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The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook

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From New York Times bestselling author Hampton Sides, an epic account of the most momentous voyage of the Age of Exploration, which culminated in Captain James Cook’s death in Hawaii, and left a complex and controversial legacy still debated to this day

On July 12th, 1776, Captain James Cook, already lionized as the greatest explorer in British history, set off on his third voyage in his ship the HMS Resolution . Two-and-a-half years later, on a beach on the island of Hawaii, Cook was killed in a conflict with native Hawaiians. How did Cook, who was unique among captains for his respect for Indigenous peoples and cultures, come to that fatal moment?

Hampton Sides’ bravura account of Cook’s last journey both wrestles with Cook’s legacy and provides a thrilling narrative of the titanic efforts and continual danger that characterized exploration in the 1700s. Cook was renowned for his peerless seamanship, his humane leadership, and his dedication to science-–the famed naturalist Joseph Banks accompanied him on his first voyage, and Cook has been called one of the most important figures of the Age of Enlightenment. He was also deeply interested in the native people he encountered. In fact, his stated mission was to return a Tahitian man, Mai, who had become the toast of London, to his home islands. On previous expeditions, Cook mapped huge swaths of the Pacific, including the east coast of Australia, and initiated first European contact with numerous peoples. He treated his crew well, and endeavored to learn about the societies he encountered with curiosity and without judgment.

Yet something was different on this last voyage. Cook became mercurial, resorting to the lash to enforce discipline, and led his two vessels into danger time and again. Uncharacteristically, he ordered violent retaliation for perceived theft on the part of native peoples. This may have had something to do with his secret orders, which were to chart and claim lands before Britain’s imperial rivals could, and to discover the fabled Northwest Passage. Whatever Cook’s intentions, his scientific efforts were the sharp edge of the colonial sword, and the ultimate effects of first contact were catastrophic for Indigenous people around the world. The tensions between Cook’s overt and covert missions came to a head on the shores of Hawaii. His first landing there was harmonious, but when Cook returned after mapping the coast of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, his exploitative treatment of the Hawaiians led to the fatal encounter.

At once a ferociously-paced story of adventure on the high seas and a searching examination of the complexities and consequences of the Age of Exploration, THE WIDE WIDE SEA is a major work from one of our finest narrative nonfiction writers.

408 pages, Hardcover

First published April 9, 2024

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Hampton Sides

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Profile Image for Matt.
984 reviews29.5k followers
June 14, 2024
“It should have been obvious to [Captain James] Cook and [Molesworth] Phillips that they should retreat to the pinnace immediately. Their lives depended on it. But Cook wouldn’t budge. Perhaps he didn’t want to lose face, didn’t want to appear undignified or cowardly. Perhaps, from all his years spent among the Polynesians, he thought he understood their tides of emotion, their body language, their mentality. Or perhaps, for the first time in his life, he genuinely didn’t have a clue what to do. He had drifted into another world that left him insensible to the dangers pressing in on him. But a warrior broke forward and pulled Cook from his reverie. The man charged at him and raised his pahoa into the air…”
- Hampton Sides, The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook

Like many other historical figures, Captain James Cook has had a complex afterlife. In his day – and for years thereafter – he was honored as a great explorer and “discoverer” of lands unknown to the wider world. As time progressed – and as historians finally began accounting for differing perspectives – Cook’s legacy changed. For example, it has been rightly noted that many of the places Cook “discovered” were inhabited islands that had already been found by the people who lived there. Today, Cook has become a symbol of imperialism, a man who – wittingly or not – sailed at the vanguard of colonialism, and all the exploitation that entailed.

In The Wide Wide Sea, Hampton Sides attempts to place Captain Cook into a more nuanced context, somewhere in between flawless adventurer on the one hand, and deliverer of all evils on the other. He also – it should be added – delivers one hell of a tale.

***

The Wide Wide Sea is not a biography of James Cook. Rather, it focuses on his final voyage, which began in Plymouth, England, in July 1776, and ended – poorly – on Hawaii’s Kona Coast in January 1779. During the interim, Captain Cook visited places as different as Cape Town in Africa, Tahiti in the South Pacific, the western coast of what became the United States, and the Bering Strait. The extremes are pretty remarkable, as Cook’s two ships – the Discovery and Resolution – ping-ponged between tropical paradises and the massive ice flows that blocked the much-sought Northwest Passage.

***

As with all of Sides’s books, The Wide Wide Sea benefits from remarkably deep research that is delivered to the reader in readable, often evocative prose. Sides puts you on the quarterdeck with Cook, and on the sun-drenched isles of the vast Pacific, and in the frigid winds off Alaska. His descriptions of the various locales are worthy of a travelogue. Thanks to the incessant demands of my children to be fed and clothed and entertained by Apple products, I have not traveled in a long, long time. So, this aspect was nice.

Beyond the sights, Sides is a wonderful storyteller, with a keen ability to weave fascinating details into the proceedings without slowing its pace. He knows how to deliver a set piece, especially when it comes to Captain Cook’s furious final acts.

That said, this is not a pure narrative. To the contrary, Sides often cuts away for side-discussions about various topics. For example, he spends a couple pages describing the K1 sea clock, which allowed seafarers to determine their longitude with accuracy. At another point, he touches on the ancient Polynesian navigators who managed to reach Hawaii around the year 300, centuries before the invention of global positioning systems or even – for that matter – the K1 clock.

On occasion, Sides also pauses his forward momentum to weigh bits of evidence, and even to referee a fight between two warring anthropologists engaging in one of the vicious nothing-fights that fuels academia. Somehow, he does all this seamlessly.

***

In an “Author’s Note,” Sides promises at the outset to provide a fuller picture of Cook’s expedition, one that moves beyond the observations, declarations, and issue-framing of the white European sailors. This is a promise that Sides fulfills as best he can, given the obvious limitation in documentary evidence.

Whenever Cook drops anchor, Sides is quick to describe the place he landed, and the men and women who were already there. This includes the Palawa of Tasmania, the Māori of New Zealand, and the Tahitians of Tahiti. When necessary, he adjusts or corrects the European version of events by relying on anthropological evidence and oral histories.

Perhaps the most fascinating thing Sides does is to intercut Captain Cook’s arc with that of Mai, a man from the volcanic island of Raiatea. Mai traveled to England, garnered fame, fortune, and mistresses, and then attempted to return home, with unfortunate results. Mai’s journey is every bit as memorable, powerful, and tragic as that of Cook’s, and is a resonant illustration of the possibilities and pitfalls that accompany the meeting of distinct cultures.

***

Unsurprisingly, Captain Cook is the central character of The Wide Wide Sea. Though this is not a traditional biography, Sides does his usual skillful work divining his character. The Cook on these pages has lost a bit of his edge, and perhaps more than a bit of his mental faculties. For whatever reason – and Sides goes through several of them – Captain Cook made a string of dubious decisions, for which he eventually paid a high price.

As noted up top, Sides also attempts to define Captain Cook’s proper place in the historical firmament. Even if Cook was not the first to find the places he is credited with finding, he put them into a global context, which is its own accomplishment. However, as Sides notes, “[i]n Cook’s long wake came the occupiers, the guns, the pathogens, the alcohol, the problem of money, the whalers, the furriers, the seal hunters, the plantation owners, the missionaries.”

Sides can be scathing – and rightfully so – about the actions of Cook and his men. Yet he does this without engaging in self-righteous moralizing, which can get very tedious. Sides suggests that it goes too far to blame all the ills of empire on a single man, especially one whose business was mapmaking, not conquering. Still, he understands that this is a contested view, especially if you are descended from people harmed by Cook’s arrival, and its long, ugly aftermath.

In short, this isn’t a polemic for or against James Cook, though those certainly exist. It is a book that treats complicated matters – such as cross-cultural sexual relationships – as complicated matters.

***

Ultimately, there is no final word on Captain James Cook, and Sides does not bother to try. Perhaps all that can be said of him – without it being contested – is that he was a good sailor. In that, he shared much with the Polynesians before him, who shoved off into the infinities of the seas with little more than a gut feeling that land existed somewhere over the horizon, beyond all that heaving, depthless water.
Profile Image for LIsa Noell "Rocking the Chutzpah!  .
695 reviews433 followers
March 30, 2024
My thanks to Doubleday books, Hampton Sides and Netgalley.
I love this author when it involves the sea. I don't want to read anything about landlocked anything. For me? It's Mr. Sides and the sea!
And boy howdy, does he know how to make a reader wish for a front row seat! Hampton puts a reader right smack dab in the middle! I love his writing and research.
So. Captain Cook. I can't hate in the man. He did what most any one of us would have at that time. He just freaking explored. Give me a ship and some funds? Hell yes, I'd have been exploring.
Yes, I know it was so much more than that to others, but let's be real.
I'm not going to get into the past or current politics of this. Rest assured, that I think it's all idiotic. That was the past.
Australia was the main country that I'd always wanted to visit, then I heard that it was a 20 hour flight. W.T.F? No. Nope. Hell to the cuss word, and more cuss words and yes, a few more! Whew! I feel better now! So, maybe a ship? Actually, I would love to be in a few weeks voyage to see Australia. Could you imagine? I'd love to swim, and scuba off the western coast. Yes, I know..sharks and crocs. It's a choice I suppose. I'll choose that. That's funny! I'll take the sharks and crocs over a 20 hour flight? Hmm. 😒 Sounds about right!
It's Hampton Sides for fish sakes. Read it!
All the stars!😜
Profile Image for Josh.
348 reviews233 followers
April 20, 2024
As I look back to the two other books I've read from Sides, I notice they were both 5 star reads from me. He has this penchant for knowing the narrative style his readers want and crave. He's one of the best out there, so it's interesting to see what topic he's writing about.

His recent foray into exploration writing brings him to the third and final voyage of Captain James Cook. Sides tells you at the beginning that he's not being biased by any means. He is taking written accounts from the western world and combining them with the written histories from local Hawaiian historians and oral histories from the Natives in an attempt to tell the story in the most effective and truthful way possible.

As I remember with In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette, Sides treats his true characters like a novel -- not only does the main characters have his or her say, but some of the others are outspoken and described very thoroughly. Sides knows how to tell a story and leaves no stone unturned.

Sides's conclusion brings in hypotheses from historians over the years, but I am left satisfied what he determines as I agree with why Cook was murdered, but will leave the reader of this review to determine it themselves.

Recommended for his on-going fans and new ones alike.
Profile Image for Lorna.
857 reviews652 followers
July 8, 2024
The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook is the latest book by Hampton Sides with a powerful historical narrative as one is transported to one the most thrilling eras of exploration in the eighteenth century. The book is a deeply researched history relying, not only on the words of Captain Cook’s own men, but on the oral traditions of the indigenous people from his encounters with the people of the Pacific and Northwest America.

After two previous expeditions and reputed to be one of the greatest explorers in British history, Captain James Cook set off on his third voyage on July 12, 1776 on his ship the HMS Resolution with his crew sailing for on an around the world adventure in uncharted waters with only what they had on board to survive. Because King George III was preoccupied with the Revolutionary War in the colonies, the HMS Resolution was sent on its expedition with many glaring deficits, including that the ship itself leaked like a sieve forcing the crew to make many repairs underway. Captain James Cook, being first an explorer and mapmaker, was interested in locating the famed Northwest Passage. This is a tale of fearless exploration which greatly expanded our understanding of the world’s geography. The mystery that remains is how did Captain James Cook come to be killed by the indigenous people in Hawaii. And it is towards that end we accompany the HMS Resolution on its exploration.

“Cook had entered a vast space where no European explorer, not even Bering, had been. What’s more, Cook had become history’s uncontested master of the Pacific: He had ventured farther to its south than any know navigator before him and now he had crossed that ocean’s northernmost limits into unknown waters. He was the first captain—and the Resolution the first vessel—to cross both the Antarctic and the Arctic Circles. Something marvelous appeared to be happening for him. The stars were aligning, the landforms relenting, the waters inviting him onward. All the signs were auspicious. For Cook and his men, the puzzle seemed to be coming together just as the Admiralty had hoped that it would. ‘It was as if they had threaded together the whole world,’ wrote British maritime historian Richard Hough, and it seemed ‘that the secret of the earth’s geography had been revealed to them in this one magic moment of suspension between the continents.’”
Profile Image for Brendan (History Nerds United).
598 reviews270 followers
February 29, 2024
The chances of me not loving The Wide Wide Sea by Hampton Sides were admittedly nil. I rank Sides as one of the best best non-fiction writers today. You also add in the fact he is writing about my favorite explorer of all time in Captain James Cook. Sides looks specifically at Cook's final journey around the world which, if you know nothing about it, is epic. Last year, in 2023, a lot of people who don't usually read non-fiction took a chance on David Grann's The Wager and loved it. Well, it is not an insult to either book to say that The Wide Wide Sea is this year's The Wager. It's only February but this book will be in my Top 5 of the year when it is all said and done without question.

Sides has a gift for taking big stories and making them feel small and intimate. I also already knew he can write an exceptional book about ocean voyages (if you haven't read In the Kingdom of Ice yet, you should rectify that as soon as possible). He added another wrinkle with this book. Before it begins, Sides states that he is going to look at this story with recognition of how some of these actions look to us today. Before you write this book off, this doesn't mean Sides took today's politics and painted everyone as an evil imperialist. Instead, what he provides is context. Sure, a lot of things you will read about would be abhorrent to most people today, but Sides places them in their time and calls out double standards when he sees them.

What I didn't expect was that Sides willingness to look back at Captain Cook with a contemporary lens makes him even more interesting. Cook was (for his time, let's not overstate this) a more compassionate explorer than most. If you put Hernán Cortés on the inhumane side of the scale, Cook is on the other end. That is, until this final voyage. Cook's third voyage shows cracks in his armor and it leads to ruin. I knew how it ended and I was still riveted because Sides is just that good. Make sure you read this book.

(This book was provided as an advance copy by Netgalley and Doubleday Books.)
Profile Image for Dave Schaafsma.
Author 6 books31.8k followers
August 29, 2024
“Alone, alone, all, all alone,
Alone on a wide wide sea!
And never a saint took pity on
My soul in agony”― Coleridge, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”

“The horror! The Horror!”--Kurtz, in Jospeh Conrad’s The Heart of Darkness.

The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook (2024) is my first book from Hampton Sides, who has--I learn--built a best-selling readership of thrilling non-fiction adventure stories. As Sides himself admits, many many books, several of them serious historical studies, have been written about Cook, so he makes clear this is written about the most sensational and confrontational third journey, on which Cook (and some of his crew) were killed. Sides does a decent job--I think, as I am not a historian, and this is the first historical book I have read about him and his exploits--of lionizing him for what he did as a explorer, but also identifying some mistakes he seemed to make for the first time to make on this third journey. And he tries to lay out possible reasons for those mistakes.


In that sense it is a kind of mystery, an attempt to explore (not given a definitive answer) to the question of why things seemed to fall apart. And to his credit, Sides gives you a bunch of information so you can make up your own mind. But he admits he is working with documents 250 years old, and missing sufficient indigenous perspectives. Many of the crew, especially the scientists on board, and Cook himself, kept daily journals of the journey, and there are no such journals from natives of Tahiti, Bora Bora, or Hawaii. Still, I think, given the times, and given the almost unquestioned imperialist/colonialist assumptions of the time, Cook in general seemed interested and respectful of the cultures they encountered.

So: Captain James Cook (born October 27, 1728, Marton-in-Cleveland, Yorkshire, England—died February 14, 1779, Kealakekua Bay, Hawaii), on July 12th, 1776, already lionized as the greatest explorer in British history, set off on his third voyage in his ship the HMS Resolution. He had several tasks; one was to return a native from Tahiti, Ma’i, who had visited England as a kinf of anthropological curiosity for a couple years, treated somewhat like a sort of curious non-human savage pet; this story establishes some of the colonialist underpinnings of at least some aspects of the journeys. Then Cook on all three journies was supposed to map the world, and did map an impressive score of the Pacifica, among other places. He was also misdirected by intellectuals/scientists of the time to discover a Northwest Passage, led to believe there was an ice-free area in the Arctic. Oops.

Mark Twain in 1857 was to bluntly add his few drops of ink to the “gallons” written about the last days of Cook: “Justifiable homicide.” Cook was like all of us flawed, but Sides helped me see both the flaws and the brilliance. But I tend to side with Twain here on Cook's increasingly aggressive approach led him to make fatal mistakes.

I thought the Ma’i sections went on too long, but after that, the pace really picks up as the wind gets in the sails. Over all I thought it was great, really holding my attention. I read it because 1) I had been in New Zeeland, hiking around Mt. Cook and reading about him; 2) I had been to Hawaii and saw a sign discussing how he had been killed there, 3) I had read a short book by Mark Twain on his visits to Hawaii.

The last section, about the crazy last time in Hawaii, where many natives took Cook to be the god Lono and began to worship him, and other events leading up to the massacre, reminded me of the story of Captain Kurz of The Heart of Darkness, a tale especially ready-made for Werner Herzog to make into a movie. There’s enough crazy (and Sides seems to suggest largely consensual) sex, spreading of disease (including venereal disease), cannibalism, ritual sacrifice, sea storms, on-board whip-lashings, and so on to make several films. I'd recommend it! I listened to it, a 400 page book.

Interesting tidbits:
*Cook was crippled for a time with what may have been sciatica, but several women in Tahiti gave him an oil-based massage--the first any of them had encountered--that he claimed cured him
*Sides shares excerpts from a crewman’s diary describing what is thought to be the first descriptions in prose of Hawaiian surfing. Gnarly!
*Each first encounter seems to illustrate mostyl happy and healthy people being visited/invaded by people intent on spreading the western way of life that mainly led to tragedy. Cook and others admitted that the islanders all had healthier diets than the British crew members, but they nevertheless brought--like Noah and his ark--pairs of animals and non-native plants to develop inappropriate English gardens, and so on.

*A sliver from Cook’s Resolution went to the moon! When I read that I seemed to recall that detail.

For some reason Great Britain insisted a large obelisk be erected in honor of Cook in Hawaii, an icon that regularly gets defaced, no surprise to me:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/c...
Profile Image for Dax.
292 reviews165 followers
May 5, 2024
There is a growing tendency today to classify works such as this as "popular history". These are works that aim to capture a wider reading audience, rather than works of true scholarly or historical analysis. This classification is accurate for many historical books being published today. Hampton Sides does not quite fit neatly into that category. His books are structured and written in a way to capture a wider audience, yes, but Sides also takes great pains to critique individuals and historical events from a multitude of angles.

In the case of James Cook, Sides considers the natives' perspectives and rationale behind their actions. This is a difficult task given that the Polynesian and Hawaiian historical records have been passed down orally over the generations. Sides is clearly appreciative of Cooks' accomplishments, but this is an objective work.

Sides is also one of the best historians working today in terms of constructing a narrative and telling an incredible story. This is the "pop history" aspect of his work. But it does not cheapen the scholarly quality of this new book either. It's a wonderful work and perhaps Sides' best book to date. If you are new to Sides, this is a great one to start with. Another personal favorite is 'Blood and Thunder'. Easy five stars.
Profile Image for Chrissie.
834 reviews26 followers
August 12, 2024
The front cover of my audiobook is the much more attractive one (beautiful blue sea) than the one shown!

This is a magnificent book, I learned so much, and enjoyed every minute.

I knew what happened at the end, but that did not matter, except that I approached the ending with trepidation.

I felt a lot of emotion at times where beautiful, happy islands were encroached upon, particularly when illnesses were transmitted to the islanders, for which they had no protection as they had never before come into contact with them.

A highly readable book, which I wholeheartedly recommend.

Profile Image for Vanessa.
159 reviews10 followers
June 17, 2024
This is my first Sides book and will not be my last. I'm a life-long land lubber and intend to stay that way. However, I'm drawn to books about sailing, the sea, explorations, and island life.

After reading Grann's The Wager, Sides' book seemed a natural step in my reading plans and it was a good decision. I knew nothing about Captain James Cook and not much of the facts of his explorations. In the age of survey and British imperialism, Cook on his last journey encountered the Hawaiian islands and its native peoples while on a search for the Northwest Passage. Along the way he is responsible for reuniting a native Tahitian named Mai with his homeland. Those are but a couple of riveting details of the events that occur in Sides' narrative.

I found the most interesting points about Cook to be about his cartography and navigation skills.
Profile Image for Barbara K..
530 reviews132 followers
May 8, 2024
I've known Hampton Sides to be a splendid author of narrative nonfiction, and this is no exception. On the face of it, this book recounts the "discovery" of the Hawaiian Islands by Captain James Cook during his third voyage to the Pacific. In reality, it is about Cook; about how his behaviors on this trip differed from those that distinguished his efforts on his earlier explorations.

Sides had choices as to how to approach this material. Much ink has been spilled, as they say, by scholars debating the possible explanations. It would have been easy, and perhaps typical, for Sides to tell the tale and then conclude with an analysis of the various interpretations of Cook's behaviors.

That's not what he's done. He's quietly dropped suggestions as the story unfolds and left it to the reader to draw their own conclusions. I seem to have a fondness for tales, whether fiction or nonfiction, that require that I stretch my imagination and understanding, and I would say this falls into that category.

Cook was a brilliant navigator, an even more gifted cartographer, and something of an instinctive anthropologist. He seemed to have a sixth sense for locating remote islands and for identifying safe havens for his ships to moor, and he was known for his efforts to leave the native cultures he encountered undisturbed.

He was also appreciated as a fair captain who prioritized the needs of his crew and used the lash sparingly. Although he didn't understand the biochemistry of scurvy, he intuitively stocked his ships with foods that countered the outbreak of the disease that was responsible for a 50% death rate on ships with other captains. Cook's men survived.

His achievements in exploration and mapmaking were so highly valued that after his second voyage he was offered a cushy retirement at Greenwich. But when he learned of plans for a voyage with the objective of searching for a Northwest Passage starting from the Pacific Ocean rather than the Atlantic, he insisted on being put at the helm.

He was also charged with the responsibility of returning Ma'i, a young man who had talked his way onto a British ship and spent two years in England, back to his home in the Society Islands. Ma'i's issues become part of this story, and my one criticism of the book is that Sides devotes unnecessary attention to them.

On this voyage Cook was demonstrably less patient with infractions by his crew and dispensed lashings much more freely. His attitudes toward the Pacific Island native populations, once known for their patience and understanding, now tended to be erratic. Minor offenses such as thefts of inconsequential items could trigger a violent temper in Cook and result in destructive acts of revenge.

We can never have a absolute explanation for these changes. Perhaps the circumstances of the voyage - the ship was in poor repair, and he was forced to bring along, and care for, native British plants and animals to "improve" conditions for the islanders - took the edge off his normal adventurous spirit and left him irritable.

Tribes he had encountered previously showed evidence of his visits - their bargaining skills had improved, and venereal diseases had been transmitted from the sailors to local women (and thus the rest of the population). It could be that this disheartened Cook and his volatile behaviors reflected this.

It is certainly possible (and IMO this is the most likely explanation) that his physical or mental health was poor. Although Cook kept extensive journals, they include no reflections on his interior life or his health, and Sides does not attempt to invent any. Cook was buried at sea, leaving no possibility that his remains might be examined for clues.

Sides' description of the events leading up to Cook's death struck just the right tone for me. Not sensationalized, matter of fact, but still communicating a sense of mystery regarding Cook's decisions. These images stayed with me, and I found myself thinking about it well after I'd finished the book.

Were it not for the lengthy descriptions of Ma'i's time in England this would have been an easy 5 stars. Many thanks to Brendan for calling the book to my attention!
Profile Image for Michael Schramm.
19 reviews16 followers
May 2, 2024
So I finished my fifth book by Hampton Sides and now must endure a two year or more wait for his next book (?) As my favorite writer of historical non-fiction that’s what I immediately came away with upon completing the last page.

Mr. Sides, is the consummate researcher and writer, he really makes historical events come alive. Between his acumen and erudition as an author, the subject matter concerning itself with 18th century maritime exploration, for me, well, it’s as though I can literally FEEL the salt spray, queasiness of endless days at sea and the aching muscles associated with being a crewman at the height of the age of sail. There are several bittersweet moments in the book, such as the the transformation of a Tahitian native, brought to England, becoming something of a bon vivant, educated and indoctrinated into “polite society” only to in the end witness him becoming a “man without a country”. Tribal societies, too, forever relinquishing a “loss of innocence” owing to the inevitable encroachment of civilization into their lives makes for food for thought as to whether Captain James Cook should shine for fostering an age of life enlightenment or should he vilified for aiding the colonization cause. The reader will have to decide.
Profile Image for Chris.
453 reviews13 followers
August 25, 2024
Shame on me for not knowing much about Captain James Cook. Oh I had heard of him, of course. But could I name any of his accomplishments? Not without consulting Wikipedia. Another more enjoyable alternative however would be to read "The Wide Wide Sea" by the always reliable Hampton Sides. Cook was arguably the most famous explorer of the 18th century. He was a noted cartographer whose efforts mapping the entrance to the St Lawrence River during the Seven Years War (AKA, the French and Indian War in America) were rewarded with the commission to explore and map the Pacific Ocean. This he did through three voyages on the ship, HMS Endeavour. During the first two he was able to reach the eastern coast of Australia and to map New Zealand and many smaller islands.

Intending to retire and complete his memoirs once he ended his second voyage it didn't take much arm twisting for him to pursue a third. This was to be his crowning achievement: to locate a Northwest passage to link up the Pacific Ocean with the Atlantic, the Lost Ark for 18th century explorers. But his crew noticed a change in him on this voyage, a change to the darker side. He took many unusual and dangerous chances with his vessel and he was unnecessarily harsh on the men. The first assignment was to deliver a young man, Mai, who was brought to London from Tahiti back to his native land. Bearing gifts he had been given while in London as well as a menagerie of animals from King George himself, Mai got off to a bad start with the Tahitians who thought he was putting on airs in front of a pretty leaned-back population.

With that out of the way the Endeavour, and its companion ship Resolution, left tropical Tahiti headed north to colder climes to find a Northwest passage. On the way Cook stumbles on the Hawaiian Islands which had heretofore been uncharted. What a find! The crew spends many days there enjoying the scenery, the food, and the girls. With great reluctance on the part of the crew, but not Cook, the Endeavour continued its journey to Alaska and points north. After many false starts, cul-de-sacs, and dead ends the ships make the long trek back to Hawaii to make repairs, get supplies, and get some R & R before taking one last stab for the Northwest Passage. But like Benjamin Franklin's saying that "guests, like fish begin to smell after three days" it isn't long before the crew wears out its welcome in Hawaii and Cook's temper gets the better of him. Don't forget that the book's title lets the cat out of the bag by indicating that this is the "Fateful Final Voyage of Captain Cook". Cook's voyage ends in tragedy but you're in for a terrific voyage if you read "The Wide Wide Sea'.
Profile Image for ancientreader.
557 reviews158 followers
May 5, 2024
Review to come. Got to think a bit first.

Having thought, and having looked over my highlights, then --

As Sides says in his Author's Note at the beginning, "In Cook’s long wake came the occupiers, the guns, the pathogens, the alcohol, the problem of money, the whalers, the furriers, the seal hunters, the plantation owners, the missionaries."

So, no hagiography here; "The Wide Wide Sea" isn't the adult version of the morally and politically vacuous Europeans Discovered Things and Established Colonies narrative I daresay most of us in the global North heard in grade school (and probably high school as well). But of course none of the European explorers, even those consciously in the service of empire, could know the future, and they would have had to be extraordinarily perceptive to, for example, observe human sacrifice in Polynesia and recognize a kinship with capital punishment as practiced by their own governments. (And so on, with respect to everything from clothing to food to religious belief. Do the Natives prostrate themselves before their chiefs? Well, how about the way servants are supposed to turn their faces to the wall when the master of the house passes by?)

Anyway, it's easy to vilify the European explorers en masse, but if you can't see the future then how much responsibility do you appropriately bear for the consequences that flow, a hundred or two hundred years later, from your acts? I thought about this frequently as I read "The Wide Wide Sea," and came to no conclusion.

Remember how much heat Bill Maher took for pointing out that whatever you might say about the 9/11 hijackers, it made no sense to call them cowards, the way a chorus of establishment voices did? Same here. Sides vividly evokes the precarity and the terror of sea voyages over thousands of miles in tiny, often leaky ships with maggoty food, scummy water, and, especially, raging storms. Whatever we think of them, the explorer-captains had to be brave. Their crews had to be braver.

And, on the other hand. Mostly the European explorers approached Native peoples with contempt. Often they killed people. They brought rats and disease. And in their wake, as the quotation above points out, events that for many peoples and cultures amounted to the end of the world.

Sides makes some attempt to describe how Native peoples might have experienced their first encounters with Europeans, sometimes extrapolating from what human beings in general are like, sometimes quoting from Native oral histories that have been recorded. What, frustratingly, he doesn't much do is offer a critical perspective on his European sources themselves. He gives us their narrative of events, and in the absence of Native accounts, those narratives and perceptions are left to stand. The lack of Native accounts is of course not Sides's fault, but I do wish he had read his sources more critically.

An aspect of this book that I found heartbreaking: the abundant and (in the case of uninhabited islands) often fearless wildlife the explorers encountered. This richness, like so much human richness, has been devastated.

"The Wide Wide Sea" is always fascinating, often frustrating, and well worth the time spent reading. Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin for the ARC.
Profile Image for Anita Pomerantz.
708 reviews175 followers
January 27, 2024
I'm not really a history buff so when an author can engage me in a historical tale, I tip my hat. Hampton Sides does just that in this narrative of James Cook last sea voyage. I really didn't know anything about Cook going into this read, but his character is slowly revealed as we follow his attempt to find a northwest passage around the American continent. The crux of the book focuses on Cook's interactions with various indigenous peoples he meets on the lands he explores. Let's just say, some of these interactions went a lot better than others. Sides does a good job of giving the reader of how hard these voyages really were and how Cook needed to be a leader, a diplomat, a problem solver, - all while remaining calm, cool, and collected. This book was my second that I've tried from this author, and it definitely won't be my last.
Profile Image for Kerry Pickens.
1,017 reviews21 followers
February 3, 2024
I had recently read Hampton Sides’ book Blood and Thunder and enjoyed it, so I was happy to receive an ARC for this new book on Captain James Cook. The travel tale includes Cape Horn and the Pacific Islands as well as the Alaskan coastline as Cook tries to find a Northwest Passage. His mark on history was navigation skills and cartography as he drew new maps of these areas that only sketchily been filled in before. The downside was the negative influence on indigenous people culturally by trying to convert them to gardening and raising livestock, as well as his promiscuous seaman spreading venereal disease. He was eventually killed by some Hawaiian natives after a conflict quickly escalated resulting in a frenzy attack. The writing is compelling and interesting but a little to detailed at times, ie the sexual behavior was a bit too much information.
Profile Image for Karyn.
262 reviews
April 22, 2024
This is a six star book by Hampton Sides about the incomparable Captain James Cook, an exceptional man of the Enlightenment age.

His third and final sea voyage extends so far on the globe from south to north that he held the record for coverage of territory at the time.

Highly recommended!
130 reviews
May 31, 2024
Exceptional account of an explorer who mapped the Pacific coast of Alaska, many South Sea Islands, and was the first European to set foot on the Hawaiian Islands, which did not even appear on maps. He was apparently an outstanding and brave captain who navigated ships through treacherous season and weather. His descriptions of the native people, their appearance, clothing, boats, and customs are fascinating. Very readable and very interesting. Highly recommend.
Profile Image for CatReader.
547 reviews48 followers
June 25, 2024
In this 432 page book/16 hour audiobook The Wide, Wide Sea, Hampton Sides tells an engaging story from start to finish about Captain James Cook's third and final circumnavigating voyage (1776-1780). Cook had been tasked with returning a man named Mai from Raiatea (an island in what's now French Polynesia) home, then sailing to Alaska to try to find a Northwest Passage to expedite travel between the western edge of North America and Europe. On this voyage, Cook and his crews on the ships Resolution and Discovery were likely the first European visitors to what's now the US state of Hawaii, first visiting first the island of Kauaʻi in January 1778, and secondly and fatefully making landfall at Kealakekua Bay on the big island of Hawaii in January 1779, where Cook was killed on February 14 in an altercation between the native Hawaiians and the sailors.

I was a bit hesitant to pick up this book as I tend to find many popular history nonfiction books tedious (including some recent books released with much acclaim like Grann's The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder and Larson's latest The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War). The Wide Wide Sea greatly exceeded my expectations and was interesting and not at all tedious from start to finish. Sides is clearly a talented nonfiction writer and, at least in this book (as I haven't yet read his other books), masters the art of providing just enough detail without lengthy tangents, and strikes a good balance between objectively presenting past events without attempting a revisionist history or retroactive moral shaming of what was socially accepted in the past.

My stats:
Book 132 for 2024
Book 1735 cumulatively
Profile Image for David Kern.
46 reviews235 followers
Read
July 8, 2024
Excellent. Highly readable. Exciting. At times poetic. Popular history of the highest order.
Profile Image for Mitchell Bergeson Jr..
8 reviews29 followers
May 12, 2024
I’m not big on reviews or criticism, but this is one of the best books I’ve read all year. Sides is a brilliant writer that can write a gripping narrative while also providing a lot of meaningful detail. The balance between deep diving and keeping the pages turning isn’t easy to accomplish. Sides does that wonderfully here with Captain Cook. Sides also presents a well balanced account and recognizes the disastrous consequences of colonialism. Sides treats indigenous people of the time with the dignity and respect they deserve.
Profile Image for Jaksen.
1,503 reviews80 followers
April 24, 2024
What a book. It's kind of weighty, full of names, places, dates, etc., but I read it in just a few days. Could not put it down. Read it on the couch, in bed, on the deck in the windy sunshine. Lost track of some of the historical features but wow, what a book.

The story of Captain James Hook with emphasis on his last voyage. Sent by the Admiralty of England to find the Northwest Passage by going from the Pacific Northwest (North America) over and above Canada, through the Arctic Ocean, and then home to England. This was a reverse order voyage - those are my words - because at this time, and later, most voyagers searching for the passage went from east to west; Cook tried to go west from east.

Spoiler alert - he couldn't find one because it didn't exist.

But the story itself is so much bigger than all of that. In today's world - and thinking - the early European explorers didn't discover much of anything. Nope, not Australia or Tasmania, the islands of Polynesia, Hawai'i, none of it, nothing. But what many of them did do was explore, or make first contact with many, many cultures across these wide areas. This author, Mr. Sides, is very careful to acknowledge that how we viewed what these explorers of the 1600's - up and through the early 1900's - did was not 'find' or discover these cultures, these people, but simply made contact with them. Were the results often disastrous? Yes, and he documents episodes where the worst one can imagine did occur, however...

He also gives Cook a fair view as a man, a sailor, and leader of his time - and that Cook did try to limit the contact his officers and crew had with any new group, tribe or culture they encountered. Many of these contacts were peaceful - some were not. I find the author to be very balanced in how he treats the entire subject - which can currently be so controversial.

What I did find interesting were the reports of these cultures - the Tasmanians, for example -written by the naturalists, the doctor, and some of the 'ordinary' seamen aboard the two ships involved. They were fascinated! Often respectful. Learned the native languages and shared aspects of their own culture with these people. In one case Cook kept his men in the two boats of the expedition, refusing to let them 'consort' with the native women for fear of spreading disease to them. Unfortunately, that did not last long...

At the same time, Cook made the first good maps of many areas across the Pacific, and of the western coast of North America all the way up to and past Alaska. There's much to like about this book, as well as much to lament. I found it a richly fascinating read, eye-opening, and like I said, fair and balanced. Cook came to a sad end, for those who know, due to a series of weird misunderstandings. But I also found it remarkable that his name - and those of some of his officers - still exist on geographical features all over Alaska and into Canada. (I didn't know how many there were!)

Five stars
41 reviews1 follower
June 5, 2024
Fascinating book from start to finish. Hampton Sides is my favorite historical writer. He does a masterful job of describing Captain Cook's 3rd (and final) voyage, where he accidently discovered the Hawaiin Islands onhis way to find the non-existant northwest passage. Ihighly recommend it.
Profile Image for Christine Cazeneuve.
1,275 reviews29 followers
October 20, 2023
One of the best books I've ever read! I was absolutely spellbound reading about Captain Cook and his final voyage. I'll admit I knew pretty much next to nothing about him but what a man he was. The author painstakingly did their research in putting this book together. Typically stories like these can be dry and difficult to get through unless you are really into the subject matter but not this one. You will find yourself making excuses to get back to reading it. I can't say enough about it but just read it! You will learn so much and be fascinated at the same time. Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.
Profile Image for Peter Tillman.
3,779 reviews428 followers
July 28, 2024
A first-rate historical account of Captain James Cook’s last voyage, and his tragic death in Hawaii in 1779. Cook was Britain’s most celebrated explorer and map-maker of that era, and Sides is one of our very best writers of popular history.

Cook is best known for his three long voyages in the Pacific between 1768 and 1779. While Sides book focuses on his third voyage, he also reprises the earlier voyages. I recommend spending a few minutes reading the lede to the Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Cook for an outline of his career.

Cook was nudged or pushed into taking command of the third expedition by the Earl of Sandwich, after a brief retirement. In truth, it didn’t take much pushing. Sadly, Cook didn’t get involved early enough to discover the shoddy work being done to overhaul his flagship — which consequently leaked badly for the entire trip.

Captain Cook has become something of a controversial figure, some 250 years after his voyages of exploration. Sides treats Cook and his Native opponents fairly. He is neutral on the merits of the criticisms, allowing readers to draw their own conclusions.

Cook was a remarkable explorer, but he was also a man of his time. As were the Native people he encountered. I was struck by Sides’ account of the Hawaiian chiefs burials at Kealakekua Bay (where Cook met his death). Their bones were placed in secret alcoves in the cliff-face by a commoner lowered on ropes. Once the bones and relics were well-hidden, the poor burial-servant was dropped to his death on the rocks below!

I enjoyed the book for the most part, as I expected to. The long sections on the Society Islands (Tahiti et al.) got a bit tedious, especially the machinations related to Mai, the young Tahitian being returned from his sojourn in England. But this is a minor criticism. For me, the book gets back into high gear in the Alaskan section, where Cook was charged with looking for the mythical Northwest Passage from the western end. As he rather expected, this was a fool’s errand, but he carefully checked all reasonable leads.

For me this was a strong 4-star read, and I recommend the book. Good stuff.
Cook is believed to have been the inspiration for Capt. James Kirk of the original Star Trek series.
Profile Image for Nancy.
1,654 reviews409 followers
March 17, 2024
This fascinating and engaging history of James Cook’s last voyage presents a complicated man. He had extraordinary skills and abilities that had brought great fame and success, and yet fatal errors in judgement toppled the great man to his death.

After two voyages into uncharted waters, surveying and mapping unknown lands and making first contact with human societies across the Pacific, Cook was preparing for a comfortable retirement. But his king had another task for him: a third voyage with the mission of seeking a Northwest Passage. First, he was to return a man to his native homeland in the South Seas. In England, Mai became a celebrity and a dandy, and Cook resettled him with his numerous gifts, including livestock and plants from the king who wanted to display British civilization and superiority.

The voyage was filled with challenges. The Resolution’s subpar repairs resulted in leaks. There was the vagaries of the sea and weather to contend with. They met unfamiliar human societies both friendly and hostile. Life was complicated by Cook’s sometimes aberrant behavior and bad judgement.

Making first contact with Hawaii altered Cook’s luck. He arrived as the islanders were celebrating the god Lono, perfectly timed to for Cook to be considered the return of the god, and he was worshipped as Lono. The Resolution required extensive repairs resulting in the men overstayed their welcome, draining the island paradise’s resources. Meantime, the islanders were mad for anything made of iron, resorting to stealing it in their greed.

Cook sailed further than any man before, rounding the coast of Alaska and crossing the Arctic Circle. But he encountered ice instead of a northern shortcut and quickly turned back before the ships became encased in the ice. He returned to Hawaii for repairs and provisioning, but became embroiled in the conflict that ended his life. This visit, the islanders discovered that Cook was no god.

The book presents Cook, the good and the bad, and his legacy, the good and the bad. Cook had a scientific attitude, observing and recording the cultures and people he encountered without judgement. He was careful to protect the islanders from sexual disease, but he also left a ship load of rats behind. Cook’s emphasis on fresh foods resulted in no losses of crew to scurvy, while he was more diligent and brutal in his punishments. His discoveries of new lands gave his country impetitus for colonization to claim the natural resources, while missionaries arrived to enforce Christian beliefs and morality.

It was so interesting to learn about the many cultures Cook encountered, from New Zealand to the Inuit of Alaska.

Thanks to the publisher for a free book.
Profile Image for Matt.
Author 10 books1,372 followers
May 11, 2024
3.5. Sides is a master storyteller. I just didn’t find this story as riveting as some of his previous books.
Profile Image for Margie.
227 reviews11 followers
June 10, 2024
Ten stars. This book is readable and wildly interesting from beginning to end. Hampton Sides takes what has the potential to be dry history and makes it relatable and understandable. I found myself reading for hours because I wanted to keep going to find out how it ended - even though we all ultimately know how it ends. This is why Sides is one of my favorite authors.

This is one of the very few new books I've purchased in years. (Many of you know I'm a thrift book junkie.) I thrilled to have it in my library, and am also glad to have my purchase "count." Loved this book. Love this author. I highly recommend this read even for those who doubt they can love non-fiction; this is a book that will change minds.
Profile Image for Florence.
887 reviews17 followers
August 26, 2024
James Cook was a reasonable man who loved the adventure of commanding a seaborn vessel. After two lengthy voyages of discovery he could have retired to a life of pleasant leisure. Instead he chose a perilous third voyage, circumventing the earth from South Pacific Islands, touching the unknown west coast of North America and on to treacherous ice shoals in Arctic waters. He was at sea with his men from 1776 to 1779. They endured harsh weather, invasion of shipboard rats, moldy food, a leaky vessel among other wretched conditions. To some Native people who had not known Europeans, the sailors were exotic beings who suddenly arrived and could have been gods or devils who came to kill them. At the best of times the men enjoyed tropical splendor with carnal pleasures. Captain Cook was not a brutal disciplinarian in the tradition of many English captains of the eighteenth century. He was thoughtful, patient, and diligent in his leadership duties. Most of the time his men revered him. This is the story of a renaissance man who tragically lost his bearings at a crucial moment. It is a tale of high adventure from beginning to ending. Don't miss it.
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