The Wide Wide Sea

On July 12th, 1776, Captain James Cook, already lionized as the greatest explorer in British history, set off on his third voyage in HMS Resolution. Two-and-a-half years later, on a beach in Hawaii, Cook was killed – beaten and stabbed in a conflict with the indigenous population.

What brought Cook to these final moments, so at odds with his reputation? Renowned for his humane leadership, dedication to science and the curiosity and respect, not judgement, with which he greeted societies that were new to him, Cook had already mapped huge swathes of the Pacific and initiated first European contact with numerous native peoples.

The stated mission for his third voyage was to return a Tahitian man, Mai, who had become the toast of London high society, to his home islands. But Cook carried secret orders to venture north, to discover the fabled Northwest Passage and chart and claim lands before Britain’s imperial rivals. And Cook himself was different on his final, fatal voyage.

The great navigator became mercurial, resorting to the lash to enforce discipline on board, leading his ships into danger time and again, and meting out savage punishments against native peoples for perceived wrongs. Whatever was driving Cook, his mission revealed itself to be the sharp edge of a colonial sword that brought catastrophe to the people in its path. And, after returning from the Arctic to the shores of Hawaii, Cook’s expedition finally tore itself apart …