Known twentieth century books
Eighteenth century books
below
Buccaneers, Explorers and Settlers: British Encounters and Enterprise in the Pacific, 1670-1800 Williams, Glyndwr. 2005
Longitude and Empire: How Captain Cook's Voyages Changed the World Richardson, Brian W. 2005
Pacific Paradises. The Discovery of Tahiti and Hawaii Lummis, Trevor. 2005
Pacific Encounters: Art & Divinity in Polynesia 1760-1860 Hooper, Steven. 2006
Captain Cook in Cleveland Thornton, Cliff. 2006
Cook's Pacific Encounters: The Cook-Forster Collection of the Georg-August University of Göttingen National Museum of Australia. 2006
The Arch of Kerguelen Kauffmann, Jean-Paul. 2000
The Conjuror's Bird Davies, Martin. 2005
Captain James Cook The Explorer: an historical and philatelic review Floyd, Professor Barry. 2006
By Peter Aughton and published by Arris Books in 2005 (ISBN 1-84437-050-X).
There have been many biographies of Cook written, and many books about his First Voyage, and a few specialist ones that covered the three voyages in separate volumes. But Peter Aughton is, I think, the first person to write three general books about Cook and his journeys, one for each of the main voyages. They have been written so they stand on their own, as well as being read one as a series.
Most of the problems of the first book1 have been overcome, and the lively style of the second book2 continued.
This book begins with Cook's return from the Second Voyage to his family. "The father that returned to them was an older man than the one they remembered from three years ago… His face was more weathered and lined than when he left home. He still had a full head of hair but it was receding at the temples and three years of tropical heat and Antarctic cold had made him much greyer." A good description to make up for the problem that, as Aughton points out "We have no record of his emotional homecoming." As readers we have to decide whether we want the writing to be descriptive and, thus, speculative, or dry and factual.
Much of the first chapter is taken up with the exploits of Omai, who had arrived in England the previous year. Aughton says that "Everybody referred to Omai as a Tahitian when in fact he was born on the neighbouring island of Huaheine", which is a pity, as the good first point is ruined by the incorrect second part: Omai was born on Raiatea.
The second chapter is a good account of previous attempts to find the North West Passage, preparations for the Third Voyage and sketches of the main people on the Resolution and Discovery. I'm not sure Charles Clerke would like his problems to be described as "a touch of drama", though he might like the description of him as a "good-natured man [who] foolishly stood surety for the debts of his brother Sir John Clerke." Surprisingly, there is no explanation as to how he managed to leave prison. An example, perhaps, of an over-reliance on using the works of Beaglehole and not the results of recent research3.
Aughton is not afraid to give his opinion of Cook and his actions. At Kerguelen Island "we see James Cook exercising his worst fault. He did not consult his officers in an emergency, he made up his own mind and kept his officers in the dark about his plans." The stay at Kerguelen was only four days, and the description of the visit covers four pages of the book. Yet there is a, relatively, large map of the place, with the ships' course given and 33 places named. But none of these places appear in Aughton's description. What a waste of a good map. John Taylor has produced several other maps that appear, such as a great one of Prince William Sound and Cook Inlet on the Alaskan coast. But again, the description of the visits takes no notice of the map and uses none of the names that appear on it. Very puzzling.
In re-telling such a well-known story as Cook's, it is very easy to say what happened without any explanation of why. Occasionally, we get that extra piece of information. At New Zealand "William Bayly was able to set up his observatory on the same spot he had used on his previous visit. Bayly hardly needed to check the longitude, it had been measured from this point many times before but he did want to know the error in the ship's chronometer". Amongst the many islands of Tonga "It was usually the smaller ship, the Discovery, which led the way, this was not because she was more expendable of the two but because she was better than the Resolution at clawing off a lee shore and she could also sail in shallower water."
At one point along the Alaskan coast "The Resolution had sprung a leak in her buttocks - this was the name given to the stern of the ship adjacent to the rudder.4 " A helpful explanation. But what a pity there is no explanation for the ship's cheeks, which appear only six pages earlier.
Aughton tackles the thorny issue of how the Hawaiians regarded Cook head on. "The Hawaiians had decided that Captain Cook was a god who had arrived from another world to visit them. Cook made no objections. He played his part as the god Erono whilst his men obtained the supplies they needed." Aughton is very sure of himself over Cook's death as well, despite the several and conflicting accounts. He quotes from David Samwell and then says, "The account of cook's death is close to the truth. Captain Cook was close to the lava edge waving the boats to come in to assist when he was hit from behind with the club. He staggered forward. Then he was stabbed in the neck with an iron dagger made in his own forge. He fell face down in the water."
The book is enhanced with an index, something that is missing too often these days. It must be difficult to produce, so we can forgive the occasional slip. Snug Cove appears (pages 115 and 116) but Cook Inlet does not (page 119).
There are no deep insights in this book nor in the ones of the other voyages. But they make a good set, with more information in them than in most biographies.
Reviewer: Ian Boreham
References
- Endeavour: the story of Captain Cook's first great epic voyage. 1999. Reviewed in Cook's Log, page 1694, vol. 23, no. 1 (2000).
- Resolution: Captain Cook's Second Voyage of Discovery. 2004. Reviewed in Cook's Log, page 29, vol. 27, no. 2 (2004).
- See Cook's Log, page 1815, vol. 24, no. 1 (2001).
- See Cook's Log, page 24, vol. 26, no. 2 (2003).
Originally published in Cook's Log, page 26, volume 29, number 1 (2006).
By Glyndwr Williams and published in the Variorum Collected Studies Series by Ashgate Publishing Limited in 2005 (ISBN 0 860 78 967 5).
I have had the pleasure of meeting Glyn Williams a couple of times through the Captain Cook Society and he strikes me as one of those people I am always in awe of - quiet, but once you start talking to them they will always amaze you with their knowledge and intellect. Glyn has long been established as a world authority on the history of European exploration and culture contact, concentrating particularly on the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. Not only is he an authority, he is also a prolific writer. The trouble with prolific writers is that they tend to write a lot of articles in obscure or hard to get hold of journals, so that only a few people benefit from their knowledge. This book goes some way, perhaps, in addressing this, reprinting as it does some of Glyn's articles.
This book is part of a series from Ashgate entitled the Variorum Collected Studies series. The purpose of this series is to bring together a selection of articles by a leading authority on a particular subject. For those of you who are interested in such things, they are printed on acid-free paper and are cloth bound for durability in library use. And I feel it will be libraries and the really dedicated who will buy this book as it is pricey. It is difficult to see it as value for money; I would much rather try and get the articles myself.
The book looks at British incursions in the Pacific and how this transformed Europe's knowledge of that great ocean. With a short introduction, there are seventeen articles, a number of which are concerned with Captain James Cook, but also enough on other subjects to give you a feel for the subject as a whole. My knowledge of Cook is sufficiently limited for me not to have spotted if there are any mistakes in the book - and there are plenty of footnotes and endnotes should you wish to explore anything further.
My main problem with this book is the style it is presented in. Let me hand over to the publisher to explain: "The articles in this volume, as in all others in the Variorum Collected Studies Series, have not been given a new, continuous pagination. In order to avoid confusion, and to facilitate their use where these same studies have been referred to elsewhere, the original pagination has been maintained wherever possible. Each article has been given a Roman number in order of appearance, as listed in the Contents. This number is repeated on each page and is quoted in the index entries."
I found this approach far too confusing, particularly when trying to look up something in the index. Yes, I can see it would be useful to a student who is coming to an article from another source, but not to the general reader, which makes me wonder who this book is aimed at. Another feature I found annoying was the fact that the articles are reprinted using their original font - this means there are seventeen articles that all look different. This might not matter to everyone but to my mind it doesn't look professional - and some of the older fonts are not that nice to look at!
I applaud Ashgate for trying to bring some fascinating articles to a wider audience, but I ended up feeling the book was definitely pitched towards the serious academic or university student, not someone like me who just wants to read more by Glyn Williams. Having said that, I did thoroughly enjoy the articles.
Reviewer: Ruth Boreham
Originally published in Cook's Log, page 27, volume 29, number 1 (2006).
By Brian W. Richardson, published by UBC Press in 2005 (ISBN 0-7748-1189-7).
I was defeated by this book. I don't understand why it was written nor what it was saying. It worried me until I reached page 120 where I read "Readers may wonder whether Cook's questions were understood clearly by people who were not thinking in his categories." Perhaps I didn't understand Richardson's questions. Perhaps I wasn't thinking in his categories.
The opening piece had got me off to a good start. "We have all met Captain James Cook. Portraits, statues, coins, and stamps have offered his likeness for over two hundred years. But we do not simply look at him. The impact of his three voyages into the Pacific, both as a series of events and as published documents, has been much more profound - it is through him, through the ideal that his voyages represent, that we understand how to look with him at the world." As a Cook enthusiast I warmed to this approach.
Misgivings arose when I read in the next paragraph that Nathaniel Dance's portrait of Cook, painted in 1776, includes his hat that "rests on a bound book - one of the printed volumes of Cook's second voyage", which is impossible as the volumes weren't published until the following year. The book is more likely to have been Cook's manuscript journal of the Second Voyage.
I liked it when Richardson said "the printed accounts of his voyages also became the ideal representation of scientific exploration literature. More than with any other voyage, Cook's travels and writings represented how an explorer ought to give an account of the world", but reached for my dictionary when he continued "while the voyages contain descriptions of distant places, they also discuss the practical and epistemological conditions under which certain kinds of descriptions are considered to be accurate and complete."
Part way through the Introduction, and still wondering the purpose of the book, I read "The voyages and books were the intentional products of a book culture", which hadn't occurred to me before, and I'm not convinced is so. Towards the end of the sixteen-page Introduction I was no clearer when I read "Cook was a character, the narrator in fact, in a story… The focus here will be to determine how the voyages, as printed texts written in first person, with Cook as the main character, imagine the world". It hadn't occurred to me that the voyages imagined the world. I'm not convinced they do. Nor do I agree that "Cook encourages his readers to see the world through his eyes. At the very least, we become his confidants."
Then a ghastly error, "One of the anonymous books describing the second voyage, attributed to John Rickman". What? John Rickman sailed on the Third Voyage! From now on, I'm reading this book with an eye out for more mistakes, and this one is repeated throughout the book. We also get "Cook's second voyage… began in the same way that European voyages had begun for centuries. The Discovery and Adventure". What? The Discovery sailed on the Third Voyage! This mistake is also repeated.
By the end of the Introduction, I'm worried. I turned to a review by CCS member Paula Gustafson who wrote "I'm guessing the manuscript for this book originated as his PhD thesis." I quick look on the Internet found such a thesis "Richardson, Brian W. From longitude to empire: the articulations of place in the voyages of Captain Cook. Ph.D. diss., University of Hawai‘i at Mänoa, May 2001. (Political Science)." Now I understand. Academic words and concepts will appear in this book, or ordinary words used with a different, academic, meaning. Better continue and look for the positive. Which isn't difficult to find.
The endnotes for the Introduction include "A detailed historical reconstruction of the impact of the published accounts of Cook's voyages remains to be written… A concern for the historical reception of Cook's voyages. However, has been almost completely marginalized by the reception of J.C. Beaglehole's edition of Cook's voyages, which has placed so much emphasis on the manuscripts that is has led people away from a concern for the history of the books, the reprints, the reworkings, and so on."
And here is another problem I have with Richardson's comments. He uses the 1821 Admiralty edition of the Three Voyages, which are edited versions of Cook's journals (by Hawkesworth, Douglas and King, and partly also Cook), and keeps referring to the words as if they had been written by Cook. It's shorthand, I know, but it grates with me. Sometimes, Richardson compares the manuscript and published versions to good effect. "Whereas the manuscript describes Cook's relationship with the natives as if they were equals, and relies instead on Cook's reputation, the Admiralty's reworking describes a legal and authoritarian relation where Cook is the focus of the exchange. While the peaceful relations involved gifts in both accounts, the Admiralty's account also includes threats of the natives behaved improperly". And he points out how "in the versions of Cook's voyages edited by John Barrow [1903 and 1925] the division between Europeans and non-Europeans is reworked… There is very little dialogue, and the non-Europeans are almost irrelevant to the success of the voyages. Tupia, who sailed in the Endeavour… is barely described. This is significant; Tupia played an important role".
I was impressed with the explanation of "the two primary methods for determining longitude… based on information provided by timepieces or by astronomical observation." And it isn't often that someone explains, "Among its other accomplishments, Cook's second voyage was a test of both of these techniques." Thus "it became possible to determine location sporadically, without needing any knowledge of where the ship had been the day before, what direction it had travelled in, or how far." The confusing, to me, words took over. "Cook's world became a world of points connected back to the coordinate grid rather than to the coasts of continents. The difference here is crucial. Not only can Cook move round the world in a different way, he can also narrate the location of places differently". I feel I should understand. The words are familiar, but the usage is not. "To navigators who were primarily interested in coasting, the division between land and sea was also the division between knowledge and confusion, or between geographical civilization and geographical savagery."
"The narrative of the [second] voyage emphasizes Cook's existence at the edge of the world… The ice fields do not simply represent a wall beyond which further navigation is impossible; they represent the limits of human existence and representation as such. At the edge of the world words fail, and only the best painting can hope to convey an appropriate image to people who have not been there."
"For Cook, the undifferentiated, pointless space was interesting. Every point on the grid was interesting, at least the first time. In his three voyages, Cook is not only looking for land but also for ocean, and accounting for empty places in the open ocean is a key element of his success. Of course, Cook is worried about the narrative possibilities of the open ocean." Is he? Worried about the unseen dangers, perhaps. But the narrative possibilities?
The book is packed full of information. "Whether one looks at the Admiralty's edition of the voyages or Cook's manuscript journal, the people who are encountered are referred to as ‘Indians'… At some stage in the production of the account of the second voyage, however, the terms change. In the manuscript journals from the second and third voyages, cook still uses ‘Indian' throughout. In the version published by the Admiralty, however, ‘Indian' has almost always been changed to terms such as ‘inhabitant' and ‘native'."
Richardson considers how Cook described the nations he came across. "It was not enough to collect whatever information came to hand - it was also important to pay attention to where and from whom the information is collected… The enquiry involved a variety of different considerations of the island, from viewing behaviour, to collecting artefacts, to testing reactions, to asking questions. Cook's voyages are epistemological as well as navigational narratives… The goal of the voyages, then, was not only to create a complete description of the places and the peoples, but also to show how such descriptions should be produced. As a result, Cook's voyages have often been placed at the beginning of modern European anthropological discourse, as one of the first and one of the best of the early accounts of the South Pacific."
Cook, writes Richardson, "is a geographical Linnaeus." What a wonderful observation. "Separate places acquire the status of separate species: here is a place, here are its characteristics, and here is how its parts function as a whole. Thus customs, people, weather, geology, flora, and fauna are all parts of a single entity, both static and changeable."
Turning to collections, Richardson notes "people no longer travel to places in order to study the world; they travel within the collection." Collectors "accumulated artefacts from Cook's voyages without regard to location or nationality. They were interested in primitive artefacts, which meant artefacts that were not from either Europe or the Orient, and Cook's voyages probably made those sorts of artefacts less expensive than they had ever been before.
According to Richardson "Cook claims that the New Zealanders are superior to the Spaniards, a nation that Cook has little good to say of in any event… Throughout the voyages, the key European groups that are either equivalent or below the natives of the South Pacific are the Spaniards and the lower classes of England… Cook may be from northern England, and he may be from the agricultural working class, but his ideals are the ideals of the Admiralty, the Royal Society, and the landed aristocracy of southern England." What? No, I don't think so.
In a chapter on empires Richardson writes "While Cook's personal responsibility for later political developments varies from one commentator to another, some connection between Cook's voyages and the English empire is widely accepted… To equate Cook's voyages so quickly with empire ignores the fact that the concept of empire also has a history. Up until the late eighteenth century, the concept of empire was relatively general, being more or less equivalent to political control or domination."
Richardson's Conclusions take only three pages, but they didn't make any more sense to me than his Introduction. For example, "In Cook's voyages, the articulations of place weave together knowledge and power, not only creating new instances of both, but also changing the way that knowledge and power are organized." And I find it impossible to believe that "Before [Cook's] voyages, the world was uncertain and dangerous; after them, it was clear and safe."
A tough book for me to read. A difficult book to fathom. But some interesting points to discover. Cook's characteristics are sometimes summarised by the names of his ships: Endeavour, Resolution, Adventure and Discovery. Richardson's book can be summarised by some of the sub-headings within the chapters: Dangers of relativism, Persistence of extreme otherness, Transcendence of the collector and Empire as a panopticon. Back to the dictionary for me!
Reviewer: Ian Boreham
Originally published in Cook's Log, page 28, volume 29, number 1 (2006).
By Trevor Lummis and published by Sutton Publishing in 2005 (ISBN 0-7509-3893-5).
The foreword reads "Even today Tahiti and Hawaii have remained fixed as ‘Paradise Islands' in the popular and the artistic imagination. When they were discovered by Europeans - Tahiti in 1767 and Hawaii in 1776 - the image of paradise must have been even stronger. The indigenous societies enjoyed free and open sexuality, easy living and an abundance of leisure, in stark contrast to Europe. Yet, within a lifetime, all this was destroyed." Trevor Lummis tells the powerful and moving story of the discovery of the islands and the lasting impact this had on both Polynesia and Europe. I was hooked.
The opening chapters deal with the discovery of Tahiti by Wallis, the history of the Polynesian Pacific and the visit by Cook for the Transit of Venus of 1769. I found much of the information about Cook's first visit accurate and known to me. I can forgive the odd minor slip.
Lummis makes the comment Cook had given no sign of being religious as he rarely held services on his ships and would not have priests on board. This comment is at odds with my personal view of Cook. He came from a respected family and worshipped at All Saints in Great Ayton. He was apprenticed to a Quaker ship owner who would have treated their charges with respect and taught and expected high standards of moral behaviour. It was here that Cook's character was forged. He married a respectable lady of some standing and I have never read anything to suggest he did anything he would have been ashamed of as a loving family man.
I love to learn new information and Lummis did not disappoint. I now know the nails used for barter cost 3s 4d per 100 and were 4½" long. Philibert Commerson, a medical doctor and naturalist who had served with Bougainville as the botanist aboard La Boudeuse suffered an embarrassment on Tahiti. He had a young assistant who had robustly performed his manly duties throughout the voyage. The moment he stepped ashore however the Tahitians immediately identified him as a woman. The assistant, Jeanne Baré had in fact shared Commerson's cabin as his valet and he made the unbelievable claim he was unaware of the deception. She is thus the first European woman known to have sailed around the world. She was described as being 26 years old and neither pretty or ugly. She stayed with Commerson as his companion and assistant until his death on the island of Mauritius in March 1773 after which she retired to France.
Lummis is described as the author of a number of books on maritime and social history, most recently Life and Death in Eden: Pitcairn Island and the Bounty Mutineers. A former seaman who returned to education as a mature student, he was a senior research officer at the University of Essex, where he specialised in social and oral history. He now lives in France.
He does seem to have done his research homework well! In the following chapters he recounts the history of the two Islands up to the time they become part of the modern world. Tahiti as a French Protectorate and Hawaii as an American state. Their contrasting fortunes are clearly recounted. The impact of sailors bringing European diseases for which the Polynesians had no resistance is clearly documented as is the role of the missionaries who deepened internal dissent. The journals of the missionaries on Tahiti are quoted as an invaluable quarry of historical information on culture and history even if reflecting their own biases. The arrival of large numbers of visitors had a profound effect on the fragile infrastructure of the islands that were self sufficient and had to cope with extra demand for scarce food resources.
Lummis states human activities can degrade any environment. These activities took place long after Cook had left their shores. The consequences and blame can not be laid at Cook's door!
Overall I found the book informative, well structured and it contains a good insight into the dramatic changes which followed the first visits by the Europeans. A good read from start to finish. My last word is that I found it an essential addition to any library.
Reviewer: Chris Neumann
Originally published in Cook's Log, page 43, volume 29, number 2 (2006).
By Steven Hooper and published in 2006 by The British Museum Press (ISBN 0-7141-2575-X) and Ta Papa Press, (ISBN 1-877385-20-4).
The Pacific Encounters exhibition at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, University of East Anglia, Norwich [see Cook's Log, page 17, vol. 29, no. 2 (2006)] is a triumph. Go and see it. If you do, you will want to buy this catalogue. If you can't get there you NEED to buy this catalogue.
Although, as the dates in the title suggest, the artefacts covered are not only from those collected by Cook and his crews, our hero is mentioned often enough in the 288 pages that you might believe so. Produced in full colour this sizeable publication is worthy to sit alongside the Joppien and Smith volumes on the art of Cook's voyages and will be a valuable accessory to understanding the vibrancy and complexity of the cultures encountered by the first European explorers to the Pacific.
Starting with a very useful timeline showing the early settlement of Polynesia and then the main European voyages, from Magellan in 1519-22 up to William Wiseman in 1865, we see a most engaging account of Polynesian history and an explanation of how and why the various artificial curiosities were collected. This is not presented in a purely Eurocentric way. Some of the items had a religious or ceremonial purpose, as we know, and explanations of how they fitted into the various island societies are provided. But Steven goes further than this. He reminds us that the Polynesians were collectors too:
It was of course not only Europeans who were interested in exotic objects. Polynesians were selectively interested in what Europeans had to offer; exotic items of metal or cloth and things which they could incorporate into their own schemes of value.and that:
In addition, the great majority of things here were made for sale, or the local equivalent - exchange. They were commissioned, offered and presented before being used for other purposes. Objects such as the Austral Islands' drums or Fiji/Tonga breastplates were in many cases made for export, because their value and effectiveness was intimately connected to their transactability.This "export" of goods was happening between islands and island groups long before the Europeans arrived.
We also get an insight as to how present day Polynesians are re-discovering their heritage through the objects collected by Cook et al.
There is one point that confuses me however. Steven states: "The (European) ship's captains, costumed in ‘sacred' red, will have appeared as powerful chiefs…." Whilst we know of the Polynesians preference for red cloth and feathers from Cook's journals, I am not aware of any ship's captains, whether British, French or Spanish that had red uniforms. Our marines wore red, of course, but there is no indication that they were considered as, or more, powerful than Cook. But this is a minor quibble and doesn't detract from a most interesting read.
The catalogue of objects obviously takes up the majority of the book, with 268 items beautifully photographed and presented in full colour. They are split into nine "chapters" representing the various islands, such as Easter Island, or the recognised island clusters, like "The Cook Islands". Each chapter starts with a map and brief history of that area. Each object is fully annotated (as one would expect of a work of this depth) and the provenance given. If there is a problem with the provenance this is clearly stated. Where there has been no firm point of origin, the methodology used to place the item is given.
There is still work to be done on many other objects from Polynesia lying in museums and collections around the world - proving provenance and purpose - but for now and many years to come, Steven Hooper's work will be a major source of help and reference. In my own limited knowledge only Kaeppler's work comes close.
I was bowled over by the exhibition and equally so by this catalogue. I can do no better than echo a paragraph on the rear cover: Pacific Encounters is a groundbreaking book that conveys the wonder and excitement not only of the objects themselves, but of the fascinating Polynesian cultures that produced them.
Reviewer: Steve Ragnall
Originally published in Cook's Log, page 32, volume 29, number 3 (2006).
By Cliff Thornton and published in 2006 by Tempus Publishing Ltd. (ISBN 0-7524-3995-2).
Most biographies skim over Cook's early life: his birth in Marton, schoolchild in Great Ayton, shop assistant in Staithes and learning the ropes on colliers from Whitby. The information about this period may have been sparse in the past, but there is surprisingly more known about his time in Cleveland / North Yorkshire than many people realise.
Cliff Thornton created a worthy booklet of 55 pages and published it in 1978 with the subtitle "A study of his early years". Twenty-eight years on the information he pulled together seems just as ignored by today's biographers, and this expanded edition of 96 pages is a welcome addition to our knowledge of Cook's later life. Interestingly it has lost its subtitle along the way, and isn't called a second edition, though that is what it is.
The book starts with an explanation of the geographical area known as Cleveland, and what little is known about Captain Cook's parents (James and Grace) and paternal grandparents (John and Jean). The chapter on Marton describes how the family lived in two different cottages in the village, and not just the one marked by the granite vase near the present Captain Cook Birthplace Museum. It introduces us to the first of eight drawings by the artist George Cuit1 who was commissioned "to draw various sites in Cleveland associated with Captain Cook's early life". All eight drawings are reproduced in this book, possibly for the first time. The history of the area and the fans of Cook who lived there are explored, including the archaeological investigations in 19972 and 2003.
How and why the 42-year old James Cook moved to Great Ayton with his wife and four children is explored in the next chapter. The births and deaths of more children are noted and the reasons for young James being sent to school are explored. However there is disappointingly little about Michael Postgate and nothing about how the well-known shape of Roseberry Topping would not have been familiar to the Cooks, having been the result of subsidence in 1912 attributed to local mining.
James Cook moved to Staithes when he was sixteen, to work in a shop. Two intriguing questions arise: "surely there were opportunities for him that were closer to home; if not in Ayton then in the towns of Stokesley or Guisborough? How could his father have secured him in a position at Staithes when his only business contacts were of an agricultural nature?" After posing these questions the book covers the varying answers that have been given over the years and the evidence of contemporary documents. An approach used to great effect throughout the book. The "shopkeeper"` Sanderson turns out to be much more important3, and the tale of the South Sea Shilling effectively demolished.
Cook's life aboard the ships of John Walker after his move to Whitby is taken in part from the muster rolls and also from contemporary descriptions of collier life. Recent research about the sale and discharge of coal in London is included to give an appreciation of what a hard life it must have been. You also get to realise that Cook sailed to many more places than just London, and the vessels transported more than just coal.
Cook's story in this book does not end with his departure to the Navy, as his visits to Cleveland are recorded as well as the sketchy and misleading information about the cottage built by his father in Great Ayton that was subsequently sold and moved to Melbourne. The George Cuit drawings are particularly helpful in determining where in Redcar Captain Cook's father moved.
One of the extra chapters in this edition deals with the visits of Alexander Dalrymple, Joseph Banks and Omai to Cleveland. Another chapter describes the monuments in Cleveland, and how they came to be erected, and a third gives the history of several collections of Cook memorabilia formed by people living in Cleveland, such as Bolckow and Corner, though they have subsequently left the area.
The bibliography has been expanded, though curiously an error in the first edition has been retained: the list is alphabetical but Brown still comes after Crowhurst, and now also comes after Firth. Among the additions are seven references to articles that appeared in Cook's Log. There are additional family trees given for the Fleck and Skottowe families.
The inclusion of a very welcome index marks the expansion of the original booklet into a pocket-sized book. The information contained in it is of great value to anyone endeavouring to understand how the early life and adventures of James Cook shaped his later discoveries. A resolution to obtain a copy should be made by all who read this review.
Reviewer: Ian Boreham
References
- Cook's Log, page 1448, vol. 20, no. 4 (1997).
- Cook's Log, page 1480, vol. 21, no. 1 (1998).
- Cook's Log, page 1227, vol. 19, no. 1 (1996).
Originally published in Cook's Log, page 39, volume 29, number 4 (2006).
Published in 2006 by The National Museum of Australia (ISBN 1-876944-47-1).
This book of just over 100 pages, each slightly larger than A4 in size, was produced as a catalogue to accompany the Cook-Forster Exhibition held from July 1 to September 10 at The National Museum of Australia, Canberra [see Cook's Log, page 41, vol. 29, no. 3 (2006)].
It is an excellent book, being extremely well produced with clear sharp coloured illustrations on almost every page, an easily read font, some interesting essays and a wealth of information about a large number of the exhibition items and at its price great value for money. While it has numerous references to primary sources, which could interest researchers, it should be remembered that the book is intended to be bought by those with an interest in our friend Captain Cook.
The three essays, each of about 12 pages, cover Cook's voyages to the Pacific (by Michelle Hetherington, a curator of the National Museum of Australia), the history of Göttingen Cook-Forster collection (by Brigitta Hauser-Schaublin, Curator of the collection) and what I thought was a very stimulating essay Collecting from Collectors: Pacific Islanders and the spoils of Europe (by Jennifer Newell, a curator at the British Museum). She writes that the Islanders were both collectors and traders and, as result, it was much easier for Cook to acquire not just collectible items but supplies as well.
Enlightenment Europeans visiting Pacific Islands were quintessential collectors, with a legendary passion for gathering material evidence and souvenirs of their travels. What is not so often recognised is the equal enthusiasm for collecting among the people the Europeans were visiting… The passion to acquire exotic objects was therefore mutual.In New Zealand, where I live, we are frequently reminded that land was bought by Europeans in exchange for blankets and glass beads. That has led to a belief that the early Europeans "ripped Maori off" or, in other words, got the land for less than what it was worth, particularly when we look at the value of land today. The point is made that a used bed sheet to us today and probably in Cook's time was worthless but to a Tahitian when made into a formal garment it was the height of fashion. How many other women would have even seen this new fabric let alone owned a dress made from it?
There were practical advantages to possessing these new objects and materials. Iron nails provided finer, more resilient points for carving, drilling and tipping fishhooks than coral, stone or wood.
The writer comments on situations where this was not true, as in Vanuatu.
I was disappointed that no reference was made in the book to the fact that the indigenous people of Australia seemed to show no interest in Cook at all, and at no time tried to learn from him and his ship. It has always interested me that at times the locals seem to act as if the Endeavour just was not there. The Maori on the other hand seemed to be eager to learn what they could from Cook and his ship. I appreciate that the aboriginals are a nomadic people, but Cook did see some canoes, though he thought badly made. So at least some people went out to sea. Also, interestingly, there are no exhibits in the Cook-Forster collection from Australia.
In the book's introduction reference is made to the fact that Cook visited Australia only once and for only about 20 weeks out of some eight years of exploring. Yet Cook is still regarded as a hero in that country; I think less so than in New Zealand, where Cook is usually mentioned in newspapers several times a year.
For me a highlight of the book was that it is profusely illustrated in clear, sharp coloured images. There are something like 390 items in the exhibition nearly all of which are illustrated. Fifty items which the organisers describe at Collection Highlights are each given a full page of which the bulk is taken up with a coloured photo of the exhibit; then a short brief detailed catalogue description of the item; and then in most cases an interesting description about the item such as what it was used for, where it was found and what it is made from. Almost all of the other exhibits are illustrated by small images (about 2cm x 2cm) accompanied by a catalogue description of the item.
This book is worth buying. I shall enjoy reading and looking through it for many years. I am just disappointed that the exhibition will not be coming to New Zealand.
Reviewer: Norman Wansbrough
Originally published in Cook's Log, page 40, volume 29, number 4 (2006).
By Jean-Paul Kauffmann and published in 2000 by Four Walls Eight Windows (ISBN 1-56858-168-8).
O.K. I'll admit it - for a number of years I have harboured a secret fascination with "The Islands of Desolation" as Captain Cook named them, or The Kerguel-ens, as they are known today.
O.K., O.K. - you are right - I was not fascinated by all of the islands, just that one small part that Cook visited during Christmas 1776, which he aptly named "Christmas Harbour". Why such a fascination? Well, it is the history of the "harbour" and its many visitors over the years, as well as the unique geological structure that stands at the southern point of the mouth of the inlet - the arch of Kerguelen. So I was delighted when I encountered this book, which I assumed from its title, was devoted to the topic.
The book is a translation of Kauffmann's account of his visit to Kerguelen in about 1990. He acquits himself well, giving vivid accounts of his adventures, and setting scenes against the backcloth of previous events in the history of the island. His book is littered with a range of historic and literary references, ranging from Kerguelen himself in 1772, to a novel by Alan Sillitoe in 1983. Kauffmann saves his visit to Christmas Harbour for the last chapter, building up the suspense of his "pilgrimage" to the Arch of Kerguelen.
And then, on the 199th and final page of the book, Kauffmann pulls the rug out from under the reader's feet with an almost casual remark that his trip to Christmas Harbour was cancelled due to bad weather!!! The author neither rants nor raves at this circumstance, which is more than can be said for this reviewer.
SO - if you are fascinated at the prospect of seeing Christmas Harbour through another's eyes, then don't buy this book. But if you want an entertaining history of the island of Kerguelen, as it appears in both fact and fiction, then this is a good read.
Reviewer: Cliff Thornton
P.S. The Arch of Kerguelen is no more, it collapsed about 1910 leaving two giant pillars.
Originally published in Cook's Log, page 41, volume 29, number 4 (2006).
By Martin Davies and published in 2005 by Hodder and Stoughton (ISBN 0-340-92053-X).
Joseph Banks does not appear in many works of fiction, but he is the main historical character in this book. His botanic and zoological exploits on the Endeavour are not the focus of attention, nor are his later scientific, business and diplomatic work, for which he is most well known. No, it is his private life, indeed his love life, that is developed here.
However, this book is not a work historical fiction but of modern academics and collectors searching for "the Mysterious Bird of Ulietea". Not so much a detective story, but of detection. What happened to the specimen brought back? Who passed it to whom? Does it still exist? If so, who has it now, and who will be the first to find it?
All interwoven with Banks's love live at Revesby in Lincolnshire and at London from 1768 to 1774.
James Cook hardly gets a mention. Johann and George Forster get a bit. There are no quotes from the journals. It is an enjoyable, fascinating and, at times, thrilling work of fiction, with twists and turns and unexpected plot development. Davies has based the book on actual events, and researched them well, as can be seen by his list of acknowledgements that includes Averil Lysaght, who studied many bird paintings owned by Banks1, and Mark Seaward "for his wonderful knowledge of Lincolnshire lichens".
The book is aimed at the general public, but some knowledge of the 18th century figures may help you enjoy it more. Though at the same time it might find you reaching for another book to check the events actually took place. Did Cook, for example, really persuade "Joseph Banks to return to Revesby before they sailed" in 1768? Or was he, as Carter puts it "resolving the problems of estate management with Benjamin Stephenson that would arise in his absence"2?
I found I wanted to know more about some of the events and people too briefly mentioned. Neither Johann nor George Forster mentioned the discovery of the bird on the island of Raiatea in June 1774. Given the name Turdus badius by them the bird was first described by Johann in his unpublished work "Desciptiones animalium". John Latham (1740-1837), an English physician and naturalist described the bird in "A General Synopsis of Birds", three volumes published 1781-1801, giving it the name of Bay Thrush. Johann Friedrich Gmelin (1748-1804) a German naturalist, botanist and entomologist listed it in his 1789 edition of Linnaeus's "Systema Naturae" with the binomial name of Aplonis ulietensis.
Davies has the main character in the book use "an ageing biography of Banks by a man called Havelock". I've been unable to find this book. It is not mentioned in Carter's definitive bibliography3. He also refers to a painting at the National Portrait Gallery, London of Banks "as a young man recently returned from his great voyage. He is seated in his study and there are papers on his desk", but fails to identify the painter. It is Joshua Reynolds, for whom Banks sat from 1771-1773.
There are no illustrations in the book, not even of the bird in question. So for everyone one who, like me, wonders what George Forster's painting looks like and doesn't want to go to the Natural History Museum in London, I'm pleased to publish a copy here, possibly the first time it has appeared in print.
Reviewer: Ian Boreham
References
- Lysaght, Averil, "Some Eighteenth Century Bird Paintings in the Library of Sir Joseph Banks (1743-1820)". British Museum, 1959.
- Carter, Harold B., "Sir Joseph Banks, 1743 - 1820". British Museum (Natural History), 1988.
- Carter, Harold B., "Sir Joseph Banks, 1743 - 1820: A guide to biographical and bibliographical sources". St Paul's Bibliographies, 1987.
Originally published in Cook's Log, page 42, volume 29, number 4 (2006).
By Professor Barry Floyd and published in 2006 by V.M. Setia Marketing (ISBN 983-43224-0-2).
An unusual and, for me at least, an interesting book on an historical and philatelic review of Captain James Cook. The particular interests of Cook enthusiasts throughout the world vary widely but philately must be high on the list. This is borne out by the amount of philatelic related material on sale at the auctions held by the Captain Cook Society. To combine an historical and philatelic review into one book and at the same time making it interesting to read is challenging given the extensive amount of relevant material available on Cook.
The author, by his own admission, has been a lifelong devotee of stamp collecting and has previously written numerous articles on thematic subjects. He has a special interest in historical personalities featured on stamps. Hence this book on Captain James Cook.
The book is primarily aimed at the general reader and amateur stamp collector rather than the specialist. Of the 500 plus stamps that have been issued by more than 80 countries the author has chosen the stamps that appeal to him as well as having been issued by countries visited by Cook. The stamps illustrated in the book are all in colour, very appealing to the eye and have been reproduced to a very high quality, thus becoming miniature pictures or portraits.
The author first became greatly interested in Cook later on in his life after a visit to the "Big Island" of Hawaii where his youngest son lives. After purchasing an album of Pacific stamps honouring Captain Cook he became "hooked on Cook". He has also visited many countries in the Pacific that lay claim to a landing by Cook. As a result, he has visited many of the places mentioned and illustrated in this book and writes knowledgeably of them.
The foreword is written by the CCS President Cliff Thornton, and both Alwyn Peel and Ian Boreham get special mention for their advice. This is a fitting tribute to our Society which itself gets a special mention in the author's hope of attracting new members to it. A worthy goal.
Following an interesting introduction the book is divided into five parts. Each part has two sections, the first section containing a concise illustrated historical narrative whilst the second contains illustrations of relevant stamps.
The book begins with a short history of Cook's life prior to the First Voyage in Endeavour. There are few stamps commemorating this period so most of the philatelic images are of Cook. An outline map of place names in the Pacific is helpful for those readers unfamiliar with the geography of the area. The three voyages of exploration take up the majority of the book with a somewhat abrupt end after Cook's death on Hawaii. There are many pictorial and philatelic illustrations and a useful outline map of each voyage. There are some brief concluding thoughts from the author and some contemporary reassessments of the life of Cook and the contributions he made to global exploration in the eighteenth century.
Three appendices follow with the first appendix wandering off the subject of Cook himself. This section details contributions to global discoveries and takes its facts mainly from a fairly recent book "1421 The Year China Discovered the World" by Gavin Menzies. It is claimed that Chinese ships explored large areas of the globe some three centuries before Cook's voyages and met with greater success in locating new lands than James Cook was able to record. As in keeping with the rest of the book this appendix also contains several philatelic illustrations. I am not sure if this section fits comfortably into the overall objective of the book but it does provide food for thought and a source for further study in early global exploration. The book concludes with a comprehensive list of selected references for further reading.
As a non philatelist, I found the book interesting to read. It is very attractively produced and profusely illustrated, mostly in colour, to a high standard. It is aimed for the general reader with a philatelic bias and would be of less interest to the serious Cook historian and philatelic collector.
Reviewer: Jeff Thomas
Originally published in Cook's Log, page 43, volume 30, number 1 (2007).