Another successful meeting of the West Coast off­shoot of the Captain Cook Society!  Zoom has been an amazing way to bring our members together from all over the world at a time that is not in the middle of the night for anyone.  As much as we miss getting together in person as we did before “Covid times”, our attendance is much greater than it was before due to it being easy for many people to attend.  We also have been very lucky to have amazing speakers giving fascinating presentations about aspects of history relating to Captain Cook.  Our meeting on March 3 did not fail to keep everyone’s interest and help them experience some “aha moments”. 

David Nicandri is an author and historian who is launching his most recent book entitled “Discover­ing Nothing: In Pursuit of an Elusive Northwest Passage”.  He describes it as “an attempt to tell the Cook story from a North American perspective”.  His presentation moved from one map to another—about 13 in all.  At least one of the maps had never before been published, a 1794 map of the northwest coast of America and the northeast coast of Asia.  This map is included the book. 

Dave spoke about Cook’s oversights, such as missing the outlet of the Columbia River, and yet Cook had not been tasked with exploring inlets until he got to 65 degrees North.

Later, as the fur trade began to grow, the search for a viable navigation route across the expanse of North America became all-important.  A network of rivers from Montreal through to the Slave Lake held promise—the “Geography of Hope”.  Explorers such as McKenzie, and Lewis & Clark, still had no luck in finding a northwest passage by sea.  Franklin’s Arctic expeditions ended in disaster, but in 1853 McClure was finally able to discover the Northwest Passage.  Eventually (1885), the Canadian Pacific Railroad provided a land route.  The passage that Cook had been looking for may well have been there all along, and now several passageways are known.  Militarization of the north and melting sea ice due to climate change has made this all possible.  The meeting ended with about a one-hour Question and Answer session, with much discussion among the knowledgeable attendees. 

Plans are afoot for an event at Nootka Sound on Vancouver Island in 2028, to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Cook’s landing there.  If you are interested in more information or would like to attend, please contact us.

The next meeting of the West Coast chapter of the Captain Cook Society will take place on Sunday, November 10, 2024, at 12noon PST or 8PM GMT

Maggie and Randy Komar

Originally published in Cook's Log, page 4, volume 47, number 2 (2024).