The Wide Wide Sea
Hampton Sides
Doubleday. 432 pp.
Insights gained from reading Side's masterfully written narrative of Captain James Cook's third scientific voyage:
1. It took place at around the same time (1776-79) as the American Revolution;
2. he died in Hawaii's Kealakekua Bay in 1779 in a skirmish with natives of that island;
3. one of the main goals of the voyage was to discover the so-called Northwest Passage from the Pacific side;
4. Cook himself entertained certain misgivings about his company's contacts with indigenous peoples.