Customer Reviews

Captain Cook: A Legacy Under Fire

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For various reasons, there continues to be substantial interest in great explorers such as Ernest Shackleton, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, Robert Falcon Scott, and James Cook. This the first of two books about Cook which I recently read and thoroughly enjoyed. (The other is Tony Horwitz's Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before.) They discuss a common subject but from different perspectives. I highly recommend both. Of special interest to me is what Collingridge learned about an ancestor, George Collingridge (1847-1931), while consulting an abundance of research resources. He was among the first to challenge the generally accepted belief that Cook was the first to "discover" Australia during various voyages. (Cook traveled more than 200,000 miles during the years 1768-1789, limited by crude navigational instruments but sustained by his superior skills as a seaman.) Of her ancestor Collingridge observes: "He was eccentric and colorful and too given to whims of fancy and dreadful puns, but the bulk of his [own] research is basically sound." Both Horwitz and Vanessa Collingridge seem to agree that Cook was -- as was Shackleton -- a great leader. Also, that he treated the native people "with a decency that shattered all convention." Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to read Horwitz's.

Vanessa Collingridge has written a pacy book that nicely describes the 3 expeditions of Cook to the Pacific and focuses on his cartography, his ideas about scurvy, his ideas about how to relate to the peoples encountered...and about the links between the Cook mythology (eg discoverer of Australia) and reality (he was not the first).

It's annoying the book I bought (hardback) did not contain better maps...(there were virtually none)...so I had trouble following the twists and turns of Cooks travels.

THIS WAS A WONDERFUL BOOK ON CAPTAIN COOK ALSO THE UNKNOWN GEORGE COLLINGBRIDGE, AND VANESSA COLLINGBRIDGE THE AUTHOR
Look at the subject first then read on. How I came about this book was I saw preview for History Channel's reality series on called the ship which was based on Captain Cook's first voyage. So I went to Barnes and Noble store with my mom and sister and saw this on one of the new books table in the front of the store. Miss Collingbridge is James Cook's distant cousin, and George Collingbridge's neice or cousin I forgot what which it was. The book was about how their lifes became almost the same not everything about (sorry for my grammar). This book was though (however you spell it) research, well written, and so on. I recommed not reading chapter 30. Obsession and Betrayal James Cook 1779 on pg. 327 past midnight because you will be thinking of it and have bad dreams about it and then finish the book...I still recommed reading it still.

This superbly presented history charts all of Cook's voyages of exploration; from his mapping of the Pacific Islands and travels through Antarctica to discoveries of New Hebrides and Australia. His many adventures receive lively coverage in a title which explains how Cook changed the Western map of the world - and reveals that he was not the first to do so. An involving re-examination of Cook's achievements.

THIS WAS A WONDERFUL BOOK ON CAPTAIN COOK ALSO THE UNKNOWN GEORGE COLLINGBRIDGE, AND VANESSA COLLINGBRIDGE THE AUTHOR
Look at the subject first then read on. How I came about this book was I saw preview for History Channel's reality series on called the ship which was based on Captain Cook's first voyage...Mrs. Collingbridge is James Cook's distant cousin, and George Collingbridge's neice or cousin I forgot what which it was. The book was about how their lifes became almost the same not everything about (sorry for my grammar). This book was though (however you spell it) research, well written, and so on...