Why this book: Selected by my literature reading group. Also I’d read three others of Hampton Sides’ historical narratives, and all were great (Blood and Thunder, Kingdom of Ice, and Ghost Soldiers.).  

Summary in 3 Sentences: The book begins with a background on James Cook and his previous 2 voyages to the Pacific and then how he was selected to captain this final most ambitious effort by the British Admiralty to explore the Pacific and find the Northwest Passage.  It covers the entire 3rd vosyage, of Cooks two ships, the  Resolution and the Discovery, around Cape Horn, Austraila and New Zealand, the encounters Cooks team had with the Polynesians of Tahite and what is now French Polynesia, and then their exploration of the north western coast of North America and Alaska and into the Arctic in search of the NW passage, and then finally returning to Hawaii where events took an unexpected turn for the worse.

My Impressions: Another fascinating historical narrative by Hampton Sides – revealing an important piece of history about which I was only vaguely aware.  I listened to rather than read this book, knowing from my previous experiences with the author that it would be captivating and easy to follow. The narrator had a British accent which was appropriate given that Cook not only was English, but his voyage was on behalf of the imperialist aims of 18th century England  The problem with listening is that I’m sure that the hard copy had maps which would have helped a lot – as it was, I had to remind myself when I got back to my computer to find maps which laid out his voyage. 

The main subject of the book, Cook’s 3rd and final voyage, begins with the long transit to the South Pacific around Africa, Cape Horn below Australia to Tasmania and then New Zealand before getting to the Tahitian Islands – and beyond.

But the book begins with a brief summary of Cook’s 1st and 2nd voyages which also serve as an introduction of Cook himself.  We learn of his background, how he came to be a highly regarded explorer before the 3rd voyage, as well as an introduction into how the Royal Navy functioned, how captains were selected and the preparation required for ambitious voyages of discovery and empire.

One of the key characters of the early part of the book was Omai who had been brought back to England from the Tahitian islands on Cook’s second voyage.  Sides goes into some length describing how he was received and feted in England, how he adapted and became a celebrity, wanting only to return to his home Islands to avenge his tribe after a war with another tribe. 

King George III directed that Omai be returned to his home islands on Cook’s 3rd voyage and the King also insisted that Cook bring a wide variety of animals and plants to help spread “civilization” to the Pacific Islands. Omai was indeed returned by Cook to his native Tahitian Islands, but that didn’t work out as well as had been hoped. Omai expected, in fact demanded that he be treated as a returning hero with privilges and power, which those in power in his native community resented. He alienated the people he returned to by “putting on airs,”  and his return was not as fortuitous as he’d desired. 

One of the key objectives and most interesting aspects of this book were the anthropological aspects of Cook’s contact – often first European contact – with islanders in many parts of the Pacific.  He was more respectful and sensitive than most to native cultures and endeavored to always build positive relations – which was often difficult, given that his crews did not share his same sensibilities.  This is perhaps understandable given the age of his crew, and the hardships of their voyage. When Cook and his crew  finally arrived in the islands, their primary goal was to somehow get something pleasurable from the natives – and that usually meant sex.  And in this, the natives were usually happy to comply, as the sailors were new and different, and the natives had no experience with Christian prejudices against recreational or transactional sex.  The native girls were often only too happy to trade sex for some of what the sailors had to offer that were valuable to them, such as nails, mirrors, cloth, etc. And the native men profited from these transactions as well, offering up their sisters, wives, daughters. 

Captain Cook only sought to inhibit these transactions when he realized that his sailors were spreading venereal disease (primarily gonorrhea) where it had been previously unknown. He tried, often unsuccessfully, to keep sailors on board who his surgeon knew had “the clap.”  

Cook was the first European to have recorded a visit to the Hawaiian Islands, though there is some scant evidence that perhaps a Spanish vessel may have visited, or been shipwrecked.  Cook’s expedition stumbled on the Hawaiian Islands on their way to the Northwest Coast of America in search of the Northwest Passage. They stopped to get supplies and fresh water and rest, then headed for what is now the coast of Washington State and Vancouver, and they continued sailing northwest, exploring every inlet they found in an unsuccessful effort to find a through passage.  They went north to Alaska, proceeded along the southern coast of Alaska through the Bering Sea and into the Arctic Sea before turning around, after hitting an impenetrable wall of ice.  Along the way they met with Inuit and other native tribes, many of whom had had contact with Russian traders, or knew of Russian ships which had been in the region.  

Cook then turned his expedition around and returned to the Hawaiian Islands to refit, recover, and spend the winter.  Cook planned to return to the Arctic the following summer in hopes of finding a passage before the ice closed in. But his arrival in Hawaii inauspiciously coincided with a major religious ceremony, and the native Hawaiians believed Cook to be a god returning to help and serve the people. This led to a series of misunderstandings and a series of bad decisions and bad judgement calls that Cook made,  culminating in a fight that led to Cook’s death and that of several of his crew.  The expedition’s second in command took over and reluctantly decided to carry out Cook’s plan, and returned to the Arctic the following summer, again hit the ice wall and then headed  the thousands of miles back to England. 

One of the sub-themes that Sides returned to frequently was that on this voyage, something didn’t seem right with Cook.  He seemed to have become angrier, less tolerant, and impetuous in ways that he had not been on previous expeditions. He had previously been known as a calm, steady, and dispassionate man of good judgment and a rational demeanor. On this expedition,  those who knew him were surprised when he regularly behaved or made decisions inconsistent with his previous character.  Anger, and bad judgment were instrumental in leading to the confrontation at which he lost his life. 

The Wide, Wide Sea was not only very engaging to read, but was informative and insightful, as have been the other historical narratives I’ve read by Hampton Sides.  I just read another book that I would recommend before reading this one – The Wager – about an incident in the Royal Navy that happened 40+ years before Cook’s 3rd voyage.  This book sheds light on some of the practices of the Royal Navy that would add to the appreciation of Cook’s voyage, and Sides’ account of it.