction to the subject but leaves one wanting more. For that you need to read Dunmore’s excellent book.
References
- Bougainville, Louis-Antoine de. Adventure in the wilderness: the American journals of Louis Antoine de Bougainville, 1756-1760, translated and edited by Edward P. Hamilton. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1964.
- Bougainville, Louis-Antoine de. The Pacific journal of Louis-Antoine de Bougainville, translated and edited by John Dunmore. London: Hakluyt Society, 2003. 0904180786
- Bougainville et ses compagnons autour du monde: 1766-1769, joutnaux de navigation, etablis et commentes par Etienne Taillemite. 2 vols. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1977.
- Kimbrough, Mary. Louis-Antoine de Bougainville, 1729-1811: a study in French naval history and politics. Lewiston: E. Mellen Press, 1990. 0889467447.
- Martin-Allanic, Jean Etienne. Bougainville, navigateur et les découverts de son temps. 2 vols. Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 1964.
- Ross, Michael. Bougainville. London: Gordon & Cremonesi, 1978. 0860330591.
Reviewer: John Robson
Originally published in Cook's Log, page 31, volume 28, number 4 (2005).